There’s no such thing as harmony, especially when you sell on Amazon where everyone is in a constant competition! However, if you still want to find peace in what you do, you have to work hard and learn all the practical skills that you will need for the perfect balance.

Today, we will talk about one of those things that directly affect your selling career on Amazon – packaging. If you think that it’s not important, then look at the following examples:

• Seller A forgot to bubble wrap the product, and sent it out to the customer without it. However as you may have already assumed, the product was broken on the way to the buyer. What happened next? The customer left a negative review and Amazon filed an Amazon suspension! 
• While building their own brand on Amazon, Seller B and C needed to ship a boxed unit to a customer. However, their units didn’t have openings or a lid that would not easily open on their own. They knew that the box could be easily opened, however didn’t take measures to glue, tape, or staple it. Guess what Amazon did! Sellers found their Amazon account suspended!

See? Everything related to packaging can ruin your seller career! We don’t want this to happen and that’s why we would like you to familiarize yourself with Amazon’s requirements. If you don’t want to become a seller who has a bad reputation among customers, and who doesn’t have an Amazon suspension, you have to understand how Amazon thinks, and this can be done by reading Amazon policies and visiting seller forums. Knowledge is a powerful weapon and if you use it right, you will make it! 

Those who don’t follow Amazon’s requirements get kicked out of the game, or more specifically, get their Amazon account suspended! For this very reason, Amazon has established certain requirements, three out of which are presented below. For more info on the policy, click here.  

Boxed Units

Sooo, here are the promised requirements:

• If you’re selling products in boxes, you need to make sure they have six visible sides.
• If you’re selling on Amazon, be ready for having openings and lids, which you know won’t open during the shipping process. However, if you still feel that the box can suddenly open, you should use some additional materials like tape, glue, or staples. 
• What’s more important, you have to make sure boxes don’t break or crash after applying some pressure. Durable things are always appreciated! 
• Pay close attention to perforated sides and openings! Also, do everything possible to familiarize yourself with the 3-foot drop test! If your product didn’t pass this test from Amazon, do the following: place it in a polybag, and what’s more important, make sure it has a suffocation warning.

Bubble Wrap

Here are the requirements for bubble wrap packaging you have certainly used at least once:

• Look, the main mission of wrapping the product is to make sure it doesn’t fall or break. This means that wrapping must be tight and well-taped!
• Have you already bubble wrapped your product? Good! Then add a scannable barcode that can be easily seen, it’s also important! 
• And again, don’t forget to pass the above mentioned 3-foot drop test! The latter consists of five drops, such as flat on the base, flat on top, flat on longest side, flat on the shortest side, and on a corner

Keep in mind that the nature of your product also plays a pivotal role in how you package your products. Fragile, breakable, and heavy products that can not only be damaged but also have the ability to ruin or break other products, urgently need bubble wrap packaging! 

Tape

if you’re doubting whether you need some extra taping or not, read these criteria and if you feel that taping is what Amazon expects from you, do it!

Extra taping is often required when there is a chance that the product will fall out of its packaging, that it will leak, or that the item is not sufficiently sealed within the container. 

Finally, there’s one thing you should remember – “you have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” This means that you can be 100% sure about the quality of your product, but still find it damaged after transit. You don’t have control over the shipment process, over the road, and over the way employees work. So, always double-check before you sell or ship anything to Amazon customers: everything is different on Amazon!