Amazon FBA Prep for Pet Products: Labels, Polybags and Carton Checklist

Before a pet product can go into Amazon FBA, every unit needs a scannable barcode of the right type, whatever prep its category requires — poly bag with suffocation warning, boxing, set labelling — and, for treats and consumables, a compliant expiry date with enough shelf life left. Cartons must meet Amazon’s size, weight and labelling limits. Your supplier can do the work; the accuracy stays your responsibility.

By Petlland Sourcing Team | Reviewed by Petlland Quality Control Team | Last reviewed: 28 September 2026

FBA prep is not difficult. It is unforgiving. A plush toy that arrives unbagged, a treat with four months of shelf life left, a set whose component barcodes were not covered, a carton at 52 lb without a Team Lift label — each of these is a prep or inbound defect fee, and a repeated pattern gets future shipments blocked. Amazon is explicit that non-compliant inventory may be refused, returned, disposed of, or repackaged at your expense, and that determining what prep your product needs is the seller’s responsibility even when no prep guidance is shown for it.

The fix is to move all of it upstream. Everything below can be specified in a purchase order and completed at the factory or at consolidation, before the goods leave China, which costs a fraction of having it done at a prep centre in the destination market — and nothing at all compared with having Amazon do it per unit.

One scope note, because it matters for how you read this: this is buyer-side guidance for getting goods ready for FBA. Petlland does not operate e-commerce fulfilment and does not send shipments into FBA on your behalf. We prepare units at source — barcodes, poly bagging, set creation, expiry marking, cartonisation — and deliver to the location you designate, which is usually your prep partner, your 3PL or your freight forwarder. They, or you, create the shipment in Seller Central.

All requirements below were re-checked against Amazon Seller Central help pages for the US marketplace on 28 September 2026. Requirements differ by marketplace and Amazon changes them; Seller Central is the only authority on its own policy, and the links at the end go to the specific pages.

Key takeaways

• Barcode rules changed on 31 March 2026. Amazon now states that brand owners can continue using manufacturer barcodes without stickers, while resellers are required to use Amazon barcodes even where a manufacturer barcode exists. If you are a brand owner, that is a labelling step you may be able to delete.
• Pet food and treats need 180 days of shelf life left on arrival — and separately, enough remaining life to be consumed in full plus 90 days. A 240-serving product therefore needs 330 days. This is the requirement that catches new consumable sellers.
• Poly bags with an opening of 5 inches or more need a suffocation warning, at a print size set by the bag’s dimensions, on a bag at least 1.5 mil thick that does not extend more than 3 inches beyond the item.
• Cartons cap at 36 × 25 × 25 inches and 50 lb. Over 50 lb needs a Team Lift label on the top and all four sides; over 100 lb needs Mechanical Lift. Amazon does not supply those labels — you print them, in the language of the destination country.
• Prep is your responsibility even where Amazon gives no guidance. “No prep category shown” is not the same as “no prep needed”, and the fees for guessing wrong land on you.

Barcodes: which one goes on the unit

Every unit sent to a fulfilment centre needs a barcode, and there are two kinds. A manufacturer barcode is your UPC, EAN, JAN or ISBN. An Amazon barcode is an FNSKU label, which starts with an X.

Amazon’s barcode page now carries an important note: as of 31 March 2026, brand owners can continue to use manufacturer barcodes without stickers, while resellers are required to use Amazon barcodes for products even when a manufacturer barcode exists. By default Amazon tracks eligible inventory on the manufacturer barcode unless you change the setting or the product is not eligible; where it is not eligible, an Amazon barcode is mandatory. Brand representatives may be able to obtain an exemption to use the manufacturer barcode by enrolling eligible ASINs in Brand Registry, and if you own the brand but have no manufacturer barcode you can apply for a GTIN exemption.

Whichever applies, these unit-level rules hold:

• Each FNSKU must be unique and correspond to one unique product. Every assortment — each size, each colour — needs its own FNSKU, and so does each condition.
• Every unit needs an exterior scannable barcode, or a label carrying a scannable barcode and the matching human-readable numbers, that is easily accessible.
• Do not place barcodes on a corner or a curve, where they cannot be scanned. On a rubber chew toy or a curved bowl this decides where the label goes at the factory.
• Any other scannable barcode on the outside must be removed, covered with opaque tape, or crossed out so it cannot be scanned. This applies to retail packaging carrying a supplier’s own code as well as to reused shipping boxes.
• Inventory must arrive without theft-prevention devices attached, and Amazon will not accept marketing materials — pre-priced labels, pamphlets, price tags, or other non-Amazon labels.

