New and seeking advice regarding Manufacturers / SKU Codes
I am a complete newbie to amazon seller central; I have registered as a business seller. I have sourced all of my products, have the logistics all organised / planned. However, I’m a little uncertain regarding the bar-codes / skus etc. My products will be coming to me first, as oppose to going straight to an Amazon Hub/depo.
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- Do I have to inform my supplier to attach a manufacturers bar-code on each unit or just on the outside of the box?
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- Do I then have to attach my own bar-code (I think this is called an SKU)? If so what advice to people have for this?
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- Then will I Ship to Amazon Hub/Depo for them to FBA.
8 replies
Seller_z6B2L9xab6HlP
No manufacturer barcode is actually needed on the product itself, but it needs to be allocated one by GS1, or Amazon needs to allow a GTIN exemption.
On Amazon there are two types of SKU; a regular SKU and an FNSKU (Fulfilment Network SKU). All listed products have a SKU, and FBA products can additionally have an FNSKU. If you don’t use an FNSKU your product will be commingled, and this is generally to be advised against, but it can be ok if you’re the only seller. FNSKUs are sometimes known as an “Amazon Barcode”.
Each item will need some form of barcode identification; either a GS1 barcode or an FNSKU barcode - but not both. How you do that is up to you.
Seller_z6B2L9xab6HlP
GS1 only license the barcodes to you to use while you have a subscription with them. But once you’ve allocated a barcode to a product by listing the information on GS1 that barcode cannot be reissued to another manufacturer.
Don’t be tempted to buy barcodes from other sources because Amazon are now checking the details against the GS1 database.
The alternative to paying the GS1 subscription fee is a GTIN exemption - have a look in help for the details.
