3PL RFP Template for Amazon Sellers (Free, No Email Required)

By Bernardo Campelo, Forbes Business Council E-Commerce Leader and Founder of PrepVia, an Amazon SPN Certified prep center.

Comparing five prep centers the right way does not mean calling each one and writing down whatever they say out loud. It means one document: the same questions, in the same order, sent to all five at once, so the five answers can sit next to each other and actually mean something.

The obvious shortcut is a template, and that is where it gets harder than it should be. The 3PL RFP templates that come up in a search tend to ask for a work email before showing a single question, and some want company size and monthly freight volume just to unlock a Word file. Once the documents arrive, they rarely ask about FNSKU labels, box content information, split shipments, or who books the Amazon partnered carrier. They were built for a company shipping pallets between its own distribution centers, not for a seller shipping units into Amazon FBA.

That missing template, one written for an Amazon seller, is the reason this post exists.

Below is the entire template, every section and every question, published in the open with nothing to fill in first.

Why the 3PL RFP Templates You Find Online Are Lead Magnets

A template behind an email form is not free. It costs a lead. The 3PL on the other end of that form is not publishing a resource, it is building a list, and the document exists to justify the ask rather than to help the seller filling it out.

That business logic explains why gated templates read almost identically. They list warehouse basics: pallet positions, dock doors, WMS integration, general liability coverage. Amazon tends to show up in the marketing copy wrapped around the question list, not in the questions themselves. A seller using one of those templates as written would learn whether a vendor can store a pallet. She would learn nothing about whether that vendor can get a shipment plan through Amazon's own receiving process without a placement fee attached.

That is not a criticism of the vendors behind them. A generic RFP template serves a generic warehousing client well, someone moving freight between their own distribution centers with no fulfillment network rules to satisfy. It simply was never built for the seller reading this page.

What an Amazon RFP Needs That the Generic Template Never Asks

This template differs from those in two ways. First, there is no form. Copy the questions below directly into a document of your own, in whatever order fits your evaluation, and send it to as many vendors as you want. Nobody at PrepVia is notified, and no email address is collected.

Second, every section below carries at least one question written specifically for an Amazon seller, the kind a generic warehousing RFP has no reason to ask. Six of them recur throughout the document: how FNSKU labeling is handled, who supplies box content information at shipment creation, how a split shipment across multiple fulfillment centers is managed, how the vendor answers for an inbound placement fee, how a lost-inbound reimbursement claim gets filed, and who actually books the Amazon partnered carrier. A vendor who answers all six in one breath has run this process before. A vendor who has to look most of them up has not.

This is a vetting document, meant to run before you choose a vendor. Once you have a finalist and a contract lands on the table, a different checklist applies, the ten clauses worth reading before you sign, which we cover separately in our prep center agreement checklist. Use this RFP to narrow the field. Use that one to read the paper once you have narrowed it to one.

How to Run This RFP

A template only produces a comparison if every vendor answers the same document under the same conditions. The process matters as much as the questions.

Score consistently across vendors using a simple rubric, one row per category from the template, with the strongest possible answer described so a middling one is easy to spot.

A vendor scoring low on paper rarely improves on a call. A vendor scoring high on paper has earned the facility tour.

The Template: Company Profile, Volume, and Receiving

The first two sections establish whether a vendor operates at your scale and whether units entering the building are actually counted, not just accepted on faith in the paperwork that arrived with them.

Company profile and volume

• How many years has the company operated as an Amazon-focused prep center, and is it Amazon SPN Certified?
• What is current monthly unit volume, and what share of it is Amazon FBA versus other channels?
• What is peak-month capacity, and how close to that ceiling does the facility run during the fourth quarter?
• How many active Amazon seller accounts does the facility serve at the same time?
• What is the facility square footage, number of loading docks, and physical address?

Receiving

• What is the standard window from truck arrival to units counted into inventory?
• How does the facility handle a carton count that does not match the packing list, and who gets notified when it happens?
• Does the facility complete box content information verification before units go on the shelf or after?
• What share of inbound cartons are opened and physically counted, rather than accepted on manifest count alone?
• When a carton arrives damaged, is it logged with photos before the carton is opened?

The Template: Prep, Labeling, and Storage

This is where the generic template thins out the most. Labeling and prep are Amazon-specific work, and storage terms decide what happens to your inventory the day communication breaks down.

Prep and labeling

• Does the facility print and apply FNSKU labels in-house, and what is the mis-scan or misapplication rate, measured how?
• Who supplies box content information to Amazon at shipment creation, the seller or the facility?
• What prep services are included in the base per-unit fee, and which ones (poly bagging, bubble wrap, suffocation warning labels, bundling) are billed as a separate line?
• Can the facility build a compliant kit under a single new ASIN, and how is that priced per unit?

Storage

• What is the storage billing unit (per pallet, per shelf, or per cubic foot), and what is the billing cadence?
• Is there a free storage window tied to prep turnaround, and how many days does it cover?
• How many days of unanswered communication and unpaid balance pass, and how many written notices are sent, before inventory is at risk of liquidation?

The Template: Outbound Freight, Systems, and Integration

These two sections separate an operator who has actually run Amazon shipments at volume from one reading Seller Central for the first time on your account.

Outbound shipping and freight

• Who selects and books the Amazon partnered carrier, the facility or the seller?
• When Amazon splits one shipment plan across multiple fulfillment centers, does the facility split cartons into separate outbound loads without an extra manual step on your side?
• What is the average time from units fully received to carrier pickup?
• What happens when a partnered carrier appointment is missed, and who absorbs a resulting late fee?
• Are LTL and small parcel handled in-house, or dispatched to a subcontractor the facility does not directly manage?

