What is FBA Prep — and do you need it?

Most Amazon sellers know they need to prep their products before sending them to FBA. But what exactly "FBA prep" means — and whether you should do it yourself or outsource it — is where things get fuzzy.

What FBA Prep actually is.

FBA Prep is the process of getting your products ready to meet Amazon's strict inbound requirements. Every unit that goes into an Amazon fulfillment center has to be labeled, packaged, and shipped according to their rules. Miss a step and your shipment gets rejected — or you get charged per-unit fees for non-compliance.

FBA prep includes:

• FNSKU labeling — Amazon's unique barcode applied to every unit
• Poly bagging — Required for textiles, plush items, and anything with loose parts
• Bubble wrapping — For fragile items that need protection
• Bundling/multi-packs — Shrink-wrapping multiple units into a single sellable unit
• Suffocation warnings — Required stickers on all poly bags
• Shipment creation — Building compliant shipment plans in Seller Central
• Box labeling — FBA shipping labels on every carton

When to do it yourself.

If you're shipping fewer than 100 units per shipment and have the space, doing your own prep is fine. You'll need a label printer (Dymo or Rollo), poly bags in various sizes, suffocation warning stickers, shrink wrap (if bundling), and a workspace. The cost is your time — which starts small but scales linearly. At 500+ units per shipment, most sellers realize they're spending entire days on prep instead of growing their business.

When to outsource it.

Outsourcing makes sense when:

• You're sending 500+ units per shipment regularly
• You're dealing with multiple SKUs that need different prep types
• You've received non-compliance warnings from Amazon
• Your time is worth more than $15-20/hour (what most prep services cost per unit)
• You're scaling and need to free up physical space

What it costs.

FBA prep services typically charge per unit. Rates vary by complexity:

• Basic labeling (FNSKU only): $0.20 - $0.50 per unit
• Poly bagging + labeling: $0.50 - $1.00 per unit
• Bubble wrapping + labeling: $0.75 - $1.50 per unit
• Bundling/multi-packs: $1.00 - $2.00 per bundle
• Full prep (inspect + prep + label + ship): $1.50 - $3.00 per unit

These are industry averages. Volume discounts are standard — the more units you send, the lower the per-unit cost.

The compliance factor.

Amazon doesn't give many warnings. If your shipments consistently arrive with prep issues — wrong labels, missing poly bags, items not bundled correctly — Amazon will either charge you per-unit prep fees (which are higher than any 3PL would charge) or restrict your ability to send inventory. A prep service that knows Amazon's requirements inside and out pays for itself in avoided penalties.

At TTM Group, our team includes former Amazon employees who handle FBA prep daily. We know what Amazon expects because we've been on the other side of the receiving dock. That means fewer rejected shipments, fewer surprise fees, and faster check-in times at Amazon's fulfillment centers.