New sellers looking for advice on packaging and shipment
Hi, we are 2 working mums looking to get a bit of income from our jewelry and new to Amazon FBA, and for our first product line are assembling and packing our product ourselves. We are selling jewelry in small, robust boxes that won’t come open. We wondered if people advise we put the boxes in polybags or not. Adding polybags means we fit fewer in cartons, but may offer more protection, but they’re not very environmentally friendly.
Then we are also trying to wrap our heads around the shipment process. We have the jewelry boxes in carton trays (36 if in polybags, 48 if not), and all the carton trays will fit in 1 box. We’re not going for massive quantities for a test run of this style. So we don’t need a pallet - it’s just 1 box. Much of the process mentions pallets - we’re simply not that large scale. Would you recommend we send to a specialist to check the packaging and handle sending to the warehouse for us? If so who? Or if we do ourselves and use bubble wrap to stop the cartons moving within the box, any tips on getting it accepted?
Thanks so much for your help.
21 replies
Seller_EOmLRMFX8Oo9x
Personally I would put these in Poly bags or bubble bags etc, these are going to be stocked in a warehouse and you don’t want the customer to receive a scratched or dirty box, this could result in returns for used not new complaint which will get your account suspended and the great deal of hassle of POA, appeals etc.
Each individual item needs to have its own Amazon Barcode on it FNSKU unless you are using the manufacturers barcode or if you have your own gs1 barcode. If the items are all the same in the same carton you can just put a sticker on the outside with the quantity inside, some sellers say you don’t need to as the staff count and scan them.
All your items then go into a outer box with the fulfilment centre address and the contents list which these labels are automatically generated when you do your shipment in Amazon. The contents need to be packed so there is no damage during transport. This doesn’t have to be anything special something to stop the contents sliding about.
One of the handmade FBA sellers may be able to correct any incorrect information because of any different rules that handmade items have.
Once you have done it once you will see how simple and easy the process is
Good luck to both of you on your new venture
Seller_vMsxjZPrdu6uI
I do hope I am not opening up a can of worms here, but if you are selling for profit, rather than selling your own unwanted used items, have you opened the correct account - business account.
I say this because I would not want you to come unstuck. If you are selling for profit and do not have a business account, Amazon will quickly realise this and suspend your account
Ditto from me
Seller_MAo514yIz77Tl
If you don’t want to use plastic bags there are loads of alternatives. Paper, compostela, biodegradable.
Seller_QOwDDuKmoItYH
Hi,
Firstly, good luck going forward.
I sold jewellery for a while (don’t now) and I think the best thing is to keep the packages as small as possible so you can reduce FBA fees. If the box is robust would simply re-wrap in something protective to keep the box clean, but not chunky. A small polybag (not bubble). The smaller the better for fee purposes.
Seller_uvjVjro7zSadv
Hi,
I used to sell bracelets and put the box in a poly bag then stuck the bar code one. If it’s just one box initially, that’s probably the quickest and easiest way to do it.
Seller_uvjVjro7zSadv
sorry, didn’t read your full post. If the box is solid and well packed, you’ll be fine sending it via UPS on the preferential rates, you can do this via seller central and you just book the pick up your end. You don’t need to employ a specialist, its a simple as:
- put each box in a poly bag
- stick an amazon bar code on the ploy bag
- put everything in your box, make sure the box is well packed and nothing is moving around.
- book the shipment in seller central via ups
- arrange the ups pick up your end.
And that’s it.
Seller_rSt7tOFaXkncF
Good luck on this adventure!
Just and additonal 2p worth of advice when using FBA. When amazon pack a box (expecially with multiple items), they throw all the items into a box and put some brown packing paper over the top. Job Done.
Your gorgeous presentation box may well be rattling around loose in a box of hedge trimmers and sledge hammers. If you want to keep your box safe and looking nice, consider bubble wrap bags or maybe even double boxing. Do not rely on any form of proper packaging when the items travel from Amazon to the end buyer.
When we were FBA, we saw a breakage rate in shipping of over 12% for well packed glass items. Packing ourselves it is < 0.2% worldwide.
I hope this is of some help.
Icon Neon
