Labeling products for Amazon FBA sellers can be time-consuming and tedious. There’s a lot of concentration to put into it to avoid errors that could be very costly, not just for you but also for Amazon’s extremely fast-paced logistics process at their fulfillment centers.
You could easily spend up to 5 hours a week doing this task yourself. That’s 2 full days per month! Imagine how much more money you could make if that was your time spent on other activities like getting new products into stock or marketing your business? A lot!
In this blog post, we will talk about Amazon’s FBA label service. This system is very useful for companies that have a lot of products to label and organize. Removing this task from your to-do list may be the missing piece you need to make your life a lot easier!
What Is Necessary To Be Included In An Amazon FBA Label?
There are all kinds of shipping labels, and they can get confusing for new Amazon sellers. However, Amazon FBA labels have only three main components, which are:
- Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit (FNSKU)
- Name of product
- Product Condition – Which vary from New, Used – Like New or Open Box, Used – Very Good, Used – Good, Used – Acceptable, and more
The reason why Amazon requires a FNSKU alongside a regular SKU label is because many sellers can be selling the same product as you, and Amazon uses the FNSKU barcode so its systems can identify an item as sold by a particular seller who should be getting credit for the sale.
Why Is This Labeling So Important?
Proper labeling is crucial for Amazon FBA’s entire operations because it has two main purposes: inventory management and order fulfillment.
Inventory management – This is essential to ensure that the products you have in stock check out with what Amazon has on record. The available stock indicated on a product listing has to sync up properly with the stock that is available in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. If they don’t match, then there will be a problem!
Order fulfillment – This is how Amazon knows what items to ship out and where they should go. An order will be processed if the inventory matches up with your customer’s order, but it won’t happen unless you have properly labeled products! When you label each product with its FNSKU and the product’s Condition, it tells Amazon’s systems which products have been ordered so they can be sent out accordingly.
What Is Amazon’s In-House FBA Label Service?
The Amazon FBA Label Service is a service that Amazon offers to FBA sellers who do not want to go through the time-consuming process of labeling their own products. It only costs $0.30 per item!
If you are an Amazon entrepreneur, or running any kind of fiable business, then this service will benefit you in more ways than one. But how exactly does it work?
Let’s explain! When you send your inventory into one of Amazon warehouses they put FNSKU labels onto your items for you so that when they get scanned at the warehouse all the information needed comes up automatically – without any error.
This service is exclusive to FBA sellers only and unfortunately cannot be done for FBM sellers. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service that lets online sellers send their inventory into one of Amazon’s fulfillment center warehouses, where they’ll be picked, packed and shipped out by Amazon on behalf of the seller. Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), on the other hand, is where Amazon sellers personally pack, label, and ship out orders to their buyers.
The reason why Amazon’s FBA label service is exclusive to FBA sellers is because FBM sellers never get their inventory in contact with Amazon for them to be able to do the labeling on the seller’s behalf.
What Items Are Qualified For FBA Label Service?
If you sell your products on Amazon, then you’ll love the FBA label service. It allows you to save time printing out labels and manually pasting them on items. But unfortunately, there are some limitations to their service.
Amazon states that products that are eligible for the FBA Label Service include the following:
- Any condition (new, used, collectible, refurbished, and others)
- Any product type (media and even non-media)
- Not a prohibited, restricted, or high-value item
- Should have a single scannable barcode (GCID, UPC, EAN, JAN, or ISBN) that has a registered ASIN in Amazon’s online catalog
Amazon has a Seller Central Help page for FBA Label Service for this topic, in which they also note that:
Note: GCIDs can no longer be used in place of a UPC, EAN, JAN, or ISBN to create ASINs. If your brand has been approved for Amazon Brand Registry and you don’t have UPCs, EANs, JANs, or ISBNs for your products, you can apply for a GTIN exemption
They also state that “Amazon will, at our sole discretion, determine which products meet the eligibility requirements for the FBA Label Service. We reserve the right to disqualify products from this service that otherwise meet the above requirements.”
How To Turn On FBA Label Service In Your Seller Central Account
In your Amazon FBA Label Service settings, you may select a new label service option.
- Select Fulfillment by Amazon from the Settings drop-down menu.
- Click Edit in the Optional services section.
- Select Amazon if you wish to use the FBA Label Service, or Merchant if you wish to label your own products.
- Click Update.
If you decide to not use FBA Label Service, make sure you don’t forget to label them before sending your inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers. Otherwise, they won’t be able to successfully scan products at the warehouses and they will not accept your inventory. Orders cannot be fulfilled without proper labeling, so this mistake will cause delays.
The Benefits Of Using Amazon’s FBA Label Service
- Amazon’s labeling system prevents errors. If you do your own labeling, there’s a chance for human error.
- Sellers don’t have to spend the time generating FNSKUs for products anymore
- Your items get quickly scanned into their system and gets them out to customers faster than other sellers who do not use this service.
- There is no chance of labels getting damaged by mishandling, in transit, or by the weather condition because it is done inside Amazon’s fulfillment centers
- You won’t have to worry about running out of ink or a malfunctioning printer
How Should I Label My Own Products If I Don’t Want To Use Amazon’s FBA Label Service?
If you decide to not opt for the FBA labeling service, then you can manually print out your own using your own printer.
It is recommended that you use a thermal printer because thermal printers create pictures by combining heat and a special kind of paper. You won’t have to spend money on ink again and won’t have to deal with a malfunctioning ribbon.
You can also outsource this task through companies that are dedicated to printing out FNSKU barcodes and other shipping labels for you at an affordable price. They are able to offer affordable prices because they do the printing in bulk. If you are not selling items at a fast rate, then you would most likely print your own labels or have Amazon do them for you.
In Conclusion
In this blog post, you’ve learned about the benefits of using Amazon FBA label service. This is a great option for those who don’t want to spend time on labeling their own products or worry that they might make errors during the process.
We would recommend that you go to Amazon’s in-house labeling service instead of elsewhere. Not only because it is easy and a timesaver, but it also means you will have to do a lot less outsourcing and communicating! If you’re interested in learning more about Amazon FBA, read my complete Amazon FBA guide to help you succeed.