Lead Time
Order to sellable: production plus freight plus FBA check-in.
Definition
Lead time is the total elapsed time from placing a purchase order to having those units available for sale. For FBA that includes supplier production, freight and customs, and Amazon's receiving and check-in time at the fulfillment center, not just the manufacturing window.
Why lead time matters for an FBA seller
Lead time is the single biggest driver of how early you have to reorder. Underestimate it and every replenishment is structurally late, no matter how good your forecast is.
FBA sellers routinely undercount it by stopping at the supplier ship date. The units are not sellable when they leave the factory or even when they reach the warehouse; they are sellable when Amazon finishes receiving and checking them in, which can add days or weeks during peak periods.
How lead time connects to your restock decisions
Lead time sets the reorder point. Reorder when on-hand inventory equals expected demand over the lead time plus safety stock. A longer or more variable lead time pushes that trigger earlier and usually means you need a larger safety buffer too.
Use realistic, recent lead times per supplier and lane, and treat their variability as a planning input rather than an afterthought. Build to the worst plausible lead time for critical SKUs, because the cost of a stockout almost always exceeds the cost of arriving a little early.
Related terms
Track real lead times, not guesses
Inventory Hero records your actual supplier lead times and feeds them straight into your reorder points, so a slow shipment never becomes a stockout.
14-day free trial