amazon FBA 2D barcodes now made with mobile APP
Amazon box content labels, aka 2D barcode labels for FBA. A Closer Look
Finished Label attached to box~
AMAZON BOX CONTENT LABEL
The box content label is probably the most mysterious item in the packaging process when shipping boxes to the amazon FBA warehouse. In this post I will explain the benefits of using a 2D barcode as well as sources of the labels both free and paid. In this blog I will also explain the pitfalls and shortcomings of the 2D barcode so that you can easily avoid them and generate the best label possible.
And finally I will show you a tool I decided to code up for IOS that will let you scan your items into your iphone® or ipad® as you pack your boxes, and print out labels as you go.
There will be plenty of information in this post so please give it a read. It should be great for your FBA business and especially good if you have plans on scaling your business up. The 2D barcode is the BEST tool for scaling up with little impact on your shipment prep times.
WHY SHOULD I USE A 2D BARCODE?
Lets first examine the why. Answer: Box Content Disclosure is required and the 2D barcode will get your products online faster. really? YES
BOX CONTENT REQUIRED
As of November 2016 Amazon is asking that you properly disclose all the items in each box you packed up to send them. Failure to disclosure will cost you .15 cents per item as of January 2017. To the seller wanting to scale or already high volume, this is not an option.
WHAT IS BOX CONTENT DISCLOSURE EXACTLY?
Shipments to amazon can either fit into a single box or will need to be broken up into a few boxes. If all you send is a single box, no disclosure required! For the shipments that can not fit into a single box, you will need to tell amazon what items where placed into what box. Amazon already knows what is in your shipment as a total, they just have no idea how you decided to distribute those items into the shipping boxes. This is where box content disclosure comes into the picture.
The box content disclosure tell amazon exactly the is in that box and that box alone. This allows the box to get sent to the proper area and unpacked.
TWO WAYS TO DISCLOSE BOX CONTENTS
1: Online disclosure
2: 2D Barcode attached to the box next to your two shipping labels.
By doing either one of the two methods above you will avoid the per items for NON-disclosure of box contents.
ONLINE METHOD VS 2D BARCODE...WHO WINS?
At first glance .... online looks faster and easier. For the people preparing online disclosure documents they already know the reality... it is a tedious and time consuming process.
BOX CONTENT DISCLOSURE USING THE ONLINE PROCESS
If you are new to FBA or looking to start adding box contents you will want to know how to do this online in order to decide what is a best for for you.
Steps:
1. Mark the boxes with a 1, 2, 3, 4... etc on the top inside flap.
2. Print out their shipment list.
3. Write next to list item the box number it was packed into.
4. Download the special text file of shipment details from amazon.
5. Edit this special text file with the box number in the appropriate column.
6. Upload this file to amazon.
7. Verify Upload was successful. Finished.
BOX CONTENT DISCLOSURE USING THE 2D BARCODE METHOD, 2d barcode generators
As of right now there is not a single way to create the 2D barcode. There are FREE barcode generators online. However you will need to manually type the information that is required for the barcode. Before I created 2D FBA LABEL for ios I would manually type out my barcodes. So why not just use the online process then? Because Amazon stated in their 2D barcode specification pdf that the products will be made available sooner if they can just scan the box as it arrives to the warehouse.
*** Notice in the screen shot that amazon does not provide a barcode solution direct. Notice that they say that your products will be made available for sale faster. To read the whole document you can click the link below.
Here is a link to the amazon pdf
Ideal steps for creating a barcode:
1. Scan each item into a barcode generator as you pack.
2. Print Completed label.
3. Attach to box. Finished
TIME IS MONEY.
When using a Barcode generator you can save hours per shipment AND trim days off your time to market. This can have a huge impact on your FBA business.
2D SOLUTIONS.
There are a few pieces of software floating around the web that are tied to a computer. These will make a label specifically for amazon FBA. You will need to shop around and see what works for you. There are also FREE barcode generators. The one I recommend is:
From the list of barcodes select PDF417 (see image below for example)
PDF417 type is the one most preferred by Amazon. This is the one I used to make my first labels. You Will need to read the amazon PDF to make sure you are typing it up properly. I actually cut and paste from the PDF to create a generic template.
What is nice about the Amazon 2D spec document is that is shows you how to read the text format amazon requires in a 2D barcode. If you ever purchase a 2D barcode scanner you would be able to scan your printed label and make sure all the data is encoded propery. This could be part of your shipping process, occasionally scan your finished 2D barcodes to verify all is well. The barcode can be read using any text editor using the scanner in keyboard mode.
PRINTING BARCODES
There are a few things to be aware of when you are using 2D barcodes as your amazon box content solution.
1: Barcodes have a data limit. If you keep scanning items into your barcode past the limit guess what... it will only capture data up to its data limit. So you will need to be aware of how many products you have added to your barcode.
