Shipping Mark Guide: What Needs to Put on The Carton?

When you import goods from overseas, the transportation process can be very complicated.

From the supplier’s warehouse to your warehouse, there will be many people handling your goods.

Shipping mark help you tell the people handling your goods what happens when they are picked up and how to handle them.

What is Shipping mark?

Marking refers to the mark on the packaging of goods with words, graphics and signs in order to identify one batch of goods different from another batch of goods.

It is usually composed of a simple geometric figure and some letters, numbers and simple text.

Its function is to make the goods easily recognized by the relevant personnel during the process of loading, unloading, transportation, and storage to prevent wrong delivery or wrong shipment.

What is shipping mark used for?

• For shippers and manufacturers, the mark is convenient for management, statistics and calculation of weight and volume, so as to arrange transportation.

This information is very important when booking and customs declaration. Once the actual quantity, weight, size, etc. do not match the declared data, things will become very troublesome and additional costs will be incurred.

• Supervisors such as commodity inspection, customs, etc. can also be clear at a glance, making it easy to supervise and release goods in batches.
• It is convenient and quick for the carrier to check the delivery from the warehouse to the delivery and transit to the destination port. Especially when the bulk cargo is mixed, it is more important.

When you are transporting via Less Than Container Load (LCL), your cargo will be packed into a shared container. Although this is an effective method of transportation and can save you a lot of money, if your supplier does not clearly package and label your goods, storing so many people’s products in a shared container can cause confusion.

• The box mark is also of great help to the consignee. They clearly mark and distinguish all of your inventory, making it easier for you to find and unpack.

For example: if you have an order for 300 cartons with 5 color variations, your supplier can ensure that these changes are reflected on the cartons. In this way, it is possible to avoid a lot of time and energy wasted by crawling in the carton to try to find a specific product.

Suppose you are looking for a medium green T-shirt, you can check the mark to know which box contains the green T-shirt and its size.

How do you make a shipping mark?

For box marks, there is no fixed standard. The content of the transportation mark shall be negotiated by the buyer and the seller in accordance with the characteristics and specific requirements of the product.

Usually the shipping mark must include the following:

① The abbreviation of the name of the consignee or buyer;

② Reference number, such as waybill number, order number or invoice number;

③ Destination name;

④ Number of goods.

Some transportation marks also include the place of origin, contract number, license number, volume and weight, etc.

In addition, transportation symbols are often used for box marks.

For safety and traffic-related signs, you need to use symbols instead of writing;

These are all recognized. When shipping goods internationally, they are likely to encounter people who do not speak the language of your mark, so using symbols is important to convey the conditions that the goods need to be maintained during transportation.

The following are the symbols and their meanings commonly used in transportation:

Reference case

The above is the content usually included in the shipping mark. You can customize the merk according to your needs. The following are some commonly used box marks for your reference:

Compared to shipping to your own warehouse, shipping to Amazon FBA is more complicated. Amazon FBA receive goods from different buyers every day, and there are countless goods. So Amazon has uniform standards for goods sent to FBA.

Amazon has very strict packaging and labeling requirements so that they can manage the goods well.

If your goods do not meet the requirements of Amazon FBA, your goods will be rejected. Therefore, understanding Amazon’s packaging requirements for FBA goods is also very important for Amazon sellers.

Amazon FBA requirements for goods

If your product is imported directly to Amazon FBA, you will need to put an additional label on the carton.

We strongly recommend that you let your supplier affix the Amazon carton label to ensure that there will be no additional costs or complications in Amazon FBA.

If you are shipping to Amazon FBA and want to know how your product needs to be packaged, please read the following information.

How to pack a single product

• All single SKU products must be contained in the same package; if you want to sell multiple sets of products (such as books or DVD sets), each set of products must be packaged into one.
• Amazon does not accept items that require multiple separate parts to be assembled together-the example given on their website is a trolley with hands and legs in different boxes-to be delivered to their FBA warehouse.
• Each shippable unit (here, they refer to each unit that will be shipped to your customers; if you sell a gift set, the whole set will be a shippable unit) must have a visible barcode.
• If your products are sharp, dangerous or easily damaged, they need additional protective packaging to ensure that Amazon can safely complete the delivery service without damaging your products.
• If your product is sensitive to dust, dirt or moisture, you need to use a transparent plastic bag for protection.
• If Amazon feels that your packaging for fragile or dangerous items is not adequate, they may reject your product or repackage it at your expense-or even charge some non-compliance fees.
• If your product is sensitive to vibration, such as a hard disk drive, you must use air bubble film and other materials to individually protect each component, and all items must be individually packaged.

FBA cargo outer packaging requirements

Choose the right packing box

You must choose a suitable size box to pack the FBA products, and fill the gap with waste paper, polystyrene filler or cardboard to fix the product to avoid collision of the product in the box due to movement during transportation.

Check the appearance of the goods

Please make sure that the product packaging is good before delivery. If there is any damage or deformation, you should immediately unpack and check whether the internal goods are intact. If damaged, repackage and affix the SKU label. Otherwise, it will be rejected at the FBA US warehouse.

Items must be individually wrapped

Especially for fragile items such as glass ceramics, it is recommended to use a bubble cushion to wrap them, and they need to pass an impact test. Avoid damage caused by collision during transportation.

FBA cargo label requirements

Product SKU label

The product label is affixed to each product, and is mainly used to scan the product out of the warehouse, warehousing, and return.

The main components of the product label are barcode, FNSKU code and title.

Outer box label

In addition to the product label, the outer box label must be posted on the outer box of the product.

The main components of the outer box label are: barcode, destination, shipping place, etc.

Both the product label and the outer box label are automatically generated during the process of uploading shipping information in the Amazon system.

Made in China label

Products exported to the United States must be labeled with Made in China, and the outer box and each product must be labeled with “MADE IN CHINA”, otherwise they will be detained by the local customs.

Overweight labels

Amazon stipulates that a single box package cannot exceed 30 kg. If a single box package exceeds 15 kg, a “Team Lift” label needs to be affixed.

Because of Amazon’s cargo handling regulations, packages exceeding 15 kilograms require two operators to operate. The label “Team Lift” is to remind the operator that two people are required to operate

Please make sure that any carton labels do not cover the shipping or handling marks, otherwise it makes no sense to include them!

In short, the box label is very important for product transportation. Please make sure you let the supplier know your packaging requirements when you place an order.

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