Frequently Asked Questions —
3PL Warehousing & FBA Prep

ARDI is a bi-coastal 3PL warehouse and Amazon FBA prep partner operating two facilities under one company: 51,000 sq ft in Riverside, California and 35,000 sq ft in Edison, New Jersey — 86,000 sq ft of total warehouse space. We handle receiving, FBA/FBM prep and labeling, storage, kitting and bundling, order fulfillment, and returns processing for e-commerce and Amazon sellers. ARDI is listed in the Amazon Service Provider Network (SPN).

Splitting inventory between an East Coast and a West Coast warehouse lets you reach most of the US population within 1–2 shipping zones, which lowers your fulfillment costs and shortens delivery times. Experienced sellers routinely keep stock in both regions for exactly this reason. ARDI gives you both coasts under a single company, single onboarding, and single point of contact — Riverside (CA) for the West and Edison (NJ) for the East — instead of stitching together two separate vendors.

Yes. ARDI is listed in the Amazon Service Provider Network (SPN). After Amazon ended its own prep service, it pointed sellers toward vetted SPN providers, and not every 3PL qualifies for that or for Seller Fulfilled Prime requirements. Working with an SPN-listed provider means our prep workflows are aligned with what Amazon expects, which reduces the risk of check-in problems and compliance issues.

Yes. Amazon and other marketplaces increasingly ask sellers to show a Warehouse Services Agreement or proof of presence — a document that lists the operating entity name, the facility address, the term, and a signature — for product authenticity and Section 3 reviews. As an established company with two physical warehouses, ARDI can provide this documentation so you can satisfy those requests without scrambling.

Our Edison, NJ warehouse is about 3 miles from Amazon’s LGA9 fulfillment center, which is located in Edison itself. We are also close to JFK8 (~17 mi), TEB6 (~20 mi), EWR4 (~30 mi), and ABE8 (~45 mi). Being this close to an FC shortens the leg between our dock and Amazon’s, which helps inventory check in faster and reduces the chance of delays on the final stretch into FBA.

Our Riverside, CA warehouse sits inside the Inland Empire, one of the densest Amazon logistics clusters in the country, with five Amazon fulfillment centers within roughly 20 miles: ONT8 (~10 mi), SBD2 (~12 mi), ONT9 (~14 mi), LGB8 (~18 mi), and SNA4 (~19 mi). Short distances to multiple FCs give us routing flexibility and faster hand-offs into FBA from the West Coast.

As of January 1, 2026, Amazon discontinued most of its US FBA prep and labeling services, so sellers must now either prep inventory themselves or use a third-party prep partner. The cleanest path for most sellers is to route inventory through a 3PL that knows Amazon’s prep and labeling requirements. ARDI does exactly this: we receive your goods, apply FNSKU labels, poly-bag, bundle, and prepare shipments to Amazon’s current standards, so the change becomes a non-event for your operation.

Yes. We assemble multi-unit kits and bundles, apply FNSKU and shipping labels, poly-bag, and apply any required warning or suffocation labels so your units meet Amazon’s prep requirements. Amazon’s own prep was always minimal and never covered true bundling or kitting, so this is one of the clearest reasons sellers move prep to a dedicated partner.

Our standard prep turnaround is 1–2 business days from receiving. The longer inventory sits before going into FBA, the more sales velocity and storage efficiency you lose, so we keep that window tight. Being close to Amazon FCs on both coasts also helps us keep the final leg into FBA short.

ARDI prep starts from $0.35 per unit, with the exact rate depending on your product type and monthly volume. Industry per-unit prep commonly runs around $1.00–$1.50 for low volume and drops to roughly $0.20–$0.25 for high volume, so it pays to compare on total volume rather than a single advertised number. We give you a line-item quote up front so you can see what is included before you commit.

No. One of the most common complaints sellers raise about prep centers is surprise charges — for poly-bagging, de-stickering, supplies, loading/unloading, or ‘inaccuracy’ fees buried in the fine print. ARDI quotes line by line so each charge is identified before any work begins. If your shipment arrives differently than described or needs extra handling, we tell you first rather than billing you after the fact.

We work with both. Per-unit rates naturally improve with volume — across the industry the biggest price break tends to come around the 1,000-unit mark, and very low volumes (under a few hundred units) sit at the highest rates anywhere. ARDI gives smaller sellers a real warehouse partner without a minimum-volume gate, and gives growing brands the bi-coastal capacity to scale into.

Yes. Both warehouses offer storage so you can hold inventory close to Amazon’s FCs and replenish FBA in smaller, controlled batches instead of overloading Amazon storage. 3PL storage is typically priced per pallet or per cubic foot per month — common pallet rates run roughly $20–$45 per pallet per month — and we’ll quote your rate based on the space and duration you actually use. Storing with us also helps you avoid Amazon’s higher long-term and peak-season storage surcharges.

Yes. Beyond FBA prep, we pick, pack, and ship direct-to-consumer and FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) orders from both coasts. Running fulfillment out of two regions lets you place inventory near your customers and cut transit zones, which lowers per-order shipping cost and speeds delivery. This also gives you a backup channel when you want to sell outside of FBA or keep selling during FBA inventory limits.

Yes. We process returns and Amazon removal orders: receiving returned or removed inventory, inspecting and grading it, re-labeling or re-packaging, and either restocking it for resale or preparing it to go back into FBA. This keeps sellable units in circulation instead of writing them off, and it gives you a controlled landing spot for inventory you pull out of Amazon.

It can. Sellers who source taxable goods often prefer to receive inventory in lower- or no-sales-tax states to improve cash flow on purchases — New Jersey, for example, exempts most clothing and footwear from sales tax. Our New Jersey warehouse can be an advantage for those categories. We are not tax advisors, so confirm specifics with your accountant, but warehouse location is a real factor sellers weigh.

Every order goes through quality control before it ships — verifying SKU, quantity, labeling, and packaging against your instructions — so units arrive at Amazon prepped correctly and don’t trigger penalties. Your inventory lives in real, staffed warehouses with security and standard warehouse safety systems, not a residential garage. Experienced sellers are right to ask about QC and security before choosing a partner, and we’re happy to walk you through ours.

Getting started is straightforward: reach out with your product type, monthly volume, and which coast (or both) you need, and we’ll put together a line-item quote and a Warehouse Services Agreement. Once you’re set up, you send inventory to the Riverside (CA) and/or Edison (NJ) warehouse, and we receive, prep, store, and ship per your instructions. Onboarding to both coasts happens under one company and one point of contact.