2: Printers have a resolution limit! This is the true limit of the barcode. You will most likely hit the resolution limit before you hit the data limit of the barcode itself. You will see that Amazon has a printer resolution requirement of 600 x 600 dpi. And they have a higher than usual error correction limit of 6. This will allow some damage to the label itself and still be fully functional, cool!
PRINTER RESOLUTION EXPLAINED:
The reality is that most FBA sellers are using thermal printers to print up the two shipping labels on a 4" x 6" label stock. One of the most popular printers is the zebra Lp2844. But this printer is only a 203 dpi! So will you need to purchase new printers? No not exactly. When I was developing FBA 2D Label I printed on three printers and tested their true capabilities and limits over and over until a simple rule was found. I would go on to use this rule in my app. The rule is as follows:
1: For true 600 x 600 dpi printers or above, you can encode up 30 products safely on a PDF417 type barcode.
2: For printers with less than 600 x 600dpi such as 300 x 600dpi, 300dpi or even the 203 dpi, you can easily encode up to 20 unique products into the 2D barcode using the amazon required format.
NOT BAD!
My personal set up is a zebra Lp2844 I use for the FNSKU label making. And I added a true 600dpi postek g6000 for the shipping labels & 2D Barcode box content labels. This allows me to keep one size of label in each printer. ( I used to print all my labels on the single zebra)
For people who like to keep costs low, you can add another 203 dpi printer and run just a pair of those.
SHIFT TO 2D BARCODES TODAY
With all the information above I hope you feel empowered to not only introduce 2D barcodes into your shipping process, but to also know whats inside those little images. For people who are interested in learning more about the app I developed please see below. The following will now be shameless promotion for what I believe is the best solution for amazon sellers to quickly generate labels and free up their time. To me our most important asset is time, and anything I can do to gain it back is a massive personal value. Now if it adds a financial gain as well, I call it a must have.
FBA 2D LABEL
The idea behind FBA 2D Label is simple. An app that allows my iphone® or ipad® to quickly add items to a list as I pack. The list can be edited and will stop you from adding items past the limit of BOTH the barcode and the printer dpi you selected. The label would then be able to be saved to my device as a photo, PDF (ibooks®) or even sent to my drop box! And for the users who have airprint® enabled printers it could print direct to them as well.
That is exactly what I created. I come from a background in semiconductor manufacturing and we used barcode technology on everything! Trust me when I say it is the way to go for streamlining a process.
The one piece of hardware you will want if you do not already own it is a bluetooth scanner. There are so many options on the market. I personally use a SOCKET 1D attached to my iphone. Not only does it create my 2D label, it allows me to scan items into amazon seller app when sourcing products. win win.
On the ipad® I use a socket 2D scanner on a lanyard. I like that it is handy as I am packing and also lets me check my labels on occasion to see that my printer is in good health. Ultimately if you have or want to purchase a bluetooth scanner you can get the best experience with FBA 2D LABEL. ( NO SCANNER REQUIRED TO TEST, you can type items in manually for now if you just wanna try the app with no scanner )
FBA 2D Label is available on the itunes® app store store now! You can try it free for 7 days. After that it will cost you only $1.99 a month. For less than 2 bucks a month you can have all the labels you need. You can even run the app on up to 5 devices! If you are a amazon pro seller, you are most likely shipping the 40 item per month minimum target. Those 40 items will cost you $6 not to disclose...80 items will cost you $12..etc....on and on. You are already making money by using FBA 2D Label.
OTHER FEATURES:
1: You can enter large quantities of a product. The product limits are not to be confused with quantity. Example 1 product: CAN OF REDBULL with a quantity of 34! You can still enter 19 more "products" into the barcode if using a low dpi printer, 29 more products if using the 600 dpi setting. Quantity has no bearing on barcode data limit, only the number of products does.
2: Perishable product ready! You can select perishable and enter the required "best by" date.
3: Items on list can be erased. No need to start over, remove item from box and then delete it from the list. The list and barcode will adjust accordingly.
4: Continue same shipment ID : When you are finished packing a box and making the label, the app will return you to the shipment ID page. Your shipment ID will be all ready be filled out, just type in the next box number or tap "clear shipment id" to start a whole new shipment.
5: Item ID type, The app has every type of input method. The default is the (FBA item label) aka: FNSKU. But with a simple tap you can change it to ISBN for example.
6: Also prints the shipment Id and box number on the label. Stack of labels will easily make their way to the right box.
7: Simple! I made it to be simple. I wanted an app that travels with your person as you work, no computer station needed while packing. to create digital backups, save to camera roll first, then send to dropbox or printer if you wish. Give it a try to day! Just download and hit the subscribe button. If its not for you, just cancel before the 7 day trial is over and you will not be charged.
If you know someone who could benefit from a standalone barcode solution send them this post. Thanks for reading.
Link to FBA 2D Label in app store: