Provide box content information

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.

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] U000001 – 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. Enter the number of cases.) For example, if the shipment ID is FBA2HCHGWK, box 1 is appended with U000001 (FBA2HCHGWKU000001), box 2 is appended with U000002 (FBA2HCHGWKU000002), and box 3 is appended with U000003 (FBA2HCHGWKU000003).
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(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.

How do I enter box content information for oversize units that I place directly on a pallet?

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.

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

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.