Depending on the method of order delivery, Amazon provides sellers with a variety of packing alternatives. When selling on Amazon through Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), sellers must adhere to the common criteria for sending merchandise to various fulfilment centres.
Any product that does not satisfy Amazon’s packing criteria may be refused, returned, or repackaged, and the seller should be aware of this. Noncompliance costs may also be imposed on the seller.
Amazon is a website that sells thousands of items, each having its own packaging requirements based on its shape, size and durability. Below listed are the different kinds of packaging that you should know about if you’re selling on Amazon:
Different Types of Amazon Packaging
Loose products
Amazon does not accept products that require numerous components to be assembled. Each item must be packaged in a separate, safe box, even if it is a multi-volume book set.
- Loose sleeves or pouches must be bagged or fastened with a non-adhesive band or removable tape if they are not contained in secure packaging.
- Footwear, regardless of material, must be wrapped in shoe boxes or poly bags with a suffocation warning, with no shoe material exposed.
Sold as a set
Sets of units, such as a set of six unique toy vehicles marketed as a single item, must be clearly stated as such on their packaging. Attach a label on the unit that specifies that the items are to be received and sold together. As an example, “”This is a set,” “Sold as a set.”
If the individual units in the set already have an ASIN, give the set a unique ASIN. The barcodes on the individual units of bundled sets must not face outward or must be covered. This ensures that fulfilment centre associates scan the pack’s barcode rather than the individual units’ barcode.
Boxed items
- The box must be six-sided.
- There must be apertures or a lid that is difficult to open on its own. Use tape, glue, or staples to hold the box closed if it can readily open on its own.
- When medium pressure is applied to any of the sides, it must not collapse.
If the product has perforated sides or apertures, it must pass a 3-foot drop test with one drop on each side and one drop on a corner. If the product fails the drop test, it must be packaged in a poly bag and labelled with a suffocation warning on the inside.
Case-packed products
When a fulfilment centre receives this sort of shipment, it scans one item from the box and places it in inventory. Because all the units are identical, there is no need to scan them all.
All goods in a box must have the same SKU and be in the same condition, and the maker must have packaged them together.
Each package containing the same product must contain the same amount of that product. A case pack of 12 units, for example, must always include 12 units. The maximum number of units per case is 150.
A manufacturer or distributor may put more than one case pack inside a bigger box in some instances.
Units in polybags
The following conditions must be met by poly bags used to package units:
- A suffocation warning must be written on the bag or affixed as a label for poly bags with a 5-inch aperture or bigger (measured when flat). If a suffocation warning is not applied, the objects may be re-bagged.
- The warning should be printed or put in a visible area with a legible font size appropriate for the bag’s size.
- The bag’s thickness must be at least 1.5 mil (thousandth of an inch). It is necessary for the poly bag to be transparent.
- The polybag must include a scannable barcode (UPC, EAN, etc.) or X00-label on the inside or an X00- or ASIN label on the exterior.
- The poly bags must be sealed fully.
- The polybag or shrink-wrap must not extend beyond the product’s dimensions by more than 3 inches.
- Adult items must be wrapped in opaque black poly bagging or shrink wrap.
- To prevent the aroma from transferring to other items, highly scented products (such as candles, incense, or bully sticks for dogs) must be sealed or bagged.
Bubble-wrapped products
A bubble wrap is necessary when the object is:
- Fragile and vulnerable to damage during transport
- It’s too heavy or dense to transport without causing damage to other goods.
The following criteria must be met by bubble wrap products:
- It must be tightly wrapped and taped shut.
- On the surface, there must be a scannable barcode.
- Passed a 3-foot drop test on a hard surface without damaging the contents. Five drops are used in a drop test:
- The base is completely flat.
- On top, it is flat.
- The longest side is flat.
- The shortest side is flat.
- On a slant.
Some important things to keep in mind when packaging your Amazon product
Here’s a checklist to help you prepare your Amazon FBA packaging:
- Only one barcode should be displayed on a unit while it is being labelled. If a product has a UPC/EAN written on it and a FNSKU label is required, the FNSKU label should cover all the other barcodes. If the product has several barcodes, it may be marked as unfulfillable due to a Label problem flaw.
- If an item falls into more than one category, it must be prepared for shipping in accordance with the rules of all applicable categories.
- Make sure your boxes are sturdy and that the flaps are secure.
- Wrap each item separately.
- Overwrapping with thread or paper is not recommended.
- Use a single address label that includes clear delivery and return instructions.
- Between each of your products and the interior of the box, use at least two inches of padding.
- Stacking many boxes together is not a good idea.
- When reusing a retail box to send various items, scannable barcodes should be covered or erased.
Understanding the overall preparation requirements for sending FBA inventory to Amazon fulfilment centres, as well as the individual product categories that require special preparation, is critical when using Fulfilment by Amazon. It’s also crucial to understand Amazon’s FBA packaging restrictions.
