Amazon GWD in China vs a US Staging Warehouse: What Each Can Do Before FBA

By Bernardo Campelo, Forbes Business Council E-Commerce Leader, Amazon SPN Certified provider, Amazon SP-API authorized partner, and Founder of PrepVia.

Since April, I keep getting a version of the same question. You make your product in China and sell it on Amazon US. You open the Send to Amazon Warehousing and Distribution workflow and find a new destination: an Amazon warehouse in China. Amazon says its storage there costs up to 45% less than AWD. So why pay anyone to hold your cartons in the United States?

Sometimes you should not. I run a prep center in Miami, and some SKUs belong in Amazon's China warehouse instead of mine. Others should never go there, because the published rules leave them with no exit.

Here is the thesis. Global Warehousing and Distribution is a cheap bulk shelf in China that can only empty into FBA. A US staging warehouse is a pricier shelf on your side of the ocean. It can empty anywhere, and it is the last place a person opens your carton before Amazon does.

What GWD Is, Read Off Amazon's Own Pages

Amazon announced GWD for shipments starting April 9, 2026, with a facility in Shenzhen. It stores bulk inventory in China and replenishes the US FBA network on demand. Shanghai followed on July 16, 2026, along with the FOB incoterm at every site. Ningbo was announced on September 2, 2026 as the third GWD warehouse.

The Send shipments to GWD help page sets the terms. You must onboard to Amazon Global Logistics and set up an importer of record. You book through the Send to AWD workflow with a ship-from address in China. Then the inbound rules apply:

• Your own carrier delivers to the warehouse. Amazon offers no pickup at the supplier.
• Floor-loaded cartons by full or less-than-truckload only. No small parcel, no pallets.
• One SKU per box, up to 150 units. No mixed-SKU boxes.
• One SSCC label per box. The US fulfillment center printed on it is a placeholder until replenishment.

The price list is public. The GWD fees page shows this schedule, effective September 1, 2026:

Storage is charged monthly on daily usage per cubic meter. The ocean leg is not on this table, because Amazon Global Logistics bills transportation separately. The rate card prices the shelf, not the trip.

Where GWD Beats a Warehouse on US Soil

A prep center has every reason to talk you out of this program. So start with where it wins.

Storage. In its launch post, Amazon says GWD storage runs up to 45% below US AWD. By my conversion, $8.79 per cubic meter is about $0.25 per cubic foot per month, since a cubic meter holds 35.315 cubic feet. The AWD base storage rate for 2026 is $0.48 per cubic foot per month in the East Coast, South East and South Central regions and $0.57 in the West Coast region. That compares storage alone. Your full GWD cost adds AGL freight, clearance per booking, export declaration and processing. Amazon also says the AWD Smart Storage and Amazon Managed rates do not apply to GWD.

Capacity. This is the edge that is easiest to miss. The GWD replenishment page says inventory auto-replenished from GWD is exempt from FBA capacity limits. Manual replenishments are not, and they get rejected if they would push you over. No third-party warehouse in the US can give you that. US AWD can: the AWD replenishment page grants the same exemption to AWD auto-replenishment, for sortable items only. Under the FBA capacity limits rules, you are blocked from new shipments once on-hand inventory plus inbound would exceed your limit. Our capacity limits playbook covers what to do when the number drops.

Fee relief. Send 70% or more of a SKU to FBA through auto-replenishment from GWD or AWD over the previous 90 days, and Amazon says three FBA charges stop applying: the low-inventory-level fee, the storage utilization fees and the aged inventory surcharge for 181 to 365 days. Direct inbounds to FBA sit in the ratio's denominator. Every carton you send straight from a US warehouse dilutes it. The first of those fees is unpacked in our low-inventory-level fee guide.

Size. GWD takes conveyable, non-sortable products under 25 inches per side and 49 lb or less. Since July 31, 2026, AWD accepts only sortable items, smaller than 18 x 14 x 8 inches and under 20 lb. For a China-made item between those sizes, GWD still says yes where AWD says no. See where oversize inventory goes now.

Time and a promotion. Amazon says GWD shipments paired with AGL typically arrive up to 7 days faster than standard AGL shipments. Shipments received between July 1 and December 31, 2026 also get 30 days of free storage. Amazon can change or cancel that promotion, so do not plan around it.

What GWD Cannot Do: The Limits Amazon Publishes

Every limit below comes from Amazon's own help pages.