Two consequences worth designing for. If you are a brand owner printing your own retail packaging, get the barcode printed on the pack correctly at artwork stage and you may avoid a per-unit labelling operation entirely. And where labels are needed, applying them at the factory or at consolidation costs a fraction of Amazon’s per-item label service — the work is identical, the location is not.

Prep by pet product type

Amazon organises prep by type: item labelling, bagging, suffocation warning, bubble wrap, boxing, cap seal, opaque covering and set creation. A unit falling into several categories must meet all of them. Mapped onto a pet range, it comes out like this.

Amazon also offers an alternative worth knowing about: Ships in Product Packaging lets eligible products ship in your own branded packaging without additional prep or Amazon packaging, with lower fulfilment fees for certified products. If you are designing retail packaging anyway, designing it to that standard is the cheapest version of this whole article.

Poly bags and the suffocation warning

This is the highest-volume prep type in a pet range, and the one where a factory will get it 90% right unless you specify it. Amazon requires bagging where an item can be damaged by dust or leakage, contains loose parts or is sold as a set with other items, is small enough that a bag makes it easier to find, is scented, or is an adult product. Miss it and a preparation defect fee applies.

The bag itself

• It must cover the item completely and be sealed with tape or an adhesive strip — fully sealed, not folded over.
• Minimum thickness 1.5 mil (thousandths of an inch).
• Transparent, so that the item’s barcode — UPC, EAN or ASIN label — can be scanned through it. Alternatively the barcode goes on the outside of the bag.
• The bag or shrink wrap must not extend more than 3 inches beyond the dimensions of the item.
• Heat sealing is an acceptable alternative to bagging, provided it does not stop the barcode scanning and still protects the item.

The warning

A bag with an opening of 5 inches or more, measured flat, must carry a suffocation warning, either printed on the bag or applied as a label. The wording Amazon specifies is the standard North American text: “WARNING: To avoid danger of suffocation, keep this plastic bag away from babies and children. Do not use this bag in cribs, beds, carriages or playpens. This bag is not a toy.” It must be prominent, legible, and contrast with the bag and any other printing on it through typeface, layout or colour. Print size is set by the bag’s dimensions:

Two practical notes. Printing the warning into the bag film at the factory is cheaper than labelling every bag, and it never falls off — specify it on the bag drawing, with the print size taken from the table for the bag size you are ordering, not the one you ordered last season. And if a bag arrives without the required warning, Amazon may re-bag the units at your cost, which is the most avoidable fee in this article.

Boxing, bubble wrap and the three-foot drop test

Amazon’s test for whether retail packaging is good enough is specific and you can run it yourself — Amazon will not do it for you, because it damages product.

The three-foot drop test: drop the packaged unit five consecutive times from a height of 3 feet onto a concrete surface — on its top, its bottom, its largest side, a bottom corner and its longest bottom edge. Damage to the container is acceptable as long as it does not cause leaks or affect the product’s integrity. If the unit fails after bubble wrap has been applied, it must be boxed.

Where boxing is required, the box must be six-sided, must not give way when pressure is applied to any side, must keep the item unexposed and secured in place, and must be sealed with tape, glue or staples. The outside needs a scannable item identifier — UPC, GTIN or ASIN — or Amazon will add an ASIN sticker and unplanned fees may apply. Products weighing more than 10 lb must be boxed in double-wall corrugated, as must sharp products. Over-boxing — a box around an already-packaged product — may be required for fragile items that fail the drop test after bubble wrap, and for hazardous liquids in glass containers over 4.2 oz.

For a pet range this lands on three groups: ceramic and glass bowls, glass-bottled grooming liquids, and anything heavy such as large ceramic fountains or cast bowls. And note the sharp-items rule, because it contradicts what most factories do by habit: bubble wrap is not effective prep for sharp units such as blades, scissors and clippers. Those need cut- and puncture-resistant packaging that stops the edge or point piercing the packaging during handling, and double-wall boxing.

Sets, multipacks and bundles

Two or more items sold as one sellable unit must be bagged, bubble wrapped or boxed so the parts stay together, labelled as a set, and carry a single scannable barcode for the set ASIN. Heat-sealed shrink wrap is acceptable as the containment. The label wording can be “Sold as set”, “Ready to ship” or “This is a set. Do not separate.” Critically, any additional barcodes identifying the component items must be covered so they cannot be scanned by mistake — a receiving associate scanning a component UPC is how a four-toy bundle becomes four units of the wrong ASIN in your inventory.

