Packaging your shipment correctly is crucial to making sure your inventory reaches us safely and that it’s optimized for entry into our fulfillment centers.

A successful shipment to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) begins with the proper prepping and packing of your products. See Packaging and Prep Requirements for important instructions. We’ll cover packaging your Small Parcel shipments here. For larger scale shipments, see LTL or Truck Load Delivery to Amazon.

Packaging Shipments

Following these instructions will help ensure your shipment arrives undamaged and ready for intake to our fulfillment centers:

• Use a rigid box with flaps intact
• Remove all old shipping labels or markings if you are reusing boxes
• Wrap all items separately
• Use adequate packaging material
• Use strong tape designed for shipping
• Do not use string or paper over-wrap
• Use a single address label that has clear, complete delivery and return information
• Use two inches of cushioning between each of your items and the inside of the box.
• Do not use point-of-sale containers or pallet-sized boxes (also known as “gaylords”)
• Do not bundle multiple boxes together
• Scannable barcodes must be covered or removed when reusing a retail box to ship different products (for example, a large printer box to ship smaller media products).

Picking the right size box for what you are shipping is important. If the container is too large, you will need to fill it up with enough packaging material so that the box will not collapse if heavier boxes are stacked on top during shipping.

Acceptable standard boxes:

• Regular slotted carton (RSC)
• B flute
• ECT-32 (edge crush test)
• 200 lb./sq. inch (burst strength)

Use a minimum of two inches of appropriate packing material around each item and the same amount in between your products and the walls of the box. If your items are being shipped in the manufacturer’s case pack, the two inches of packing material is not necessary.

Packing materials

Using appropriate packing material ensures your shipment quickly moves through the fulfillment center receiving process and protects our associates from potential safety issues.

Use these:

• Bubble Wrap
• Full sheets of paper (heavy-weight kraft paper is best)
• Inflatable Air Pillows
• Polyethylene Foam Sheeting

Do not use these:

• All types of packing peanuts, including foam strips
• Crinkle wrap
• Shredded paper

Breaking down the material benefits

Bubble Wrap or Small-Cell Bubble Sheeting provides surface protection as well as shock absorption. It can also be wrapped around almost any product, regardless of shape or size.

Paper, specifically kraft paper intended for packing applications, can be used to fill empty void space in your shipping box. For best results use kraft paper with a minimum basis weight of 60 pounds to ensure that it is thick enough to provide protection.

Inflatable Air Pillows use air pressure to secure and hold products in place inside the shipping container, and provides an air barrier of cushioning. They generally come in a strip of air pillows that you can easily use as lightweight dunnage to fill the void space in your box.

Polyethylene Foam Sheeting is thin, soft, resilient, and provides surface protection and cushioning properties. This type of packaging is good for protecting lightweight items.