Inbound transfers are shipments from a merchant or a supplier into a fulfillment network. In the process, the fulfillment center will receive the inbound, verify the contents of the inbound are correct, and then the items will be organized and set up for fulfillment.
Before you inbound:
- Connect your Flexport Portal to all applicable sale channels
- Preparing Your Product for Flexport's Fulfillment Center
- Make sure your products do not fall under Restricted Products
Now you are ready to create your inbound shipping plan. While organizing your shipping plan, you are able to determine if you'd like to use Prep services to help reduce risk of non-compliance.
You can follow the steps below or watch our shipment creation video. Please note that some features may not be shown in the video, like Prep.
For "Creating an Inbound Shipment" steps only, skip to 2:26 in the video.
Steps
- In your Flexport Portal go to the Shipping Plans sections under Inbounds and click Create Inbound
- Select either International Origin or Domestic Origin depending on your needs, and enter your origin location
- You can enter the address, city, or postal code of your supplier or just the port where your supplier will deliver your products to
- If you enter a supplier's location, then we will provide a trucking service to pick up your products
- For E-commerce Fulfillment, select Domestic Inbound, enter the ship-from address, select Multi-channel fulfillment by Flexport, then Forward to Flexport's DTC network
- Select whether you want your order(s) fulfilled via multi-channel or through your selected partner
- Multi-channel fulfillment would be for products being sold on multiple channels such as Shopify, Walmart, and Amazon
- Fulfillment by Amazon would be for orders being sold only through Amazon
- Alternatively, click the Send directly to any other destination underneath if you just need freight to a different destination, and enter your destination here
- Enter your desired delivery date to help us determine the best service(s) we could use to get your products to the desired destination
- If you don't have a specific date you need the goods by, select I'm flexible, and we'll show you all of our available options
- Provide the details for the products you'd like us to move - this can be as simple or detailed as you prefer
- Entering the details of each product will automatically calculate the totals for your inbound
- We need to know how many pallets your shipment will consist of for fulfillment and storage costs, even if your container is floor loaded
- We can estimate this information for you if you click the Estimate count link underneath
- Let us know whether or not your shipment contains dangerous goods (DG) and when they'll be ready for pick up (known as the cargo ready date [CRD])
- Review the final checkout page which contains a complete summary of your inbound order, a breakdown of your total cost based on the services you previously selected, and the service we recommend for your shipment based on the information you provided
- If you'd like to see alternative services, simply click Change service beneath the recommended service to view all your options
- Customs is included by default
- Insurance is optional and is based on your cargo value
- Under Distribution, you can select how you want your products to be distributed
- Replenish on demand means that the product will go into our storage and replenished to your selected channel as needed
- You can also have Flexport handle the prep and ship to your selected channel, or you can handle the prep and have us send the cargo directly to your selected channel
- As a Flexport Plus member, you will also have access to Flexport Capital, which gives you the opportunity to leverage our financing products
- Enter a valid payment method
- Click Book Shipment, and you will have created your first inbound!
After creating a shipping plan, all boxes will need to be packed as stated in the shipping plan in order to avoid non-compliance charges and receiving delays when your shipment arrives at a fulfillment center.
In the shipping plan process, you download and print all your labels and packing list, attach these to the correct boxes, and work with your carrier to send them to Flexport.
Note, we do not cosign for shipments and do not bear this responsibility.
Checking on your inbound Shipping Plan
To check on your inbound shipment, you can find it in your Inbounds under the Shipping Plans section. If you are providing your own labels, add in the tracking number to reduce delays for inbounding at the fulfillment center.
You are able to rename the shipment for tracking purposes:
- Click the name of the shipping plan
- Type in the new name you'd like to assign to the shipping plan
- Hit enter once complete
Learn More