Amazon requires accurate box content information for each box sent to a fulfillment center. This information allows the fulfillment center to receive your shipment more quickly and make your inventory available for sale sooner. In some marketplaces, if you do not provide box content information, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) will assess a fee to manually process the contents of each box. For more information, see FBA manual processing fee.
You can provide box content information to Amazon during the shipment creation process either through Seller Central or Amazon Marketplace Web Service.
In the Prepare Shipment step of the shipment creation workflow, select your shipment type under How will this shipment be packed?
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)
Upload file (.tsv format)
Use 2D barcodes(may not be available in your marketplace)
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.
If your shipment contains oversize products that you place directly on a pallet instead of in a box, consider each oversize unit a single box with one unit inside. In this case, you do not need to place a box label on the oversize unit, since the unit already has a product label. If your shipment also contains boxes, continue to label those boxes as you normally would. Place a pallet label on each of the four sides of your pallet so your shipment is received properly.
Modifying your inventory fulfillment process to provide box content information would allow fulfillment centers to receive your shipments more quickly and make your inventory available for sale sooner. However, if your shipping process doesn’t support providing this information, select one of the multiple box options and select Skip providing box contents when asked how you would like to provide box content information. Amazon will then manually process your shipment for a fee.