It only feeds FBA. Amazon says GWD inventory can only be replenished to Fulfillment by Amazon. Transfers to US AWD are not supported. Distribution to non-Amazon locations is not available. Your Walmart, Shopify, retail and B2B stock cannot come from that shelf. If you want Amazon to hold the bulk and keep other channels open, the AGL Ship to AWD service moves ocean freight from China and Vietnam straight into US AWD, which can distribute off Amazon, but only for sortable items.

It does not prep or fix units. Amazon's FBA Prep Service page says that since January 1, 2026, Amazon no longer preps or labels items for FBA in the US store, AGL inventory included. The GWD fee table has no prep line. The Warehousing and Distribution program policy says the services exclude unit labeling and relabeling, and your shipments must already meet FBA prep requirements at the unit level.

Be precise here. GWD is not blind. Its inbound processing covers unloading, scanning, inspection and stowing, and Amazon sends instructions when it finds a discrepancy at receipt. What it does not publish is a service that fixes a wrong FNSKU or a missing polybag. In this route, your factory is your prep center. That trade-off is laid out in FBA prep in China versus the US.

It has no way back. This is the limit I would underline. Some GWD sites, Shenzhen included, are bonded or export-supervised. Once the export declaration is complete, Amazon says it cannot remove or dispose of your inventory back to China. The program policy adds that removals from GWD may be limited or unavailable. In a recall, Amazon says it may not be able to return units from GWD, and then they will be disposed.

It excludes whole categories. The GWD eligibility page rules out consumer electronics, hazmat including lithium ion and lithium metal batteries, products with an expiration date, meltables, jewelry, watches and high-value items. Its restricted list adds food, vitamins and supplements, and medical devices, among others.

It runs on Amazon's terms. GWD SKUs start on manual replenishment. Auto-replenishment needs the SKU's customs data in Amazon's ProCheck library, and GWD offers no minimum or maximum unit settings. Refills move in whole cartons. Every refill also brings paperwork: shipping instructions to review within one business day. Amazon warns that missing documents can mean delay, a customs hold and potential disposal.

It is still an ocean away. Amazon points GWD sellers to the AGL standard ocean LCL lead times. The AGL transit time table shows 54 to 64 days from Chinese ports to the US West Coast, 50 to 60 to US Central and 53 to 63 to the East Coast. Take off the up to 7 days Amazon says GWD saves, and a refill still takes weeks. A demand spike this Tuesday is not answered from Ningbo this week.

What a US Staging Warehouse Does That GWD Cannot

A US staging warehouse is the stop between the port and Amazon. It adds drayage, unloading, handling and a domestic trip into FBA. It earns that cost only when it does what the shelf in China cannot.

The first four rows carry the weight. A count against your packing list turns a short shipment into a supplier claim before it becomes an Amazon case; see how your cartons get received. A wrong label fixed on a US line costs cents. Found inside FBA, it can cost a removal and a second inbound. And Amazon says shipments created after January 1, 2026 that arrive without proper prep and item labeling are not eligible for reimbursement if damaged or untraceable.

Cartons matter too. Amazon's inbound placement fee page says the no-fee split option needs at least five identical cartons or pallets per item. On a US line, mixed cartons from three suppliers can be rebuilt into identical ones. In GWD, the carton your factory sealed is the carton that ships. A US shelf can also split one container across channels; see one inventory pool, three channels.

Now the honest part. A US warehouse does not beat Amazon on the price of standing still. Our storage is billed by the day, $0.07 per cubic foot, because it is built for stock that moves in weeks. If you plan to park a year of bulk, a prep center is the wrong shelf. GWD or AWD will cost you less per cubic foot. And a third-party US warehouse does not lift your FBA capacity limit. It only gives your overflow somewhere to wait.

The Duty Question, and Why I Will Not Answer It for You

Sellers ask whether keeping stock in China changes when they pay duty. It is a fair question, and it is not mine to answer. Here is what Amazon publishes, and where you need a professional.

Stock in GWD sits in China. Each refill is a cross-border booking. The replenishment page lists three requirements for it: an importer of record, a power of attorney on file and an active US customs bond. For auto-replenishment, Amazon builds the shipping instructions from the HTS code, description and country of origin you store in ProCheck. One order can split into several AGL bookings, by region and by attributes such as importer of record, incoterm and billing currency. A single LCL booking cannot exceed 12,500 kg or 40 cubic meters. In Amazon's illustrative example, each booking carries a $36 import clearance fee. That is an illustration, not a published rate.

Stock on a US shelf has already made the crossing. Whether that changes when duty is owed, on what value, or how it hits your cash is a customs and accounting question. Take it to your licensed customs broker and your accountant before you move volume either way. PrepVia is not a customs broker, importer of record or freight forwarder. Our guide to who does what between a broker, a forwarder and a 3PL shows where each question goes.

