Amazon FBA packaging requirements – 11 things you have to know

Amazon FBA packaging requirements – How to prep packages for storage in Amazon fulfilment centres

For some Amazon sellers the trickiest part is knowing the right Amazon FBA packaging requirements for their type of product when it comes to shipping their inventory to an Amazon fulfilment centre.

Some people have difficulty understanding Amazon FBA packaging requirements. Some have had their products rejected due to poor packaging. Amazon set certain requirements there for product packaging that FBA sellers need to comply with.

In this article, we explain how you can safely package your product when sending inventory to Amazon fulfilment centres, to avoid product damage or rejection by Amazon on arrival.

Types of packaging

There are two major types of packaging involved when dealing with Amazon FBA inventory:

• Retail packaging
• Bulk packaging

Once you manufacture your retail packaging it is the final packaging of a product. It’s the package that the product is displayed in, on the shelves in Amazon stores.

Bulk packaging is the process of placing large quantities of a product (retail packaged) into a larger box (carton) or pallet, depending on the volume of the product. This allows for easy transportation to Amazon warehouses. And prevents damage to the retail packaged goods in the larger box during shipping.

Shipping process to Amazon fulfilment centres

After your products have been bulk packaged, it is important to record how many cartons there are and how many units are in each carton. This information needs to complete your shipping plan on Amazon Seller Central.

Once you’ve finalised your shipping plan, you'll be able to print out the Amazon shipping labels according to the number of cartons you're going to send, i.e. 5 shipping labels for 5 cartons. You need to affix each label to every carton so that Amazon can identify the cartons on arrival at the warehouse.

Note: The Amazon shipping label is strictly for Amazon's internal use. You still need a courier service, like DHL or any other shipping company. It produce their own shipping labels for each carton as well, for customs purposes.

FNSKU – Fulfilment Network Stock Keeping Unit

FNSKU is a barcode label that contains information about the product. Such as the product description (colour, size, etc.), name, condition (new or used) and product origin (Made in China). This must be affixed on every unit's packaging, as well as on the shipping carton itself. And it must be easily readable and scannable. This is how Amazon identifies each product as unique to its seller.            

Each FNSKU is unique to a specific product. If your products come in varieties – for example, you have two colours of your product, say green and yellow – the green ones should have a unique FNSKU label placed on all their units (10 labels on 10 green products), to distinguish them from the yellow ones which will also require their own unique FNSKU label. If you only have one type of product, you need to place then just one unique FNSKU label on all units.

Packaging requirements for different product types

Amazon has general prep requirements that sellers need to comply with when sending FBA inventory to Amazon fulfilment centres. These requirements are specific to the underlying product types. The basic supplies required for preparing different products are:

• Poly bag
• Bubble wrap
• Box
• Shrink wrap
• Expiry dates in DD-MM-YYYY format, (MM-DD-YYYY in the US)
• Scannable barcode label

Multi-piece products

If your product comes in multiple pieces to be put together, like accessories, add-ons, etc.. You need to ensure that they are grouped together in a single package before sending them to the Amazon warehouse. Anything that could slide out of the main package you must securely bag in a poly bag and taped to the main package.

Sold-as-set products

Products sold as sets, like book sets, multi-packs of food, etc., must be sealed together using either shrink wrap, a poly bag or a box to keep the items from being separated. Affix "Sold As Set", "Ready To Ship" or "This Is A Set, DO NOT SEPARATE" stickers on the package to clearly label it.

Boxed product units

If you usually pack your product in a fancy box, the box must be six-sided. You must use tape, glue, or staples to keep the box closed. And the box must not collapse when medium pressure is applied to any of its sides.

Perforated package

If your product is in a perforated package, like case-packed granola bars, etc., it must be able to withstand a 3-foot drop onto a hard surface. If not, you would need to put it in a protective poly bag, seal and label it.

Poly bagged products

All poly bags with a 5" (inch) opening or wider (when measured flat) must have a visible suffocation warning. You should either print the warning on the poly bag or affixed as a label, and it must be clear and readable.

Print measurements of warning labels for different sized poly bags

About the table below. If the length and width of your poly bag is 60 inches or more, you need to use a warning label print size of 24 point font. The same applies to the rest of the information in the table. All poly bags must be transparent and have a thickness of at least 1.5mm. You must tag them with an FNSKU.

Expiry dated products

Products with expiry dates, like vitamins, cake mixes, etc., must have their expiry date displayed in a DD-MM-YYYY (in the UK, EU) format, and printed on the master carton, retail display and individual items in 36-point font or larger.

Non-perishable items, like canned food, dried fruit, sugar, etc., must not expire within 90 days. Products found to be within 50 days of their expiry date at Amazon fulfilment centres will be discarded.

To sum up, all products must be prepped and safely packaged according to their individual prep requirement. The master box must have all the necessary tags and labels (FNSKU, expiry date and/or "Sold As Set") before it's shipped, to allow for smooth processing on arrival at the Amazon fulfilment centre.

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