Featured prep centres
A cross-section of the directory - compare location, services and published pricing.
Prep centres by city
Shipping costs drop the closer your prep centre sits to the Amazon fulfilment centres you send to.
Choosing an Amazon prep centre in the UK
A prep centre sits between your supplier and Amazon. Stock arrives from a wholesaler, a retail arbitrage haul or a container from overseas; the centre receives it, counts it against your manifest, inspects condition, applies FNSKU labels, and packages each unit to whatever Amazon requires for that category. Then it builds the shipment plan and sends it into the fulfilment network. You never touch the goods.
The biggest single variable is location. Amazon runs fulfilment centres clustered around the Midlands and the North West, so a prep centre in Birmingham, Atherstone or Wolverhampton usually ships pallets on shorter, cheaper routes than one in Cornwall or the Highlands. If you import, the calculus changes - proximity to Felixstowe, London Gateway or Liverpool docks can matter more, because a centre that receives containers directly saves you a separate haulage leg.
The second variable is how they price. Some centres publish full tiered rate cards; others quote only on request. Neither is a red flag on its own, but published pricing makes comparison honest. Watch for what sits outside the headline per-unit rate: poly bagging, bundling, pallet storage, forwarding fees and removal order handling are commonly charged separately, and a cheap prep rate with expensive storage can cost more overall than the reverse.
Third, check category fit. Dangerous goods, food and supplements, and fragile or oversized items all carry extra handling requirements, and not every centre takes them. If you sell in those categories, confirm before you ship rather than after.
Finally, consider turnaround. Most UK centres quote 24 to 72 hours from receipt to dispatch. That window is working capital: stock sitting in a prep queue is money not earning. For fast-moving arbitrage stock, a 24-hour centre can be worth paying a few pence more per unit.
Worth knowing: Amazon has said it will withdraw its own FBA prep and labelling services in Europe from 1 July 2026. Sellers who currently lean on Amazon to prep or label inventory will need another arrangement in place before then.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Amazon prep centre?+
A prep centre is a third-party warehouse that receives your inventory from suppliers, checks and counts it, then prepares it to Amazon's exact FBA requirements - FNSKU labelling, poly bagging with suffocation warnings, bundling, expiry date checks - before shipping it into an Amazon fulfilment centre on your behalf. It means you never handle the stock yourself, which is what makes online arbitrage and wholesale workable at volume.
How much does FBA prep cost in the UK?+
Across the centres listed here, standard per-unit prep runs from about £0.10 to £0.60. The cheapest published entry rates sit near £0.10-£0.13 per unit at high volume, while smaller-volume tiers typically land between £0.40 and £0.60. Expect extras on top for poly bagging, bundling, pallet storage and forwarding, so compare the whole quote rather than the headline per-unit figure.
Do I need a prep centre, or can I prep at home?+
Prepping at home is fine while volumes are low and your products are simple. A prep centre starts paying for itself once shipments outgrow your space, once you are importing containers, or once your time is worth more than the per-unit fee. It also gives you a UK receiving address for suppliers, which matters if you are sourcing from abroad.
How do I choose between prep centres?+
Location relative to Amazon's fulfilment centres affects your shipping costs, so a Midlands centre often beats one at either end of the country. Beyond that, compare turnaround time, whether pricing is published or quote-only, whether they handle your product category (dangerous goods and food have extra requirements), and whether they can receive containers if you import.
What is changing with Amazon's own prep service?+
Amazon has announced it will stop providing FBA prep and label services in Europe from 1 July 2026. Sellers who currently rely on Amazon to prep and label inventory will need to do it themselves or move to a third-party prep centre, which is why comparing providers now is worth the time.