Amazon Is Offering 30 Days of Free Storage in China. Here’s What Sellers Need to Know.
Amazon announced on July 8, 2026 that sellers sourcing from China will get 30 days of free storage through its Global Warehousing and Distribution program for every shipment received at a GWD facility between July 1 and December 31, 2026. The promotion applies automatically once inventory arrives at an active GWD distribution center, with no additional setup required beyond enrolling in the program.
The timing is deliberate. Amazon wants sellers to test GWD's China-based storage model before peak season inventory decisions need to be locked in, and the free storage window gives sellers a low-risk way to do exactly that.
What GWD Actually Is
GWD launched in April 2026 with a single facility in Shenzhen, Amazon's first smart warehouse in China. The program sits upstream of US-based Amazon Warehousing and Distribution, letting sellers hold bulk inventory in China and automatically replenish US fulfillment centers based on demand signals rather than sending large shipments across the Pacific on a fixed schedule.
Amazon handles local storage, customs clearance, cross-border shipping, and inventory transfers as a single managed service through Amazon Global Logistics. The pitch to sellers is straightforward: store inventory closer to where it is manufactured at up to 45% lower cost than US-based AWD, and let Amazon's system move it into the US fulfillment network when it is needed rather than paying US storage fees on inventory that is not ready to sell.
The program adds a second China facility starting July 16, when GWD expands into Shanghai's Yangtze River Delta region. Shanghai sits closer to many manufacturers in eastern and central China than Shenzhen does, reducing the distance from factory floor to GWD facility for a wide range of product categories. Amazon is also adding support for the FOB incoterm across all GWD locations with this expansion, which matters for sellers who obtain separate invoices for export declaration and origin port handling charges as part of an export tax rebate process.
The Fee Structure and What 30 Days Free Actually Saves You
GWD's standard storage fee runs $8.79 per cubic meter per month. For reference, a 15 cubic meter monthly storage position costs $131.85 per month at standard rates. The 30-day free window waives that fee entirely for the first month after your shipment is received, regardless of when in the July to December period that arrival occurs.
Processing fees still apply during the free storage period. You pay $0.20 per carton for inbound processing, $0.30 per carton for outbound processing, and export declaration fees of $50 per inbound shipment plus $0.10 per carton at outbound. Transportation costs are separate and billed through Amazon Global Logistics rather than through GWD directly.
The comparison point for most sellers is US-based AWD, which charges $0.56 per cubic foot per month, or roughly $19.80 per cubic meter at equivalent volume. GWD's $8.79 rate represents a 55% reduction at standard pricing, and the free first month brings your cost of testing the program to zero on storage alone.
What GWD Does to Your FBA Fee Structure
One benefit that does not appear in the headline promotion is worth understanding before you decide whether to enroll. When you use GWD auto-replenishment, Amazon waives the low-inventory-level fee, storage utilization surcharges, and FBA aged inventory surcharges for products stored between 181 and 365 days, provided you auto-replenished 70% or more of that SKU through GWD or AWD over the previous 90 days.
For sellers who have been hit by low-inventory-level fees because US fulfillment center capacity prevented them from stocking adequately, this waiver removes a penalty that has real per-unit impact. Auto-replenishment shipments from GWD also bypass FBA storage limits, which matters for sellers who lose Q4 sales every year because FBA caps reject their shipments at the worst possible time.
The tradeoff is control. Auto-replenishment means Amazon decides how much inventory moves into US fulfillment centers and when, with no minimum or maximum unit controls available to the seller. If you want to time your FBA replenishment precisely around promotions or deal events, manual replenishment preserves that control but does not carry the fee waiver benefits.
What Amazon Is Building Here
GWD is the first step in what Amazon describes as its Next Generation of Global Selling vision, where a seller lists once, stages inventory at the country of origin, and sells globally without managing cross-border logistics. Chinese sellers currently represent roughly half of Amazon's global active seller base and were 62% of new seller registrations in 2024. Amazon is building GWD to deepen those relationships while also lowering the barriers for any seller who manufactures in China, regardless of whether they are based there.
That framing matters for US-based sellers who source from Chinese factories and have historically managed their own freight forwarding, customs clearance, and US warehouse arrangements. GWD is not exclusively a tool for Chinese sellers. Any seller with a Chinese manufacturing relationship and a US store listing can enroll and potentially replace several third-party logistics relationships with a single Amazon-managed pipeline.
What to Do Before the Free Storage Window Closes
The promotion runs through December 31, 2026. Amazon's suggestion to start now ahead of peak season is practical advice rather than just marketing language. If you want GWD inventory feeding US fulfillment centers for Prime Big Deal Days in October, your AWD inbound deadline is September 2, which means your GWD shipment needs to be received well before that to give auto-replenishment time to move inventory through the chain.
To get started, go to Send to Amazon Warehousing and Distribution in Seller Central, select a ship-from address in China, choose a GWD distribution center, and submit your booking. Test with a single shipment first if you are new to the program. The 30-day free storage promotion applies automatically, so there is no separate form to complete to claim the benefit.
