Amazon FBA Prep: A Practical Checklist Before You Ship

Amazon FBA prep is the work done between “your supplier finished the goods” and “the cartons are on their way to a fulfillment center”. Done well, it is invisible. Done badly, it turns into stranded inventory, unplanned fees and a shipment that gets turned away.

The difficulty is that requirements change. They vary by marketplace, by product category and by the specific product in ways that a generic checklist cannot capture. So this article is not a rulebook — it is a list of the things you need to confirm and supply before prep starts.

Before the goods arrive

• Confirm the destination marketplace. Requirements are not identical across regions.
• Confirm the product category. Regulated categories carry extra requirements.
• Confirm what the shipment plan is. What each carton will contain and where it goes.
• Confirm the prep instructions in writing. Not verbally, and not from memory.

Product-level prep

These are the questions to settle for each SKU:

• Does the unit need a barcode label? If so, which format, and does it go over the existing barcode or beside it?
• Does the unit need poly bagging? Bags often carry their own requirements — sealing, venting, suffocation warnings.
• Does the unit need taping or sealing? Some products must ship with the box sealed against accidental opening.
• Does the packaging need to be removed or replaced? Retail packaging sometimes cannot be used as-is.
• Are units sold as a multi-pack? If so, how are they bundled, and how is that labelled?
• Are there expiry, batch or lot details that must appear on the label or the carton?

Carton-level prep

• Carton weight and dimensions within the limits for the destination.
• Carton labelling — what appears on each box, where, and in what format.
• Carton content plan — which SKUs go into which carton, so the plan matches the shipment.
• Carton sealing. How each box is closed, to the standard required.
• Shipment plan. How the cartons are grouped, and which shipment each belongs to.

What to hand your prep partner

The single most useful thing you can provide is a written specification. Everything above, in one document, per SKU, with the label files attached. Prep work is physical and repetitive, and the failure mode is a reasonable person making a reasonable assumption that happens to be wrong.

If you only send “bag and label them”, expect a shipment that technically complies with something and matches nothing.

Where prep partners overstate

Amazon-related services attract a lot of unverifiable claims — about certifications, program memberships and partnership tiers. There is no badge that makes prep work better. What makes it better is a clear specification, careful execution, and someone who tells you when a requirement falls outside what they can do.

Do not accept a partner’s claim of a certification you cannot verify with the party that would have granted it. Ask what they can actually do, get it in writing, and check it against the requirement you have.

When prep goes wrong

The common failures are predictable:

1. Labels applied that do not scan — wrong format, wrong size, printed at low resolution.
2. Bags without the required warning — sealed, but not to specification.
3. Cartons that exceed a limit — overweight, oversize, or packed above the permitted height.
4. Shipments that do not match the plan — a SKU in the wrong carton, a count that does not add up.
5. Prep done to a rule that changed — work carried out against a remembered requirement rather than the current one.

Every one of these is prevented by a written specification and a check before dispatch. None is prevented by a partner claiming a certification.

The short version

FBA prep is not complicated, but it is unforgiving of ambiguity. Confirm the requirements for your marketplace and product, write them down, attach the label files, and verify the shipment before it leaves the warehouse.

If you would like prep handled alongside storage and freight coordination, send us your SKU mix and carton count and we will confirm the steps and the handover.