Amazon shipping label: which label goes where, for FBA and for your own orders

Sellers search for an Amazon shipping label for different jobs. Sending inventory to Amazon's fulfillment centers needs box labels and carrier labels. Each unit inside needs a product barcode. Orders you fulfill yourself need a carrier label to the customer, which Amazon sells through Buy Shipping. Mixing them up leads to receiving delays and, for units, to inventory Amazon cannot identify.

A quick way to identify which label you need: if the package goes to an Amazon fulfillment center, you need an FBA box ID label and a carrier label on the box and a barcode on each product inside. If the package goes to a customer, you need one carrier label, bought through Buy Shipping or your own carrier.

Product UPC codes are a separate question again, covered in our guide to buying UPC codes for Amazon.

Amazon's shipping label requirements say every box and pallet sent to a fulfillment center, including units shipped in a manufacturer box, must carry a unique box ID and pallet labels. Each box needs its own FBA box ID label printed from the shipment workflow, and because each label is unique, you must not photocopy, reuse or modify labels for other boxes.

Place the FBA box ID label and the carrier label, such as UPS or FedEx, on a flat surface of the box, not on a seam or opening where they will be damaged when the box is opened, and not folded over edges or corners. Both must stay uncovered so they can be scanned.

Inside the box, every unit needs a barcode Amazon can scan. Brand representatives in Brand Registry can use the manufacturer barcode on eligible products; since commingling ended on March 31, 2026, all resellers put an Amazon barcode, the X00 or FNSKU label, on every unit.

For orders you fulfill yourself, Amazon Buy Shipping sells and prints carrier labels inside Seller Central. Amazon lists UPS, Amazon Shipping, FedEx and USPS among its carriers, and says you can buy labels one at a time or up to 100 at once.

Buy Shipping also shows an estimated transit time and filters out shipping methods that do not reliably deliver on time.

The main reason to use it is protection. Amazon says that with Buy Shipping it pays for A-to-z claims when customers report packages did not arrive, as long as you buy the label through Buy Shipping, ship on time, meaning the carrier's first scan, and answer buyer messages within 48 hours. It also covers eligible SAFE-T claims on orders shipped on time.

Amazon says the tools in Seller Central are optimized for thermal printers; laser printers also work, but inkjet printers should not be used.

For box labels, a thermal printer can print 4 x 6 inch labels directly; with a laser printer, labels print on sheets at 3 1/3 x 4 inches. If the PDF scales when printing, set scaling to none or 100%, and test barcodes by scanning them from time to time.

Amazon notes its fulfillment centers use Zebra direct thermal printers for unit labels, which is a useful reference when choosing one. A 4 x 6 inch thermal printer covers FBA box labels and most carrier labels for FBM orders, which is why many sellers buy one printer for both.

A few tips help the process run smoothly: keep one label type loaded per printer where you can, print a test label after changing paper, and check the correct paper type is selected in the print menu before a large run. Label issues cost more than labels, in delayed receiving and extra fees.