Amazon FBA Prep and Labelling Requirements in Australia: Barcodes, Packaging, Expiry Dates and Fees

For Amazon FBA in Australia, each shipping plan records whether you or Amazon will prepare and label the items, and you must follow Amazon's packing guidelines before shipping. Amazon offers optional per-unit prep services such as bagging, taping, bubble wrap and labelling, and charges unplanned service fees when stock arrives without proper preparation or labelling. Amazon does not publish the fee amounts on its public pages. This page covers what is public, what changed in 2026 and what to confirm in Seller Central.

What does FBA prep mean?

Prep is everything done to a unit and its carton so a fulfilment centre can receive, store and ship it without damage or confusion. In practice it covers four jobs:

1. Identification. The unit carries a barcode Amazon can scan and match to your listing.
2. Protection. The unit survives being stored, picked and delivered, using bags, tape, bubble wrap or sealed packaging as needed.
3. Information. Expiry dates, warnings and set or bundle statements are visible where Amazon requires them.
4. Carton labelling. Each carton carries the Amazon shipment label produced by your shipping plan.

Amazon's public page lists bagging, taping, bubble wrapping and labelling as optional services charged per unit, and says you can also prep and label yourself. If you outsource prep to a third party instead, see FBA prep centres in Australia.

Who preps and labels: you or Amazon?

You choose at the shipping plan stage. The plan lists the products, quantities, delivery details and whether you or Amazon will prepare and label.

The third row is the expensive one. Amazon applies unplanned services fees when stock arrives unprepared or unlabelled. The fix is cheap: choose "Amazon prepares" for items you are unsure about, then look at the per-unit price in the workflow before confirming.

Which barcode do FBA units need in Australia?

Two barcode systems exist. A manufacturer barcode is the GTIN (UPC or EAN) printed on the product. An Amazon barcode is the FNSKU label unique to your offer. See the GTIN glossary entry and GTIN exemptions on Amazon Australia for how product identifiers work.

On 31 March 2026 Amazon ended commingling, the practice of fulfilling an order from matching inventory that belonged to another seller. Amazon's announcement on its Australian Seller Central forum links to an FBA barcode choice and labelling FAQ and a guide to switching to manufacturer barcodes, but the public page does not state the exact rule for every product.

No single rule covers every product, so work through this:

• Open the barcode setting for each product in Seller Central and read what it says now.
• If you choose Seller as the labelling owner in Send to Amazon, the workflow offers a Print SKU labels option, and you apply those labels yourself.
• Make sure only one scannable barcode is visible on each unit. An Amazon moderator's advice in the forum is to cover other barcodes rather than add a second FNSKU.
• Do not print a barcode from an old shipment. Print from the current plan.

What are the packaging requirements?

Amazon's Australian forum material says a unit should arrive sealed in packaging suitable for shipping, and that reused cartons must have old labels removed and old barcodes covered so they cannot scan. That forum reply quotes carton limits in inches and pounds, which Amazon has not confirmed on a public Australian help page, so the numbers are not repeated here. Read Amazon's product packaging requirements and carton limits in Seller Central for your marketplace.

Some principles hold across categories and are worth building into your packing process:

• Wrap items separately so they cannot scratch or crush each other.
• Use a rigid, intact carton with nothing rattling inside when shaken gently.
• Seal loose items such as small parts, powders and fabrics in bags and close them fully.
• Put a suffocation warning on any poly bag with a large opening, as Amazon's US prep guide describes. Australian rules for bag warnings are set by Amazon's prep category pages in Seller Central.
• Mark sets and bundles so the pieces are sold together, and so Amazon does not split them.

What are the rules for expiry-dated products?

Amazon's Australian forum guidance for expiry-dated items is specific:

• A product is expirable if it has a printed expiry or manufacturing date, is a topical or consumable, is a cleaning product, has parts that expire or has a recommended shelf life.
• All expiry-dated FBA inventory needs an Amazon barcode label.
• The date must appear on the outer box in 36-point or larger type and on each unit.
• Each box may contain only one expiry date per ASIN.
• Items must arrive with enough remaining shelf life for use, plus an additional 90 days.
• Inventory past its date, or with a date that cannot be confirmed, is marked unsellable and must be removed or returned.

It is a forum post and may be out of date, so confirm it in Seller Central before you send consumables. Removal fees apply to expired stock, covered on removal and disposal fees.

What about dangerous goods and restricted products?

Lithium batteries, aerosols, flammable liquids and other classed products need additional classification before FBA will accept them, and some cannot go to FBA at all. That is a separate process from prep, covered on Amazon dangerous goods in Australia. Category approvals and restrictions are on restricted products. Amazon SEND, the China-to-Australia shipping programme, prohibits dangerous goods.

How much does Amazon charge for prep and labelling?

Amazon's public pages confirm that charges exist, not the amounts. Per-unit prep services and unplanned services fees are listed without a price, and the amounts sit inside Seller Central. Amazon does not publish a public rate card, so treat any figure quoted by a third party as unconfirmed. For the fees Amazon does publish, see Amazon Australia FBA fees.

The comparison to run: Amazon's per-unit prep price against your own cost to bag and label, including labour and the time it takes. For a few hundred units, doing it yourself is usually cheaper. At volume, a prep centre or a supplier who labels at the factory may beat both.

FAQ

Do I have to label FBA products in Australia? Every unit must be identifiable by a scannable barcode. Whether that is the manufacturer barcode or an Amazon FNSKU label depends on your product and barcode setting in Seller Central, which Amazon points to in its March 2026 commingling announcement.

Can Amazon label my products for me? Yes. Amazon offers labelling as an optional per-unit service, and your shipping plan records whether you or Amazon will label. The per-unit fee is shown in Seller Central, not on the public page.

What happens if I send stock without proper prep? Amazon charges unplanned services fees for stock that arrives unprepared or unlabelled. Units may also be delayed in receiving. Check the shipment in the Shipping Queue.

Can my supplier in China apply FNSKU labels? Yes, if you give them the correct label files and an exact quantity per SKU. Errors multiply across a container, so test with a small batch and have them photograph the labelled units first. See shipping from China to Amazon FBA Australia.

Do cartons need labels as well as units? Yes. Each carton needs its own shipment label from the shipping plan, and Amazon's forum guidance says each pallet needs four pallet labels. See Send to Amazon shipments.

Do I need a GTIN for every product? Most products need one, with exemptions in some cases such as certain private label and handmade items. Check Amazon Australia GTIN exemption and apply in Seller Central.

Next steps

Before your next shipment, write a one-page prep sheet per SKU: barcode type, packaging, any expiry or warning text, and who labels. If you want that built into your inbound process, Blooprint, an Amazon SPN verified partner, offers Amazon FBA management for Australian sellers. The Amazon Australia hub lists the rest of the series.