The Decision Matrix: Eleven Questions per SKU

Run this per SKU, not per brand. Your catalog will probably split, and that is fine.

Rows 1 and 2 are gates. A no in either sends the SKU to a US shelf. Row 7 is a veto I would respect: if a recall or removal is plausible, keep the SKU out of a warehouse that Amazon says may not return it.

Past the gates, count right-hand answers in rows 3 to 6, 9 and 11. Zero or one, and GWD is the cleaner route. Three or more, and the US stop is doing real work. At two, rows 8 and 10 break the tie toward GWD. No third-party US warehouse can give you the capacity exemption, and GWD still takes items AWD now refuses.

When GWD Wins, and the Split Most Brands Should Run

GWD wins outright when the SKU ships from China, clears the eligibility list, sells only on Amazon US, arrives prepped with a record to prove it, and sells on steady demand. Put that SKU on auto-replenishment. It gets storage Amazon prices below AWD, a path around capacity limits and, at 70%, relief from three FBA charges. A US stop would add a leg and a storage bill for a check that finds nothing. I would not sell you that stop.

The US shelf wins when anything can go wrong after the carton is sealed, when the stock serves more than Amazon, or when you might need it back. Launches, new suppliers, bundles and dated products belong there.

Most brands with more than a handful of SKUs should run both, split by SKU. Keep the lanes clean: direct inbounds from the US count against the 70% ratio, so do not feed one SKU from both sides. Before your first GWD booking, get these answers in writing:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Amazon Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD)?

GWD is Amazon's bulk storage program in China for US sellers. It opened in Shenzhen for shipments starting April 9, 2026, then added Shanghai and Ningbo. You deliver single-SKU cartons with your own carrier, Amazon stores them, and Amazon Global Logistics carries refills into US fulfillment centers. You need AGL onboarding and an importer of record to use it.

Is GWD cheaper than AWD?

On storage, Amazon says yes, by up to 45%. The published $8.79 per cubic meter per month works out to about $0.25 per cubic foot, against AWD base rates of $0.48 or $0.57 depending on region. That is storage only. GWD adds ocean freight, clearance per booking, export declaration and processing fees, so price the whole path per SKU.

Can GWD inventory go to Walmart, Shopify or US AWD?

Not as of September 25, 2026. Amazon says GWD inventory can only be replenished to FBA, that transfers to US AWD are not supported, and that distribution to non-Amazon locations is not available. Stock for other channels needs a US shelf, or a share of the order kept out of GWD from the start.

Does GWD prep or relabel my units?

No. Amazon ended its FBA prep and item labeling service in the US store on January 1, 2026, AGL inventory included, and the program policy excludes unit labeling and relabeling. GWD does scan and inspect at inbound, but your units must arrive already prepped and labeled to FBA requirements.

Can I get inventory back out of GWD?

Possibly not. Amazon says some GWD sites, Shenzhen included, are bonded or export-supervised, and once the export declaration is complete it cannot remove or dispose of the inventory back to China. The program policy adds that removals may be limited or unavailable. Keep SKUs with real recall or removal risk out.

Does GWD bypass FBA capacity limits?

Only through auto-replenishment. Amazon says auto-replenished GWD inventory is exempt from FBA capacity limits, while manual replenishments are subject to them and get rejected above your limit. GWD SKUs start on manual by default, and auto-replenishment needs the SKU's customs data in Amazon's ProCheck library.

Where does a US prep center fit if I use GWD?

Alongside it, not inside it. GWD stock only moves to FBA, so a US prep center takes the SKUs that should not go there: launches, rework, expiration-dated products and multichannel stock. PrepVia receives, counts, photographs, preps, labels, stores and ships to Amazon from Miami, with a prep window of 24-36 hours. It is not a customs broker, forwarder or importer of record.

Final Take

GWD is a good product for one shape of inventory: made in China, eligible, sold only on Amazon US, prepped right at the factory and refilled on a steady forecast. For that SKU, cheaper storage, the capacity exemption and the 70% fee relief are real. I would not route it through my dock.

The mistake is treating GWD as a cheaper US warehouse that happens to sit in China. It is a one-way shelf. It feeds FBA and nothing else, and it does not fix a unit. At bonded sites, Amazon says it cannot remove declared stock back to China.

So decide per SKU. Proven, eligible, Amazon-only refills go to GWD when the matrix says so. Everything that might need hands, a second channel or an exit waits on a US shelf, where someone opens the carton first. Either way, the duty question goes to your broker, not to a warehouse.