This is worth getting right at artwork stage: if the bundle has its own printed sleeve or box carrying only the set barcode, the covering problem disappears and so does the per-unit labour.

Expiry dates: the pet consumables trap

If you sell treats, food, supplements, dental chews, topical grooming products or cleaning sprays, this section is the one that will cost you money if you skip it. Amazon treats any product with a shelf life, or that loses effectiveness over time, as subject to expiration — explicitly including pet food, and including products with only a production or manufacturing date printed on them.

How much shelf life must be left

There are two tests and you must pass both. First, at check-in the product must have enough remaining shelf life to be consumed in full plus an additional 90 days — Amazon’s own example is a 240-serving supplement needing 240 plus 90, so 330 days. Second, Amazon publishes minimum arrival times before expiry by category:

Work backwards from that. A treat with a 12-month shelf life, produced in week one, inspected in week four and moving by sea LCL, arrives with roughly nine months left — fine. The same treat produced against an old stock lot, or held three months at a consolidator, is not. Put the minimum remaining shelf life into the purchase order as an acceptance criterion, verify the printed date at inspection, and reject stock that was made earlier than the date you agreed.

How the date must be printed

• All ingestible products, including animal products, must be clearly labelled with an expiry or manufacturing date. Lot numbers alone are insufficient.
• The date must appear on the outer box in 36-point or larger font, and on the individual units.
• Case packs, multipacks and display boxes must show it on the outer packaging and on each item inside.
• Where a unit gets additional prep such as poly bagging or bubble wrap, the date must be applied to the outside of that prep so it is readable at check-in without unwrapping.
• Each box may carry only one expiry date per ASIN. Multiple ASINs can share a box, but two production dates of the same ASIN must go in separate boxes.
• Do not conceal the original expiry date or other required information such as ingredients or net contents. A “best by” or “sell by” date is treated as an expiry date; a manufacturing date is treated as a production date.

On format, be careful. Amazon’s packaging page gives MM-DD-YYYY or MM-YYYY, while its expiration-date page presents the same numeric example under a DD-MM-YYYY heading — the two pages do not read consistently, which is a real trap for a factory in China printing to whichever line it was shown. Two safe routes: use MM-YYYY, which Amazon interprets as the first day of that month, or print the month alphabetically, for example 15-MAR-2027, which cannot be misread in either direction. Confirm the format in Seller Central for your marketplace before the print plate is made, and note that Amazon stores the date in UTC, so a box label may differ by a day from what you entered.

Cartons: sizes, weights and labels

Unit prep gets the attention; cartons get the refusals. Amazon’s shipping and routing requirements apply to every box, whether it travels small parcel, LTL or FTL, and Amazon says these are strictly enforced, with over-size or over-weight cartons risking blocked future shipments.

What is not allowed is as important as the limits. No point-of-sale containers, no open display boxes, no pallet-sized boxes, no string, straps or over-wrap, and do not bundle multiple boxes together. On packing materials Amazon names what to use — bubble wrap, full sheets of heavy kraft paper, inflatable air pillows, polyethylene foam sheeting — and what is prohibited: all packing peanuts including biodegradable and corn-starch types, foam strips, crinkle wrap, shredded paper, thermocol chips and styrofoam. A Chinese factory using shredded paper as void fill is a compliant-looking carton that fails at receiving, so put the list in the purchase order.

Labels and box contents

• Each box needs its own unique FBA Box ID label printed from your shipping queue, plus a single clear address label. Each pallet needs four FBA Pallet ID labels, one on the top centre of each side, and every box on it still needs its own Box ID.
• Reusing cartons is allowed but all old shipping labels, barcodes and markings must be removed or rendered unscannable.
• Provide box content information. If you skip it, each box must contain inventory from only one shipment ID, and accurate box weights and dimensions are required either way.
• Case packs have their own rules: every unit in the box must share SKU and condition, must have been packed together by the manufacturer, every box of that product must contain the same quantity, and the case-pack limit is 150 units. A larger box holding several case packs does not itself qualify as a case pack.

The case-pack rule is quietly valuable for a pet brand: a compliant case pack is scanned once at receiving rather than unit by unit, which is faster to check in. It is worth designing your master carton quantity around it — and worth noting that the same carton module discipline cuts freight, which is the subject of our guide to consolidating shipments from China.

Who does what

Prep can happen in four places, at wildly different costs. The principle is simple: the earlier in the chain, the cheaper, because you are buying factory labour instead of destination-market labour.

