Amazon Labeling Requirements

Let’s go over the different Amazon labeling requirements according to their Terms of Service (TOS). Labeling is one of the requirements that FBA sellers need to pay strict attention to.

Product Labels Needed

There are two kinds of barcodes that you can use to identify your products correctly:

• Manufacturer barcodes (eligible barcodes include GCID, UPC, EAN, JAN, or ISBN)
• Amazon barcodes (ASIN or FNSKU)

1. Manufacturer Barcodes

The most common barcode used in the USA is the UPC. By definition, UPC stands for “Universal Product Code”. The term “UPC Code” is commonly used to describe the UPC Barcode symbol, and a “UPC Code” is essentially a barcode symbol encoding a 12-digit number called a GTIN-12.  As described below, the GTIN-12 is essentially the UPC data derived primarily from a GS1 Company Prefix and Item Reference Numbers. An example of a manufacturer barcode is shown below:

Source: https://www.gtin.info/buy-gs1-upc-barcodes/

2. Amazon Barcodes

Products that do not have a UPC barcode added to them must have an Amazon barcode instead. These barcodes are referred to as FNSKU barcodes. FNSKU stands for ‘Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit’ and it is an Amazon product identifier for products that are fulfilled by Amazon.

An FNSKU can be generated once you create a listing on Amazon, you just simply select the product and print the labels. Here is an example of what an FNSKU looks like:

Amazon Shipping Labels Needed

Help ensure your products arrive safely and quickly at an Amazon fulfilment center by following these important requirements for shipment labels and packaging your inventory.

Each box and pallet you ship to an Amazon fulfilment center must be properly identified with a shipment ID label. Follow these guidelines for labeling your boxes in order to have a smooth process:

1. Print the full set of labels. Because each label is unique, don’t photocopy, reuse, or modify labels for use on additional boxes.
2. Don’t place labels on a seam or opening on the box because they will be damaged when the box is opened.
3. Place both the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) shipment ID label and the carrier label (UPS, FedEx, or other) on a flat surface of the box so the barcodes don’t fold over the edges or corners.
4. Each box in the shipment must have its own FBA shipment ID label printed from your Shipping Queue.
5. Each pallet you send needs four labels, one on the top center of each side.
6. If you’re shipping multiple case packs in a master carton, apply the shipment ID label to the master carton. You don’t need to apply shipment ID labels to the case packs inside the master carton.

Here is an example of a typical Amazon shipping label:

You can read more about Amazon’s FBA inventory requirements here.

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