The labelling and packaging requirements that decide whether a shipment is received or charged for rework, and how to put them into a Chinese factory's specification rather than an email.
Two labels, two jobs, two ways to get it wrong
A unit label identifies the item so the fulfilment centre knows what it received, and it has to be the only scannable barcode on the outside of the unit — a manufacturer's retail barcode left visible alongside it is a common cause of mis-scans and mixed inventory. A carton label identifies the box against the shipment plan, and it belongs on a flat face, away from seams and edges, not wrapped around a corner where a scanner cannot read it. Both have to survive the journey: a label printed on a home inkjet, applied over a seam, or covered by tape smears or lifts. Thermal-printed labels on the units, applied flat and clear of any other barcode, is the specification worth writing down.
- One scannable barcode per unit — cover or remove any retail barcode the factory prints
- Carton labels flat, on a single face, clear of seams, edges and tape
- Thermal print rather than inkjet, and no label placed where tape will cross it
Packaging requirements the factory will not infer
Poly-bagged units above a certain size need a printed suffocation warning, bags need to be sealed rather than open, sets need to be marked so they are not split into individual units, and anything liquid, sharp or fragile has its own handling expectations. None of this is obvious to a factory that has been shipping the same product to wholesale buyers for years, because wholesale never asked for it. The practical move is to convert each requirement into a line in the specification with a measurable form — bag thickness, warning text, seal method, units per inner — rather than sending a link to a help page and assuming it was read and understood.
- Write each prep rule as a measurable spec line, not as a link to a help page
- Confirm sets, multipacks and inners are marked so they are not broken up
- Have the requirement translated into Chinese, and confirmed back by the person who will do the work
Check it before it ships, because afterwards it is expensive
A labelling fault found in China is a re-label at factory cost. The same fault found at the fulfilment centre is either a fee-charged rework or a refused shipment, and in both cases your stock is unavailable for the period it takes to resolve — which for a launch or a Q4 window is the real cost rather than the fee. So labelling and packaging belong on the pre-shipment inspection checklist as named items, checked on the same visit as the product: label placement, scan test, carton marking, bag and seal condition, units per carton against the shipment plan. Requirements also change, so confirm the current rules in Seller Central before writing the specification rather than reusing last year's.
- Named on the inspection checklist: placement, scan test, carton marking, seal, units per carton
- A re-label in China costs a fraction of a rework at the fulfilment centre
- Confirm current requirements in Seller Central before each specification — they change
Authoritative references
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