Table of Contents:
1. FBA Product Title Requirements
2. FBA Item Conditions
3. FBA Packaging and Prep
4. FBA Barcodes
5. FBA Shipment Labels
6. FBA Shipping and Routing
7. FBA Inventory Capacity Limits
8. FBA Minimum Inventory Level Recommendations
9. FBA Box Content Information
**FBA Inventory Requirements: Ensuring a Smooth Fulfillment Process**
🎯 FBA Product Title Requirements
When using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), your product titles must adhere to specific requirements to ensure they are easy to read, capture the essence of your products, and accurately promote your listings. These requirements include:
- Titles must not exceed 200 characters, including spaces.
- Titles must not contain promotional phrases like "Free shipping" or "100% quality guaranteed."
- Titles must not contain decorative characters.
- Titles must include key product-identifying information, such as "hiking boots" or "umbrella."
Failure to comply with these title requirements may result in your product being suppressed from Amazon search results.
🔍 FBA Item Conditions
Customers trust that Amazon sellers will correctly list the quality of their products. To maintain this trust, it's crucial to have high-quality control standards. For inventory to be sold as new in the Amazon store, it must arrive at the fulfillment center in brand-new, unused condition. Items listed as used will be marked as unsellable only if they are defective, unusable, mislabeled, or missing parts.
📦 FBA Packaging and Prep
Incorrectly prepped and labeled inventory may incur a preparation fee, and Amazon may refuse, return, or repackage your inventory at your expense. Packaging and prep requirements depend on the specific products, but generally, you must use a rigid, suitably sized, six-sided box with its flaps intact, filled with enough packing material to prevent the box from collapsing. Boxes containing multiple standard-size items or oversized items must not exceed 25 inches on any side.
🔖 FBA Barcodes
Each item sent to an Amazon fulfillment center requires labeling with either a manufacturer barcode (such as a UPC, EAN, JAN, or ISBN) or an Amazon barcode (such as an FNSKU). Manufacturer barcodes are used by default to track eligible inventory, but if your product is not eligible for virtual tracking, an Amazon barcode is required.
📫 FBA Shipment Labels
When shipping your products to fulfillment centers, you need only two labels: a shipping label and an FBA box ID label on the outside of your box. This ensures your products arrive safely and quickly. Each FBA box label should contain box content information that you provide during the shipment creation workflow.
🚚 FBA Shipping and Routing
Proper shipping and routing are essential to ensure your inventory is optimized for arrival at a fulfillment center. Different shipments may have additional requirements, so be sure to familiarize yourself with each requirement by searching for "Shipping and routing requirements" in Seller Central.
📊 FBA Inventory Capacity Limits
Individual sellers have a fixed capacity limit of 15 cubic feet, while Professional sellers may not have capacity limits if they maintain an Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score at or above the required threshold. Capacity limits apply to seven storage types: standard-size, oversize, apparel, footwear, flammable, aerosol, and extra-large.
📈 FBA Minimum Inventory Level Recommendations
Maintaining "Healthy" inventory levels helps meet customer demand and offer faster delivery speeds. You can view your inventory health level and the recommended minimum inventory level for each SKU in the Seller Central dashboard.
📋 FBA Box Content Information
Providing accurate box content information helps speed the receipt of your shipment and makes your inventory available to customers sooner. Without the proper box content information, an FBA manual processing fee and future shipment prevention may occur.
By closely following these nine core FBA inventory requirements, you can ensure a smooth Send to Amazon workflow, reduce compliance delays, keep your product listings active, and maintain good Account Health. Remember to search for the relevant Help pages in Seller Central to learn more about each requirement.
Highlights:
- Comply with FBA product title, item condition, packaging, and barcode requirements to avoid issues.
- Properly label and route your shipments to fulfillment centers to ensure timely delivery.
- Manage your inventory capacity and minimum inventory levels to meet customer demand.
- Provide accurate box content information to speed up the receipt of your shipments.
FAQs:
Q: What happens if I don't comply with the FBA inventory requirements?
A: Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the refusal of inventory at the fulfillment center, disposal or return of inventory, prevention of future shipments, or fees.
Q: How can I view my current and potential FBA capacity limits?
A: To view your FBA capacity limits and usage, go to the Seller Central main menu, hover over 'Inventory', and click 'Inventory Performance'.
Q: How do I provide box content information for my FBA shipments?
A: For detailed instructions on creating a packing template to provide box content information, search for 'Send to Amazon – Create a case-pack template' video in Seller University.
Resources:
- https://brandservices.amazon.com/transparency
- https://www.voc.ai/product/ai-chatbot