The purchase-order checklist

Copy this into your purchase order or supplier specification. Every line is something a factory will otherwise decide for you.

Unit level. Barcode type (manufacturer barcode or FNSKU) and exact placement, on a flat surface, never a corner or curve · one FNSKU per size, colour and condition · all other barcodes covered or removed · no price tags, pamphlets or non-Amazon labels · no theft-prevention devices · poly bag at 1.5 mil minimum, transparent, fully sealed, extending no more than 3 inches beyond the item · suffocation warning printed into the film with the print size set by the finished bag dimensions · “Sold as set” labelling and single set barcode for bundles · expiry or production date on every unit, format agreed in writing · sharp items in cut- and puncture-resistant packaging, not bubble wrap.

Carton level. Master carton dimensions and gross weight, inside 36 × 25 × 25 inches and 50 lb · new single-wall RSC, B flute, ECT-32 or 200 lb burst; double-wall for products over 10 lb or sharp items · 2 inches of cushioning, approved materials only, no peanuts, shredded paper or styrofoam · case packs at one SKU and condition, equal quantities, 150 units maximum · expiry date on the outer box at 36 point or larger, one date per ASIN per box · carton quantity and dimensions confirmed on the packing list before shipment.

Acceptance criteria. Minimum remaining shelf life on arrival at the factory gate, stated in days · three-foot drop test passed on the production sample, five drops, photographed · barcode scan test on 20 finished units through the bag · photographic evidence of a packed master carton and of the applied labels before shipment · the right to reject stock produced before an agreed earliest production date.

The photographic evidence line is the one that changes behaviour. A factory that knows label placement and carton fill will be photographed before departure prepares differently from one that does not, and the photographs are what let you settle a defect fee argument later. Pair it with AQL inspection so the packaging check and the quality check happen in the same visit.

Common mistakes

• Bubble-wrapping sharp items. Amazon states this is not effective prep for blades, scissors and clippers. Grooming tools need cut- and puncture-resistant packaging and double-wall boxing.
• Leaving component barcodes exposed on a bundle. The set needs one scannable barcode and every other one covered, or your inventory receives against the wrong ASIN.
• Treating the 90-day rule as the whole rule. Consumables must satisfy both the consume-in-full-plus-90-days test and the category minimum, which for pet food and treats is 180 days at arrival.
• Printing the expiry date in an ambiguous numeric format. Amazon’s own pages are not consistent here; use MM-YYYY or an alphabetical month and confirm in Seller Central before the plate is made.
• A 52 lb carton with no Team Lift label. Over 50 lb needs five labels, printed by you, in the destination language.
• Assuming no prep guidance means no prep. Amazon puts the determination on the seller, including where the product has never been sent in before.
• Doing all of it in the destination market. Every step above except shipment creation can be completed before the goods leave China, at factory labour rates.

Frequently asked questions

What must a pet product supplier complete before goods can ship to Amazon FBA?

Five things: the correct barcode on every unit in a scannable position, with all other barcodes covered; the prep its category requires, which for most pet lines means a transparent poly bag at 1.5 mil or more with a suffocation warning when the opening is 5 inches or larger; set labelling and a single set barcode for bundles; a compliant expiry or production date on units and outer boxes for anything consumable; and master cartons inside 36 × 25 × 25 inches and 50 lb, with approved packing materials. Shipment creation and FBA box labels stay with you or your prep partner.

Do I need FNSKU labels if my brand owns the barcode?

Possibly not. Amazon’s barcode page states that as of 31 March 2026 brand owners can continue to use manufacturer barcodes without stickers, while resellers are required to use Amazon barcodes even where a manufacturer barcode exists. Eligibility is per product and the default depends on your barcode setting, so confirm it for your own ASINs in Seller Central before you delete the labelling step from your purchase order.

When does a poly bag need a suffocation warning?

When the bag’s opening measures 5 inches or more laid flat. The warning can be printed on the bag or applied as a label, must be prominent and contrasting, and has a minimum print size set by the bag’s length plus width — 24 point at 60 inches or more, 18 point from 40 to 59, 14 point from 30 to 39, and 10 point under 29. The bag itself must be at least 1.5 mil, transparent enough to scan the barcode, fully sealed, and no more than 3 inches larger than the item.

How much shelf life do pet treats need on arrival at a fulfilment centre?

