As a professional seller on Amazon, you’re probably familiar with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). If you haven’t actually used FBA shipping labelsor FBA barcode labels before, it can be fairly confusing.
Here, we’ll explain how FBA barcode labels and FBA shipping labels work and how AMZ Labels can help expedite your use of them.
FBA
By utilizing FBA, you’ll ship your products in bulk to one of Amazon’s warehouses. Amazon then sends your products directly to your customers upon receiving an order.
FBA is a great resource for optimizing the Amazon shipping process. Orders will always ship on time and you won’t have to worry about making constant post office trips. FBA also offers an easy-to-use management system so you can keep track of your shipments, orders, and inventory.
One thing FBA doesn’t provide is an easy way to print FBA shipping labels and FBA barcode labels in an efficient manner.
FBA Label Printing
Regular Printer
If you’ve already tried using your home or office printer for FBA shipping labels or FBA barcode labels, you know it isn’t easy or fast. When printing directly from Amazon Seller Central, the program will print only one UPS and one Amazon label on a 8-½”x11” sheet of paper. And when you try to print FNSKU barcode labels as 30-UP, you need to have exactly 30 or you’ll waste labels.
A regular printer may be all you need if you’re shipping 20 packages or less per week, but if you’re doing more or feel like it’s too much labor or paper/ink cost, it may justify switching to a thermal label printer.
Thermal Label Printer
A thermal label printer is capable of printing more than 70 labels per minute, quite a bit faster than your typical home printer. A thermal label printer also doesn’t require ink, toner or other cartridges, saving you money and time.
However, using a thermal label printer requires formatting the FBA barcode labels and FBA shipping labels correctly for the label size: shipping labels need to be 4”x6” size, while barcode labels can vary a bit. That’s where AMZ Labels comes in.
AMZ Labels
Changing Amazon shipping labels to 4”x6” FBA thermal labels or 30-UP to barcodes for a label printer is extremely straightforward with AMZ Labels.
Once you’ve signed up for AMZ Labels service (only $4.95/month), you can log in from any computer to our label transformer page. There, upload your Amazon PDF, then click “Start Transforming”. You’ll then be able to download the new 4”x6” FBA shipping label or barcode PDF!
Open up the PDF and print directly to your thermal label printer, after double checking your settings. Then stick the labels directly onto the box, no scissors, no tape, way less time consuming! Save yourself some time, effort and money on unused labels.
Label Placement
If you’re using FBA and printing your own labels, there are several guidelines to follow:
- Make sure there’s only one scannable barcode on each package, including retail UPC/EAN barcodes;
- Completely cover or remove any old shipping labels if you’re reusing packing boxes; and,
- Don’t place your label on the seam of the box – if the label has to be cut in order to open the package, it may become unscannable.