Commingling practices will end effective March 31, 2026
In March, we’ll end commingling practices across our supply chain and update eligibility criteria for using manufacturer barcodes.
Commingling is when we fulfil customer orders using exact product matches from the closest available inventory in the Amazon fulfilment network, even if that inventory belonged to a different seller, to achieve faster delivery speeds. Now that most sellers maintain inventory levels that keep products close to customers, we can achieve fast delivery without commingling.
The following requirements will go into effect for inventory shipped on or after March 31, 2026:
- Brand owners with the Brand Representative selling role in Amazon Brand Registry will no longer need to apply Amazon barcode stickers to prevent commingling for products that already have manufacturer barcodes (such as UPC, ISBN). This means more flexibility in how you manage inventory because you will not need to pre-allocate units to Amazon or other channels. For more information, go to How to switch to manufacturer barcodes.
- Resellers (not enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry as a Brand Representative selling role) will now be required to use Amazon barcode stickers for products even if they have a manufacturer barcode. If you are already using these stickers, you can continue to follow your existing process.
- For products that do not have a manufacturer barcode, both brand owners and resellers will need to use Amazon Barcode stickers.
For more information, go to FBA barcode choice and labelling FAQ.
Commingling practices will end effective March 31, 2026
In March, we’ll end commingling practices across our supply chain and update eligibility criteria for using manufacturer barcodes.
Commingling is when we fulfil customer orders using exact product matches from the closest available inventory in the Amazon fulfilment network, even if that inventory belonged to a different seller, to achieve faster delivery speeds. Now that most sellers maintain inventory levels that keep products close to customers, we can achieve fast delivery without commingling.
The following requirements will go into effect for inventory shipped on or after March 31, 2026:
- Brand owners with the Brand Representative selling role in Amazon Brand Registry will no longer need to apply Amazon barcode stickers to prevent commingling for products that already have manufacturer barcodes (such as UPC, ISBN). This means more flexibility in how you manage inventory because you will not need to pre-allocate units to Amazon or other channels. For more information, go to How to switch to manufacturer barcodes.
- Resellers (not enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry as a Brand Representative selling role) will now be required to use Amazon barcode stickers for products even if they have a manufacturer barcode. If you are already using these stickers, you can continue to follow your existing process.
- For products that do not have a manufacturer barcode, both brand owners and resellers will need to use Amazon Barcode stickers.
For more information, go to FBA barcode choice and labelling FAQ.
21 replies
Seller_g1iS3CyD4zQ2y
This is terrible. We have hundreds, thousands of units that will now have to be labelled, that we have always sent in with manufacturer barcode. This is going to mean a huge waste of time and expense.
Seller_yH75SkyG4ydZZ
If I've read this right, this is an absolute nightmare! Currently we can book in new and replenishment stock and send without even opening the box from the supplier. Now we have to print an Amazon label for every single item we send in? This is going to add huge amount of time and extra costs for every shipment
Seller_4mvpF14wacAyg
3 months notice for something like this is really unreasonable.
I have stock booked with suppliers coming in 2026 which will now have to be re-labelled, costing time and money.
This really need to be at least 1 years notice minimum.
I do exclusive products with suppliers and by default I get the manufacturers barcode, but I can get them to label them with FNSKU's no problem - the issue is I buy 6-12 months in advance and have things already coming in with the incorrect labelling.
@Julia_Amazon@Spencer_Amazon- Please could you pass this feedback on, like the DD+7 policy, sellers really need more time to implement this. 3 months notice is nowhere near enough.
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
This is absolute madness. We will have to employ another full-time employee just to do labelling for several thousand products every month. Our FBA prep time will more than double.
For most brands where we are authorised resellers we are the only FBA sellers therefore this is a complete waste of time. Costs will increase which will be passed onto the customer.
I cannot see any rationale for not exempting authorised resellers from relabelling - authorised resellers are representatives of the brand. Although, even if this was exempted many of our brands are not Brand Registered anyway.
As others have noted, 3 months notice is nowhere near enough.
I can only assume this is a policy in disguise to simply reduce and ultimately remove third party sellers?
Surely any benefit to Amazon of doing this will be lost in the mis-labelling of products which will undoubtedly happen when dealing with complex and mixed inventory. Many more customers will get the wrong product.
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
Currently, if something is returned, it can go back into stock and then be sold to fulfil a different seller's order. That item may have bene returned broken, parts missing, or changed for a different item and the seller could be faced with the blame.
Currently, if someone sends in fake stock using the real barcode, a different seller could have an order fulfilled using that stock and take the blame for selling a counterfeit item.
It was madness to have the co-mingling policy in the first place, especially since they sometimes wrongly applied the policy to people who had opted out.
Seller_fMsCVAHNu4txH
But how many others have also been given that permission?
Have you got a close working relationship with every one of them. Would you trust every single one of them with your business?
Because that's how commingling currently works.
If 100 sellers have that same permission, and 1 sends in defective goods, the other 99 can suffer.
The 3 months notice is the usual Amazon nonsense of not considering the implications of policy changes.
But commingling itself was always a very bad idea from the start.
That's not how FBA works though....
Real World:
- Customer: "I've got an issue"
- ReSeller: "Sorry, we've apparently had a bad batch of product, we'll get it sorted."
- Manufacturer: "We're really sorry, we'll get it sorted."
FBA World:
- Customer: "I don't really want this, I'll send it back using a randomly selected 'Free' return option"
- Amazon: "You've sent defective items, you're suspended"
- ReSeller: "That's not even my stock?!"
- Amazon: "Please submit an appeal, and tell us how you'll prevent this ever happening again."
- ReSeller: "I'll provide a letter of confirmation from the Manufacturer, confirming the batch number(s) don't match."
- Amazon: "You've failed to address the issues raised. Your account is now at risk."
Seller_fMsCVAHNu4txH
Surely, for larger sellers the issue would be even more problematic?
All it takes is one individual to slip through the net and entire batches of stock are effectively contaminated.
As a seller of tens of thousands of SKUs, and with about a decade on here now, the number of times we've had authenticity issues and items returned to us from 'our' stock that are nothing to do with us is still astounding.
You may have an exclusivity deal with a manufacturer, but that doesn't mean another seller won't come along and send in stock, which is then mixed with your own.
New sellers tend to jump in with both feet first, then get caught out by things like brands and authenticity issues. It wouldn't be your fault, but you'd be the one who suffered most from it.
Plus, if you have a rock-solid deal for Amazon exclusivity with the brand, just get them to assign you as an 'Amazon Brand Representative' and you don't need to use the FBA codes at all.