Amazon’s category table gives pet food and treats a minimum of 180 days before expiry at arrival, and separately requires enough remaining shelf life for the product to be consumed in full plus 90 days. Both tests apply. Items already past expiry on arrival are marked for disposal and cannot be returned to you, and perishable items are not accepted at all, so put a minimum remaining shelf life into the purchase order and verify the printed date at pre-shipment inspection.

What is the maximum carton weight for an FBA shipment?

50 lb for a box containing multiple items, and boxes must stay inside 36.0 inches long by 25.0 wide by 25.0 high. A box may go up to 65 lb if it contains one single item over 50 lb, and may exceed the dimensions only for a single oversize unit longer than 36 inches. Any box over 50 lb needs a Team Lift or Heavy Package label on the top and all four sides, and over 100 lb a Mechanical Lift label. Amazon does not provide those labels.

Can my supplier in China apply the FBA shipping labels?

Not the FBA Box ID labels — those are generated per shipment from your shipping queue after the shipment is created in Seller Central, so they cannot be printed in advance at the factory. Unit-level work is different: FNSKU labels, poly bagging, suffocation warnings, set labelling, expiry marking and cartonisation can all be completed at source, and that is where they are cheapest.

How do I know whether my product needs prep at all?

Check the prep guidance shown for the product in Send to Amazon, Step 1, where you can open the prep category for each item. Be careful with silence: Amazon notes that some items have no specific requirement recorded because they have never been sent in before, and states that determining the necessary preparation is your responsibility regardless. The three-foot drop test on the production sample is the practical way to settle it yourself.

Is it cheaper to prep at the factory or at a prep centre?

At the factory, for anything that can be built into the product or its packaging — a printed barcode, a warning printed into bag film, a bundle sleeve carrying only the set barcode. Those cost close to nothing at artwork stage and are per-unit labour anywhere else. Keep the destination prep partner for what genuinely has to happen after the shipment exists: box labels, shipment routing and delivery appointments.

Sources and review notes

• Amazon Seller Central: FBA barcode requirements, for manufacturer versus Amazon barcodes and the change effective 31 March 2026. Reviewed 28 September 2026.
• Amazon Seller Central: Product packaging requirements, for unit barcodes, loose products, sets, boxed units, hanger removal, case packs, expiry marking, marketing materials and sharp products. Reviewed 28 September 2026.
• Amazon Seller Central: Bagging requirements, for bag thickness, transparency, the 3-inch limit, the 5-inch opening threshold, the warning wording and the print-size table. Reviewed 28 September 2026.
• Amazon Seller Central: Boxing requirements, and Set creation requirements, for six-sided boxes, double-wall above 10 lb, scannable identifiers, and set labelling. Reviewed 28 September 2026.
• Amazon Seller Central: Prepare your products for FBA shipping, for the prep types, the seller’s responsibility for determining prep, the three-foot drop test method and Ships in Product Packaging. Reviewed 28 September 2026.
• Amazon Seller Central: Expiration dates on FBA products, for the expiry definition, the consume-in-full-plus-90-days rule, the category shelf-life table including pet food and treats at 180 days, and the labelling and one-date-per-box requirements. Reviewed 28 September 2026.
• Amazon Seller Central: Shipping and routing requirements, for box dimensions and weights, Team Lift and Mechanical Lift labels, box specification, cushioning, permitted and prohibited packing materials, FBA Box ID and pallet labels, and box content information. Reviewed 28 September 2026.
• Petlland: inspection, labelling and consolidation scope, reviewed 28 September 2026.

Editorial note: every requirement above comes from Amazon Seller Central help pages for the United States marketplace, checked on 28 September 2026. Amazon is the only authority on its own policy, it changes these pages without notice, and requirements differ between marketplaces — verify against Seller Central for your own marketplace and ASINs before you issue a purchase order. This article quotes no fees or rates. Petlland does not provide Amazon FBA fulfilment, e-commerce warehousing or dropshipping: we prepare and inspect goods at source and deliver to the location you designate.

Get the prep done before the goods leave China

Send your product list, your marketplace, and whether you are brand-registered. We will come back with a prep plan per SKU — barcode route, bag and warning specification, set labelling, expiry marking, carton module and weights — completed at the factory or at our Guangzhou warehouse, inspected to AQL 2.5 before sealing, and delivered to the location you designate.

Related reading: AQL inspection for pet products for the standard to inspect packaging against, shipment consolidation for the carton module that cuts freight as well as satisfying Amazon, verifying sustainable material claims if your listing makes them, and FOB versus DDP for who clears the goods on the way in.