Sourcing Products for Amazon FBA from New Zealand

Last updated: August 2026

Selling on Amazon from New Zealand is completely achievable — the challenge isn't accessing the marketplace, it's building a supply chain that makes your numbers work.

More Kiwi entrepreneurs are launching Amazon FBA businesses than ever before, selling into the US, Australian, and UK markets from right here in New Zealand. The opportunity is real. But so is the margin risk. Every extra kilometre in your supply chain costs money, and NZ sellers are starting from further away than most of their competitors. Getting your sourcing right from the beginning is what separates a profitable FBA business from an expensive lesson.

This guide covers how NZ sellers source products for Amazon FBA, what landed cost really means for your margins, and the common mistakes that catch first-time FBA importers off guard.

What Does Sourcing for Amazon FBA Mean for NZ Sellers?

FBA — Fulfilled by Amazon — means you send your inventory to an Amazon warehouse, and Amazon picks, packs, and ships orders to customers on your behalf. Your job is to get the right product into that warehouse at the right cost.

For NZ sellers, that means building a supply chain that typically runs: factory in China or Vietnam → freight forwarding → customs clearance → Amazon fulfilment centre (in Australia, the US, or UK, depending on your target marketplace).

The factory price you negotiate is just the beginning. By the time your product reaches an Amazon warehouse, you've added international freight, import duties, Amazon FBA fees, and often prep and labelling costs. Your gross margin isn't real until every one of those costs is in your spreadsheet.

The product category matters before anything else. FBA has strict requirements by category. Supplements, electronics, cosmetics, toys, and children's products often require compliance documentation — certifications, safety testing, labelling standards — before Amazon will accept your inventory. Sort your compliance requirements first. Then work backwards to supplier selection.

How Do You Find Suppliers for Amazon FBA Products?

The same factories supplying US, UK, and Australian FBA sellers will work with NZ buyers. Volume is volume. The question is how you find and vet them.

Alibaba is the starting point for most FBA sellers. It's a legitimate platform with millions of listings, but supplier quality varies enormously. Trade Assurance orders provide payment protection, but they don't verify that a supplier can manufacture to FBA standards. Filter for verified suppliers, check transaction history, read reviews carefully, and never use a supplier's Alibaba listing as your sole verification.

Canton Fair and trade shows let you meet manufacturers in person, see production facilities, and compare multiple suppliers in a compressed timeframe. For NZ sellers building a serious FBA brand, attending Canton Fair is worth seriously considering — the quality of the conversations you have on the factory floor is different to what happens over email.

A sourcing agent with employed staff on the ground in your sourcing country can locate and vet factories, negotiate pricing, manage quality inspections, and coordinate freight — all without you setting foot in China or Vietnam. For FBA sellers focused on growing their sales rather than managing supply chain logistics, this is often the highest-leverage investment they make.

Sourcing Hack #1: Before approaching any supplier, research what your competitors' products cost to make. Use Alibaba to get indicative FOB pricing, then reverse-engineer from the Amazon selling price to understand what margin is realistic. If the numbers don't work at Alibaba prices, they won't work at your negotiated price either.

What Should Your Landed Cost Calculation Look Like?

Landed cost is the total cost of getting one unit of your product into the Amazon FBA warehouse. It includes:

Factory price (ex-works or FOB) — what you pay the supplier per unit. International freight — sea freight (slower, cheaper) or air freight (faster, significantly more expensive per unit). Import duties and GST — varies by product category and destination country. Customs brokerage — the cost of clearing your shipment. Amazon FBA fees — fulfilment fees, monthly storage fees, and long-term storage fees if inventory sits too long. FBA prep costs — labelling, poly-bagging, bundling, or any prep required before Amazon will accept your goods.

A useful rule of thumb: your factory price should be no more than 25–30% of your Amazon selling price if you want to run a sustainable FBA business. If your unit economics only work at the factory price, they won't survive freight, duties, and fees.

Sourcing Hack #2: Build your landed cost calculator before you contact a single supplier. Work backwards from your target Amazon selling price — subtract FBA fees, subtract freight per unit, subtract duties — and what's left is your maximum factory price. This number tells you immediately whether a supplier's quote is workable.

