Amazon FBA label requirements: size, format and placement

Amazon takes in your stock by scanning a barcode. Get the label wrong and a receiving clerk cannot log the unit, so the shipment sits in a problem queue while your listing shows no inventory. Most of those holds trace back to a handful of label rules.

The size Amazon accepts

Labels have to sit between 1×2 inches and 2×3 inches (about 25×51 mm to 51×76 mm). Inside that band, two formats cover almost everyone:

• The 30-up laser sheet at 1×2.625 inches. This is the Avery 5160 grid, thirty labels to a page, printed on a normal laser printer.
• The 2.25×1.25 inch thermal roll, for anyone running a dedicated label printer. No toner, no sheets to line up.

Either works. Pick the sheet if you label a few dozen units at a time, the roll if you label hundreds.

Print it on the right machine

Do not use an inkjet. Inkjet ink smears under a scanner and smudges when a warehouse worker handles the box, and a smudged barcode fails to scan. Laser and thermal both lay down a crisp, durable code that survives the trip. This is the single most common reason a home-printed label gets rejected.

One label per unit, over the old barcode

Every sellable unit needs its own FNSKU label, the code that ties the item to your listing. Place it over any existing manufacturer barcode, the UPC or EAN on the retail packaging. If both codes are visible, the scanner can read the wrong one and the unit is logged as someone else's product.

That is why removable adhesive matters: you can cover the old code without tearing up the packaging under it.

Placement that scans first time

• Put the label on a flat face, not wrapped around a corner or an edge, so the scanner sees the whole code.
• Keep it clear of seams, tape, and shrink-wrap folds.
• Leave a small quiet margin around the barcode. Text or artwork crowding the bars can throw the read off.

Box labels are a separate thing

The FNSKU labels above go on individual units. The shipment itself also needs an FBA box ID label plus the carrier's shipping label, and those usually print at 4×6 inches. Do not stack the unit rules onto the box, they are two different labels doing two different jobs.

What is changing in 2026

Two dated changes matter right now. Since January 2026, Amazon no longer applies labels for US sellers, so every unit has to arrive already labeled. And from 31 March 2026, sellers who are not in Brand Registry must put an FNSKU on every unit even when the product already carries a manufacturer barcode, because Amazon is ending stickerless commingling for resellers.

Amazon is also moving toward 2D barcodes, the square DataMatrix codes that hold more data than a plain FNSKU bar, in step with the wider retail shift to 2D codes at checkout by 2027. There is no single cutover date that applies to every seller, so check your Seller Central notifications for the format your account needs and print whichever code Amazon puts on your label file.

Quick checklist

Right size (1×2 to 2×3 in), laser or thermal print, one FNSKU per unit, placed over the manufacturer barcode on a flat surface. Hit those four and receiving goes smoothly.

We print Amazon FBA labels to that spec on sheets or rolls, and if you are shipping small items in, bubble mailers keep them safe on the way to the fulfillment center.