Provide box content information

You can enter box content information directly into Seller Central during shipment creation. We highly recommend providing this information with your shipments to reduce the time needed to make your products available for sale.

Shipment types

In the Prepare Shipment step of the shipment creation workflow, select your shipment type under How will this shipment be packed?

• Everything in one box If your shipment has only one box, select the Everything in one box option. Generally, you will need to enter only the box weight and dimensions. If any of the products in the box have expiration dates, enter those as well. Click Confirm.
• One SKU per box: If your shipment contains multiple boxes but only one SKU per box, select One SKU per box (or Multiple boxes, which will appear if your shipment has only one SKU). You can use the web form, upload a file, or use 2D barcodes to provide box content information. See How to provide box content information below.
• More than one SKU per box (total 15 boxes or less): If your shipment has multiple boxes, more than one SKU per box, a total of 15 boxes or fewer, and a total of 25 SKUs or fewer, select the More than one SKU per box (total 15 boxes or less) option. You can use the web form, upload a file, or use 2D barcodes to provide box content information. See How to provide box content information below.
  Note: If you are unsure whether your shipment will exceed 15 boxes, use the More than one SKU per box (more than 15 boxes) option instead. If you attempt to use the option for 15 boxes or fewer and exceed 15 boxes, you will lose any box content information you have entered.
• More than one SKU per box (more than 15 boxes): If your shipment has more than one SKU per box and exceeds 15 boxes or 25 SKUs, select the More than one SKU per box (more than 15 boxes) option. For this type of shipment, you can only upload a file or use 2D barcodes to provide box content information. See How to provide box content information below.

How to provide box content information

The methods available for providing box content information depend on your shipment type, as described in the section above.

Use web form (recommended)

When choosing this option, you will initially be presented with one box configuration. A box configuration is made up of the number of units, expiration dates (if applicable), box weights, and box dimensions. If you have many boxes with the same configuration, enter the box information once and then specify how many boxes match this configuration.

If any of your boxes have a different number of units, expiration dates, box weights, or box dimensions, add another box configuration. For shipments with only one SKU per box, click Add another box configuration at the bottom of the form to create a new row. For shipments with multiple SKUs per box, you can add boxes to the shipment as needed and use the Add another box size option to specify different box dimensions.

If you aren't sure how many boxes will be in your shipment, you can enter box content information for two boxes initially, then enter information for additional boxes one by one until your shipment is completed.

After making sure the information is correct, click Confirm to move to the next step. You can also click Save for later if you want to complete your shipment later.

Upload file (Excel format)

1. Under File format, select Excel (.xlsx) template from the drop-down list.
2. Enter the number of boxes in your shipment.
3. Click Download pack list template to download your pack list. Open the file with Excel.
4. For each box, enter the number of units per product, expiration dates (if applicable), and the box weight and dimensions. After making sure the information is correct, save the file.
5. Once your pack list is complete, you can upload it in the Upload your completed pack list section.
   Note: If using an Excel template, make sure your uploaded file is in .xlsx format. File upload verification may take several minutes to complete. Please check to make sure your file uploaded without errors. If errors occurred, see the processing report for more information.

Upload file (.tsv format)

1. Under File format, select Tab-delimited (.tsv) template from the drop-down list.
2. Enter the number of boxes in your shipment.
3. Click Download pack list template and open the file in any spreadsheet program (or copy and paste the text into a spreadsheet).
4. In the box [Shipment ID] U001 – Unit Quantity column, enter the quantity of each product that you have packed in the first box (for case-packed shipments, the column header will read Case Quantity instead. Enter the number of cases). For example, if the shipment ID is FBA2HCHGWK, box 1 is appended with U001 (FBA2HCHGWKU001), box 2 is appended with U002 (FBA2HCHGWKU002), and box 3 is appended with U003 (FBA2HCHGWKU003).
5. Add expiration dates in the [Shipment ID][Box number] – Expiration Date column for products that require them. If an expiration date is not required, you will see "Not Needed" in the field.
6. Save the file in a tab-delimited or tab-separated format (.tsv or .txt).
7. Once your pack list is complete, you can upload it in the Upload your completed pack list section.
   Note: If using the tab-delimited template, make sure your uploaded file is in .tsv or .txt format. Do not modify any of the column headers. File upload verification may take several minutes to complete. Please check to make sure that your file uploaded without errors. If errors occurred, see the processing report for more information.

Use 2D barcodes

If you are using 2D barcodes to provide box content information, you do not need to enter box content information into Seller Central. For more information, see Using 2D barcodes for box content information.

Use Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS)

To indicate which method you're using to provide box content information, call CreateInboundShipment or UpdateInboundShipment and set the IntendedBoxContentsSource of the InboundShipmentHeader to one of the available options: NONE, FEED, or 2D_BARCODE. The default option is NONE. If the value of IntendedBoxContentSource is NONE at the time a shipment is confirmed, the manual processing fee will be assessed when the fulfillment center receives your inventory. If FEED or 2D_BARCODE is selected but box content information is not provided, your shipment will incur a manual processing fee.

Skip providing box contents

If your shipping processes do not support providing box content information, you can choose to skip this step and have Amazon manually process your shipment for a fee.

The expiration date lists the month and year but not the day. I cannot continue because I cannot enter the day. What should I do?

Enter the last day of the month printed. If you use an Excel pack list, the date format of the expiration date is "2020/5/31", not "May 2020."

The expiration date printed on the FBA shipping label is one day different than the entered date. What should I do?

Ship it as it is. The date printed on the shipping label may differ from the actual date depending on the system; however, the date is managed by the fulfillment center using the entered value.

What do I do if I entered the wrong expiration date by mistake?

The product is managed by the entered expiration date, and in some cases, an expired product may be delivered to the buyer. Ensure the correct value is entered. Amazon is not responsible for issues that arise due to an incorrectly entered expiration date. If the entered values are often incorrect, this can affect the safety of the buyer, and therefore, FBA date-sensitive items may be prohibited.

What if I have date-sensitive products but the option to enter the expiration date is not available?

Cancel the shipment, submit "Product with expiration date" to Seller Support, and then create the shipment information after registering the product as a date-sensitive item.

What if it asks for the expiration date although the product does not have one?

Cancel the shipment and contact Seller Support about being asked for an expiration date even though the product does not have one. Attach pictures of each of the six sides of the product to show that there is no expiration date.

What if my shipping process does not support listing the contents within each box?

We understand that some sellers may have to modify their inventory fulfillment process in order to accommodate the requirement to include box contents with each box. This information greatly improves inventory management within Amazon and helps your products become available for sale more quickly. However, if you are unable to provide this information, please select one of the multiple box options and then Skip providing box contents when asked how you would like to provide box content information.