Amazon FBA
Amazon Killed FBA Prep on January 1, 2026. Here's What You Do Now.
On July 28, 2025, Amazon posted a notice to Seller Central that changed the logistics math for every FBA seller in the United States. Starting January 1, 2026, Amazon would stop offering all prep and item labelling services for FBA shipments. Not some services. All of them.
That deadline has now passed. If you were relying on Amazon to handle your FNSKU labels, poly bags, bubble wrap, or bundling, that option no longer exists. Every unit you send to an Amazon fulfillment centre must arrive fully prepped, fully labelled, and fully compliant before it gets there.
This article breaks down what happened, why Amazon did it, and the three options you have right now. We included a cost comparison table so you can see the real numbers side by side.
Amazon removed every prep service it previously offered to FBA sellers in the U.S. marketplace. The change applies to all inventory sent to Amazon FBA, including shipments through Amazon Warehousing & Distribution (AWD), Amazon Global Logistics (AGL), SEND, and the Supply Chain Portal.
Here is the full list of discontinued services:
Amazon rejects the shipment. They return it at your expense or dispose of it and charge a disposal fee. Unprepped inventory is not eligible for reimbursement if items are damaged or lost at the fulfillment centre. Repeat violations affect your account health score.
There was a limited grace period: shipments created before January 1 that arrived after the deadline were still eligible for prep. But that window is long closed. Every shipment you create today must be fully prepped before it leaves your warehouse, your supplier's factory, or your 3PL.
Amazon's official explanation was short. They said they had seen "a significant improvement in seller packaging capabilities" and that most sellers already handled their own prep. The service was no longer necessary.
That is the public-facing answer. The operational reason is more practical. Amazon's fulfillment centres are designed for speed. Every minute a worker spends applying FNSKU labels or wrapping products in poly bags is a minute they are not picking, packing, or shipping customer orders. Prep slowed down the inbound flow. Removing it means faster check-in, faster inventory availability, and fewer bottlenecks at the receiving dock.
For Amazon, this was an efficiency decision. For sellers, it was a cost and logistics decision that needed an answer.
Every FBA seller who used Amazon's prep service now faces the same question: who handles prep from here? There are three realistic paths. Each one has different costs, different risks, and different operational implications.
Option 1 works for low-volume sellers who move a few hundred units per month and have the space and time. Option 2 works for sellers who need fast replenishment and are willing to pay for the convenience. Option 3 works for anyone sourcing products from China who wants the lowest cost per unit and is willing to plan their shipping 2-3 weeks ahead.
This is where the conversation gets concrete. Below is a line-by-line comparison of what each option actually costs. The US prep centre figures come from published rate cards across the industry. The China prep figures are our own rates at China Fulfillment.
| Service | In-House (US) | US Prep Centre | China Prep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pick & pack per carton | Your labour cost | $2.75 - $6.00 | $0.99 |
| FNSKU labelling per unit | Your labour + printer | $0.30 - $0.50 | From $0.15 |
| Poly bagging per unit | $0.05 materials | $0.25 - $0.50 | From $0.30 |
| Bubble wrapping per unit | $0.10 materials | $0.30 - $0.75 | From $0.30 |
| Bundling per set | Your labour | $0.50 - $1.50 | From $0.50 |
| Receiving fees | N/A | $25 - $75/pallet | $0 |
| Domestic freight to prep centre | N/A | $500 - $2,000+/container | $0 (factory delivers direct) |
| QC inspection before prep | Not standard | Not standard | Included (visual + count) |
The two line items that most sellers overlook are domestic freight and receiving fees. When your goods land at a US port, somebody has to truck them to the prep centre. That costs $500 to $2,000 or more per container depending on distance. Then the prep centre charges you to offload and receive those goods. Those costs never appear in the per-unit pricing that prep centres advertise. They show up later on your invoice.
When you prep in China, those costs do not exist. Your supplier loads a truck in Dongguan or Foshan and delivers to a Shenzhen warehouse 1-3 hours away. That delivery is part of the supplier's obligation in most purchase agreements. You pay nothing for it.
The cost table tells part of the story. The bigger savings come from what you avoid entirely.
When a China-based warehouse receives your goods, the first thing that happens is a count check and visual inspection. If 200 out of 5,000 units have scratched packaging, wrong labels, or cosmetic defects, those 200 units get flagged before any prep begins. You resolve the issue with your supplier while the goods are still in Shenzhen, not after they have crossed the ocean and landed at a US prep centre.