What Are the Biggest Sourcing Mistakes NZ Amazon Sellers Make?

Skipping quality control. Your supplier's sample was perfect. Your first production run of 500 units was not. Without a pre-shipment inspection, you won't know until your inventory is already inside an Amazon warehouse — where fixing it is expensive and slow.

Ignoring FBA packaging requirements. Amazon has strict requirements for how products must be labelled, packaged, and prepared before they'll accept your inventory. Sending a shipment that doesn't meet prep requirements gets you rejection fees and delayed launches.

Ordering too much, too soon. New FBA sellers often over-order on their first shipment to hit a lower unit price. If the product doesn't sell as projected, you're paying Amazon monthly storage fees on inventory you can't move. Start smaller, validate the market, then scale.

Not accounting for freight lead times. Sea freight from China to the US takes 25–35 days. By the time you factor in factory production time, freight, and FBA intake processing, you're looking at 60–90 days from placing an order to your product being live and buyable. Plan your inventory replenishment accordingly.

Sourcing Hack #3: For your first FBA order, negotiate a smaller MOQ even if the unit cost is higher. The cost of validating your market with 200 units is far cheaper than being stuck with 1,000 units of a product that doesn't convert. Once you have sales data, you have real leverage to negotiate better pricing on larger runs.

How Does a Sourcing Agent Help NZ FBA Sellers Source Profitably?

The FBA sellers who scale fastest tend to be the ones who solve their supply chain early and then focus their energy on what they're good at — product selection, listing optimisation, and marketing. A sourcing agent handles the factory communication, quality inspections, and freight coordination so you're not spending your evenings negotiating on WeChat.

For NZ sellers specifically, a sourcing agent with employed staff in China or Vietnam can physically visit factories, catch quality issues before they become your problem, and navigate the operational complexity of getting goods from the factory floor to an Amazon fulfilment centre on the other side of the world.

The question isn't whether you can source for FBA yourself — you can. The question is whether it's the best use of your time at the growth stage you're at.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can NZ-based sellers sell on Amazon FBA?

Yes. NZ sellers can sell on Amazon Australia, Amazon US, Amazon UK, and other marketplaces. You don't need to be based in the destination country. You do need an Amazon seller account, a business entity, and a bank account that can receive international payments. Many NZ sellers use services like Payoneer or Wise to receive Amazon payouts.

What MOQ should I expect when sourcing for Amazon FBA?

Most factories have MOQs of 200–500 units for standard products, and higher for custom or private label products. As a first-time buyer, you have less negotiating power — focusing on suppliers whose standard MOQ sits within your budget is more productive than trying to negotiate a reluctant factory down.

How long does it take to get products from China to an Amazon FBA warehouse?

For sea freight into Amazon US, budget 30–45 days from departure. Add 15–30 days of factory production time and 5–10 days of Amazon intake processing, and you're typically looking at 60–90 days from placing your order to your listing going live. Air freight is faster (7–14 days transit) but significantly more expensive per unit.

What is landed cost and why does it matter for Amazon FBA?

Landed cost is the total cost of one unit of your product arriving at the Amazon warehouse, including factory price, freight, duties, brokerage, and FBA prep costs. It matters because your factory price is only a fraction of your total cost. Many FBA sellers are surprised by how much freight and fees add to their per-unit cost, which is why calculating landed cost before ordering is essential.

Do I need a sourcing agent to sell on Amazon FBA from NZ?

No, but many NZ FBA sellers find it worthwhile once they've validated a product and are ready to scale. A sourcing agent adds real value when you're ordering repeatedly from the same or multiple factories, need quality inspections, or want to develop custom packaging and private label products. For a very first test order, some sellers go direct via Alibaba — but the risk is higher.

What compliance requirements do I need to know about for Amazon FBA?

This depends on your product category and target marketplace. Common requirements include CE marking for electronics in Europe, CPSC compliance for the US, ACCC requirements for Australia, and category-specific certifications for supplements, cosmetics, and children's products. Amazon will reject or suspend listings that don't meet requirements — check compliance before you order samples, not after.

By TK Wang, Director and Supply Chain Manager at Epic Sourcing New Zealand, helping Kiwi businesses source smarter from China and Vietnam.