Amazon FBA Requirements Guide (2026)
Complete Compliance Checklist

Before you read the rules: what actually gets shipments rejected

Amazon publishes hundreds of pages of prep requirements. In practice, a small number of mistakes cause most rejections — and almost all of them happen at the labelling stage, not the packaging stage.

Across the shipments we prepare at our Claymont, Delaware facility, the pattern is consistent: a shipment fails not because the seller misunderstood a rule, but because one unit in a carton of two hundred had a label placed over a seam, or a carton of mixed ASINs went out without box content information. The rule was known. The execution slipped on one unit.

That is why the checks below are organised by where things go wrong rather than by Amazon's own documentation structure.

FNSKU labelling — the single biggest cause of rejection

Every unit entering the FBA network needs a scannable FNSKU unless the product is enrolled in Amazon's commingled (stickerless) inventory. Getting the label right is less about the label itself and more about where it goes.

What we check on every unit:

• The label is on a flat surface — not across a seam, corner, curve or crease. A scanner reads a bent barcode as noise.
• Every other scannable barcode is fully covered. A visible manufacturer UPC next to an FNSKU means the FC may scan the wrong one.
• The label is not under shrink wrap or inside a poly bag when the bag is opaque or printed.
• Print quality: black on white, matte, no toner streaks. Thermal labels fade if they touch heat or solvent — we store printed labels away from both.
• For poly-bagged units, the label goes on the outside of the bag, positioned so the bag's own seal does not sit across the barcode.

Sellers shipping direct from a manufacturer in China or Türkiye often ask the factory to apply FNSKU labels. That works, but ask for a photo of a labelled unit before the full run is produced. Correcting 3,000 mislabelled units after they land in the US costs more than the prep itself.

Poly bagging — thickness, warnings and seals

Poly bags are required for anything that could be soiled, damaged or separated in the FC. The requirements that trip people up:

• Bags must be transparent enough for the barcode to scan through, or the label goes on the outside.
• A suffocation warning is required once the bag opening reaches a certain width — Amazon publishes the current threshold, and it has changed before. We print the warning on every bag regardless of size, which removes the question entirely.
• The bag must be sealed, not folded over. An open bag counts as unsealed.
• Bags should be cut close to the product. Excess plastic bunches under the label and lifts the barcode off flat.

Cartons, weight limits and box content

Two carton-level failures account for most of the rest:

Overweight cartons. Standard cartons have a weight ceiling. Above it, the carton needs a team-lift marking; higher still, a mechanical-lift marking. The exact figures are in Seller Central and are worth checking each quarter. Where a carton is close to the line, we split it — a shipment held for reweighing costs more time than one extra box costs in freight.

Missing box content information. If a carton holds more than one ASIN, the FC needs to know what is inside before it opens the box. That comes either from a 2D barcode on the carton or from manually entered box contents in the shipment plan. Cartons that arrive without it get set aside, and Amazon may charge a manual processing fee per unit.

Expiration dates and lot-controlled goods

Anything with an expiry date — supplements, cosmetics, food-adjacent goods — carries extra rules. The date must be printed in a format the FC can read, on the unit and on the carton. Amazon also requires a minimum remaining shelf life at the moment of receipt, not at the moment you ship. Freight time counts against you.

This is the category where we most often tell a seller to slow down. If the remaining shelf life is marginal, a two-week ocean delay turns an acceptable shipment into a disposal.

Bundles, multipacks and sets

A bundle is one sellable unit with one FNSKU, not several units shipped together. It has to arrive at the FC in a state where a picker cannot accidentally separate it. That means:

• The components are physically held together — bagged, shrink-wrapped or boxed as one.
• The outer packaging carries a "Sold as Set — Do Not Separate" marking.
• Only the bundle's FNSKU is scannable. Component barcodes are covered.

Sellers frequently create a bundle listing and then ship the components loose, expecting the FC to assemble them. The FC will not. Those units get received as individual products or rejected outright.

Hazmat and restricted goods

Hazardous materials need Amazon's approval at the ASIN level before they ship. Lithium batteries, aerosols, flammables and many cleaning products fall in scope. Shipping without approval risks destruction of the inventory and action against the account.

Separately from Amazon's rules, our own facility is not licensed for regulated hazmat — see our restricted products page for what we can and cannot receive, and what we need to see before saying yes.

A note on exact figures

We have deliberately not printed every threshold on this page. Amazon revises weight ceilings, poly bag dimensions and shelf-life minimums, and a guide that states a number confidently is wrong the moment the number changes. The categories above are stable; the figures are not. Check the current values in Seller Central under Shipping and returns before a large run, or ask us and we will confirm against what the FCs are enforcing this month.

Frequently asked questions

Can my supplier apply FNSKU labels instead of you?
Yes, and for large volumes it is usually cheaper. Ask for a photo of a labelled unit before the run starts, and have the first carton checked on arrival. We inspect supplier-labelled goods at no extra charge.

What happens if a shipment is rejected?
We review it with you and identify the cause. Where the issue originated in our prep, we rework and re-submit it at no additional prep charge.

Do you create the shipment plan?
Yes. We create the plan in Seller Central on your behalf, palletise, book the carrier and send you the tracking. Average time from arrival at our dock to dispatch is 48 hours.

Can you handle oversize items?
Yes, priced separately. Send dimensions and weights and we will quote before anything ships.