Systems and integration

• Is the facility connected to your Seller Central account through SP-API, or does each shipment require manual data entry on the facility side?
• Can you view live inventory counts and shipment status without emailing the facility to ask?
• Does the facility support multichannel prep on the same physical inventory, alongside Amazon FBA?
• What system generates the shipment plan, and who gives final approval before cartons are sealed?

The Template: SLA, Pricing, Insurance, and Contract Exit

The last four sections cover what happens after the relationship starts: how performance is measured, how you are billed, who pays when something is damaged or lost, and what leaving costs.

SLA and metrics

• What is the published prep turnaround window, from units received to the shipment marked ready for carrier pickup, and is there a stated remedy when it is missed?
• What is the documented pick and count accuracy, and how is it calculated?
• Does the facility pack at least five identical cartons per item, same quantity and same mix in each, so your plan can qualify for the Amazon-optimized split with no inbound placement fee? And when Amazon charges an inbound defect fee because a shipment was misrouted, abandoned, or arrived incomplete against the plan, does the vendor take any responsibility for it?
• What is the process for filing an inbound loss reimbursement claim when Amazon's receiving count comes in lower than what the facility shipped, and who prepares that documentation?

Pricing and billing

• Does the quote name every fee and its billing unit in writing, or are some fees left for the first invoice?
• Is the base per-unit fee inclusive of standard FNSKU labeling, or is labeling billed as a separate line?
• What are the payment terms, and is there a deposit or a minimum monthly commitment?
• Does the facility charge a fee to prepare and file an Amazon reimbursement claim, or is that folded into the relationship?

Insurance and liability

• What is the warehouse legal liability coverage limit, per pound, per package, or per occurrence, and can a certificate of insurance be provided before signing?
• What happens when a unit is damaged during prep, before it ever ships, and who absorbs that cost?

Contract exit

• What is the notice period to terminate the relationship, and how many days do you have to remove inventory afterward?
• What is the per-unit or per-pallet cost of outbound handling during an exit?

Here is what we publish about our own operation. Our standard prep window is 24-36 hours. FastLane 35H: 35 hours end to end, from check-in at PrepVia to Amazon FBA delivered status, or the prep is free. We are Amazon SPN Certified, and we work on Net-30, no setup fee, no long-term contract required. Pricing is quoted per account on a free 15-minute call. None of that replaces the written answers you collect from each vendor on your list.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a 3PL RFP template for Amazon sellers?

It is a written document sent to multiple prep centers or 3PLs at once, asking the same questions in the same order, so the answers can be compared side by side rather than remembered from separate phone calls. A version built for Amazon sellers adds questions a generic warehousing RFP never asks, covering FNSKU labeling, box content information, split shipments, the inbound placement fee, lost-inbound reimbursement, and who books the Amazon partnered carrier.

Why do most 3PL RFP templates found online not work for Amazon sellers?

Most of them are lead magnets published by 3PLs: they ask for an email address before showing a single question, and they are written for general warehousing, not for a seller shipping into Amazon FBA. Those templates cover general warehousing needs (pallet positions, dock capacity, WMS integration) and leave out the Amazon-specific mechanics that actually determine whether a shipment clears receiving without a fee or a delay attached.

Do I need to provide my email to use this RFP template?

No. Every question in this post is published directly on the page. Copy it into your own document, edit it however you want, and send it to as many vendors as you choose. No email or form is required to read or copy the template.

How many prep centers should I send this RFP to?

Four to six is a workable range. Fewer than four produces a thin comparison, since one unusual answer skews the whole field. More than six turns scoring into a significant time cost for a marginal improvement in the decision, and most sellers end up seriously considering only the top two or three regardless of how many responded.

What is box content information, and why does an RFP need to ask about it?

Box content information is the itemized list of what is physically inside each outbound carton, submitted to Amazon at shipment creation so the fulfillment center knows what it is receiving without opening every box to check. Whether the seller or the facility supplies that information determines who is responsible when a carton's contents do not match what Amazon expected on arrival, which is exactly the kind of detail a generic warehousing RFP has no reason to ask about.

Who should pay for the Amazon partnered carrier, the seller or the prep center?

The seller does, and Amazon settles that part on its own: the partnered carrier cost is billed to the seller's Seller Central account as an inbound transportation charge and shows up as a service fee in the Payments report, so it is not a line the prep center pays and passes through on its invoice. What varies, and what belongs in the RFP rather than being assumed, is who books it. Some facilities create and confirm the shipment inside your account on your behalf, while others require the seller to book it directly through Seller Central. Either model can work, but the agreement should state which one applies before the first shipment ships, not after a charge lands that nobody expected.

Can I use this template to evaluate PrepVia?

Yes, the same way you would use it with any other vendor. Part of the answer is already public: our standard prep window is 24-36 hours, we are Amazon SPN Certified, and we work on Net-30, no setup fee, no long-term contract required. Pricing is quoted per account on a free 15-minute call.

Final Take

Wanting one document for every vendor is not unusual. It is what any operations person does before a decision that touches inventory, cash, and a fulfillment network with its own rules: the same questions asked of everyone, in writing, before anyone gets on a call. That a template for it is hard to find says more about the state of 3PL vetting than it should.

None of the ten sections above are complicated. Profile and volume tell you whether a vendor operates at your scale. Receiving and prep tell you whether units are actually counted and correctly labeled. Freight and systems tell you whether Amazon's own rules are handled or improvised. SLA, pricing, insurance, and exit terms tell you what happens when something goes wrong and what it costs to leave if it keeps going wrong. Ask all ten, score the answers before the call, and the decision mostly makes itself.

What is hard to find is a template that asks the Amazon-specific version of these questions without demanding an email first. Now that gap is closed. Copy the sections above, send them to four or five vendors this week, and see which ones answer in one breath.