Shipping defective goods to the US and then discovering them adds 4-6 weeks to your timeline and wastes the freight cost for those units. That cost is invisible until it happens to you.
The US prep model requires two full handling cycles. First, your goods are received, inspected, and stored at the prep centre. Then they are picked, prepped, relabelled, reboxed, and shipped to Amazon. Each handling cycle adds cost and introduces a chance for error.
The China model has one cycle. Your supplier delivers. Goods are inspected, prepped, labelled, and palletised in the same warehouse. The next time those goods are touched is at Amazon's receiving dock.
If you are already storing inventory in China and drip-feeding weekly replenishments to Amazon, adding prep to that process costs almost nothing in additional handling. The goods are already in the warehouse. The team is already picking and packing. FNSKU labels, poly bags, and carton labels become part of the existing workflow rather than a separate operation at a separate location.
This is the real advantage. Prep, storage, and shipping to Amazon happen in the same building with the same team. There is no coordination between a freight forwarder, a prep centre, and Amazon. One provider handles all three.
There is a related policy update taking effect on March 31, 2026. Amazon is changing how commingled inventory works. Previously, if you did not apply FNSKU labels, Amazon would commingle your inventory with other sellers' units of the same product. That created a risk: a customer could receive a counterfeit or damaged unit from another seller's stock, and the complaint would hit your account.
Under the new system, Amazon will use virtual tracking through manufacturer barcodes. This means commingled inventory gets a tracking mechanism that did not exist before. Some sellers may no longer need FNSKU labels at all, depending on their product category and risk tolerance.
But for most sellers, FNSKU labels remain the safer choice. If you sell private label products, apply your own FNSKU. If you sell products where counterfeits are common, apply your own FNSKU. The virtual tracking system is new and untested at scale. Protecting your inventory and your account health is worth the $0.15 per unit.
If you are currently sourcing products from China and shipping them to Amazon, moving your prep to a China-based warehouse takes about a week to set up.
You need three things: your Amazon shipping plan requirements (which SKUs need FNSKU labels, which need poly bags, which need bubble wrap), your supplier's delivery schedule, and a warehouse in Shenzhen that can receive, inspect, prep, and ship to Amazon FBA.
We handle this for roughly 400 sellers. The process is the same for everyone: your supplier delivers to our Shenzhen warehouse, we inspect and photograph the goods, we apply all prep per your instructions, and we ship to Amazon with tracking. Orders placed before 4pm Hong Kong time go out the same day.
See our full FBA prep service page with detailed pricing, or contact us for a custom quote based on your product dimensions and volumes.
FNSKU labelling from $0.15/unit. Poly bagging, bubble wrap, bundling, carton labels. Zero receiving fees. Your supplier delivers to Shenzhen, we handle the rest.
See FBA Prep Pricing →Amazon discontinued all FBA prep and item labelling services on January 1, 2026. The change applies to all U.S. FBA shipments including inventory sent through AWD, AGL, SEND, and the Supply Chain Portal. Amazon announced this change on July 28, 2025.
Amazon stopped all prep services: FNSKU barcode labelling, poly bagging, bubble wrapping, bundling, boxing, safety warning labels (suffocation warnings), and all other item-level prep. Sellers must now arrive at Amazon's fulfillment centres with every unit fully prepped.
Amazon rejects the shipment or returns it at your expense. Unprepped inventory is not eligible for reimbursement if items are damaged or lost. Repeated violations can affect your account health metrics.
Shipments created before January 1, 2026 that arrived at Amazon after the deadline were still eligible for prep services. That grace period has now expired. Any shipment created after January 1 must be fully prepped before arrival.
Three main options: do it yourself in-house, use a US-based prep centre, or prep at the source in China before shipping to Amazon. China-based prep is typically the lowest cost option because it eliminates domestic freight, receiving fees, and double-handling.
US prep centres typically charge $2.75 to $6.00 per carton for pick and pack, $0.30 to $0.50 per unit for FNSKU labelling, and $25 to $75 per pallet for receiving. Add domestic freight from port to prep centre at $500 to $2,000+ per container.
China-based prep at a facility like China Fulfillment costs $0.99 per carton for pick and pack, from $0.15 per unit for FNSKU labelling, zero receiving fees, and zero domestic freight because your supplier delivers directly to the warehouse.
When you prep in China, your supplier delivers to the warehouse directly. There is no container drayage, no US receiving fee, no domestic trucking. Labour costs are lower. And you only ship goods that have passed inspection, so you never pay to ship defective products across the Pacific.