An Amazon delivery appointment is booked through Carrier Central, at least twenty-four hours before arrival. Amazon recommends the carrier books it rather than the seller, because the carrier knows the vehicle, the driver and the realistic transit time. The seller supplies the shipment data, the carrier turns it into a slot. Without a valid booking the load will not be received.
Why Amazon prefers the carrier to book
Amazon states it plainly in its seller documentation: it strongly recommends that the carrier, not the seller, books the delivery appointment, so that the fulfilment centre does not receive two versions of the same figures. The reason is practical. A booking carries the number of pallets, cartons and units, and after loading only the carrier knows how many units actually went onto the trailer. If three part-filled pallets were rebuilt into two at the hub, a booking made a week earlier by the seller has stopped being true.
The second reason is changes. Dates sometimes move, and the change is filed where the booking was made. When the seller books and the carrier amends, two requests for one delivery appear in the system. Amazon forbids that outright and requires the duplicate to be cancelled. We set out that procedure in our article on rescheduling and cancelling a delivery appointment.
How far ahead
Amazon requires the appointment request at least twenty-four hours before delivery and states that no load is accepted without one. The fulfilment centre replies to the carrier within a day to settle the time. Twenty-four hours is therefore a formal minimum, not a working plan. On a run from Poland the request goes in once the final pallet count is known, which usually means several days before departure rather than somewhere on the road.
This is where planning most often breaks. The seller assumes the slot can be sorted out en route, while availability depends on how busy that particular site is and shifts from week to week. When a hard commercial date has to be met, the order reverses: fix a realistic appointment first, then count backwards to the departure date and the loading date in Poland.
What the carrier needs from the seller
The data list is short and Amazon publishes it in full. The request needs the destination fulfilment centre and delivery address, the list of FBA shipment IDs, the order numbers in the form of Amazon Reference IDs, the seller name exactly as it appears in the account, and the number of pallets, boxes and units. Amazon also provides a booking form for the seller to fill in and send to the carrier.
- Destination site and address — exactly as shown in the shipping plan, not from a third-party address list.
- FBA shipment IDs — every one travelling on that vehicle to that site.
- Amazon Reference IDs — the order numbers tied to those shipments.
- Seller name — the same one printed on the pallet labels.
- The counts — pallets, boxes, units. These are what get compared at the gate.
What each of these numbers means, and what happens when they disagree, is covered in our piece on shipment and appointment references. The general mechanics of UK warehouse bookings are in the article on booking-in at UK warehouses.
How we handle it on runs from Poland
We treat the appointment as part of the transport order, not as a favour. We take the completed booking form from the customer, or the same data by email, confirm the counts after loading, and only then file the request. When one vehicle carries shipments to several sites, each site gets its own appointment, which we explain in the article on one collection and several Amazon warehouses.
We add the vehicle details to the request, because a share of refusals comes down to the truck rather than the freight. Amazon requires a vehicle that can reverse to the dock door and allow a forklift or powered pallet truck access from the rear, of at least 7.5 tonnes, with a reinforced floor. Vans, cars and lighter lorries are not accepted for palletised deliveries.
When a booking is not enough
A valid appointment is necessary but not sufficient. At the gate the counts are still checked against the booking, along with pallet condition and paperwork. The physical requirements are collected in our articles on Amazon UK pallet requirements and on pallet height, weight and wrapping. What to do when the delivery is turned away anyway is in the piece on a rejected FBA delivery.
Sources
- Amazon Seller Central UK: do I need to book an appointment with the fulfilment centre
- Amazon Seller Central: arranging for an LTL or truckload delivery
- Amazon Carrier Central (United Kingdom)
Sending pallets to an Amazon site in the United Kingdom? Describe the delivery in our quote form and we will book the appointment and plan the run with customs. The full scope is on our Amazon UK deliveries page.
