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For FBA inbound shipments

Free 2D Box Content Label Generator for Amazon FBA

Make one PDF417 box content label for every carton in your shipment. The generator builds the content in the order Amazon's help describes, decodes each barcode in your browser to check it, and downloads one PDF with a label per box.

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The generator

Make a label for every box

1Shipment

2Boxes & items

One label per box. The ID type is detected for you; change it if it is wrong. Expiry date only if the item has one.

Paste or upload a CSV instead

Columns in this order: box,id,qty,exp,type. Header row optional, comma or semicolon. exp (YYMMDD) and type (FNSKU, ASIN, UPC, EAN or ISBN) may be left empty.

Applying replaces the boxes above, and only happens when every line is valid. The file is read on this device; nothing is uploaded.

3Printer & label

600 dpi meets Amazon's 600 dpi print guidance for 2D labels.

Box content information

What Amazon asks for, and where a 2D label fits

Amazon's Seller Central help says: "We require sellers to provide accurate box content information for each box sent to Amazon." Box content information includes the unit quantity of each SKU per box, expiry dates (if applicable) and the box weight and dimensions.

It is required even if a box holds a single SKU or a single unit. If your entire shipment is packed in a single box, Amazon's help says you do not need to provide SKU quantities.

Four ways to provide it

  • Web formEnter the contents of each box in Seller Central.
  • File uploadUpload an Excel or tab-delimited file.
  • 2D barcode on each box This toolAvailable for shipments created in Seller Central and the Selling Partner API.
  • XMLSend it through the Selling Partner API.

You choose the method in the shipment creation workflow. For 2D barcodes, Amazon's help says "you will need to use a third-party application or website to generate 2D barcodes". This free generator is one option.

If box content information is missing

Amazon's UK/EU help lists a manual processing fee of £0.15 per unit for items sent to fulfilment centres in the UK, and €0.18 per unit for items received at fulfilment centres in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland or the Czech Republic, plus VAT if applicable. If information is missing for some boxes, the fee is charged on all units in the shipment. Fees can change, so check Seller Central for your marketplace.

Set up

How to turn on 2D barcodes in Seller Central

  1. In Seller Central, open Fulfilment by Amazon settings, then Inbound settings, and select Edit.
  2. Select Enable next to "2D Barcodes for Box Content Information", then Update.
  3. When you create a shipment, select "Use 2D barcodes" in the shipment creation workflow.
  4. Make one label per box with the generator above and apply it to the outside of each carton.

Keep your FBA shipment labels. Amazon's help says "2D barcodes must be applied to the outer shipping cartons" and "The 2D barcode does not replace FBA shipment labels, which are also required for every carton."

Allow extra receiving time. Amazon's help says "The use of 2D barcodes may cause delays in receiving your shipment", because shipments with 2D barcodes require more processing time.

Requirements

Amazon's 2D barcode requirements

Amazon's help lists three 2D barcode types, each with its own minimums:

Data Matrix

Amazon
Recommended
Versions
14×14, 16×16, 18×18, 20×20 or 22×22
Module size
At least 0.040 in (1.016 mm)

PDF417

Used by this tool
Module width
At least 0.020 in (0.508 mm)
Row height
At least 3 modules
Error correction
At least level 6

QR Code

Module size
At least 0.040 in (1.016 mm)
Error correction
At least High

What this generator draws: PDF417 at error correction level 6, rows exactly 3 modules tall, and a module width of 0.508 mm at 600 or 300 dpi (12 or 6 printer dots) or 0.626 mm at 203 dpi (5 dots), never smaller. One symbol per box, drawn to exact millimetres in the PDF.

Content format

What goes inside the barcode

Amazon's help sets the order of the data:

  1. Begin with AMZN.
  2. The FBA shipment ID, code PO.
  3. The item ID, code ASIN, UPC, EAN, ISBN or FNSKU. It must match the unit type expected on the shipment.
  4. The quantity, code QTY.
  5. The expiry date if applicable, as YYMMDD, code EXP.

Codes and values are separated by a colon, and segments by a comma. Amazon's guidelines: uppercase only, no spaces, no null or zero values (don't list an ASIN with quantity 0), a maximum of 100 different ASINs per box, and one expiry date per ASIN per box.

Amazon's sample, two items with expiry dates:

AMZN,PO:FBA23JFC2G,ASIN:B00H1BPQ1Y,QTY:12,EXP:140301,UPC:847603044631,QTY:24,EXP:140428

The generator builds this string for you. It uppercases IDs, and rejects spaces inside an ID, zero quantities, impossible dates and the same ID twice in one box. The exact encoded text is shown under the preview, with a Copy button.

Printing

Printing 2D box labels

Amazon's help says: "Barcode labels should be printed in black on a white label at a minimum of 600 dpi." It advises thermal or laser printers, not inkjet, with scaling set to none / 100 %.

  • The generator starts at 600 dpi, which meets Amazon's 600 dpi print guidance.
  • 300 dpi and 203 dpi are there for thermal printers. Amazon's guidance says 2D labels should be printed at a minimum of 600 dpi. Lower-resolution printers may not scan reliably — test-scan before shipping.
  • Label sizes: 4 × 6 in and 100 × 150 mm with every printer setting; A4 and US Letter pages at 300 or 600 dpi.
  • Print the PDF at Actual size / 100 %, then test-scan a printed label before you ship (our own advice). More in our guide to printing labels.
Capacity

How many items fit on one label

Each box gets exactly one PDF417 symbol, and Amazon's minimum module size and error correction limit how much one symbol holds. These are this tool's measurements (FNSKU items, 6 mm margins), not Amazon figures:

Items per label, quantities up to 3 digits
Label600 dpi300 dpi203 dpi
4 × 6 in292912
100 × 150 mm282812
A4 page6060n/a
US Letter page6060n/a
With an expiry date on every item
Label600 dpi300 dpi203 dpi
4 × 6 in20208
100 × 150 mm19198
A4 page4242n/a
US Letter page4242n/a

600 and 300 dpi hold the same number because both use a 0.508 mm module. A4 and US Letter are offered at 300 and 600 dpi only.

If a box has more items than fit, the generator names the box and disables the download until it fits: split the carton, choose a larger label or a higher dpi, or give Amazon that box's contents with the web form or Excel upload. A larger page helps only up to the limit of one symbol.

2D Box Content Labels — FAQ

A label with a 2D barcode that carries the box content information for one carton: the FBA shipment ID, each item's ID and quantity, and expiry dates where they apply. Amazon's help lists a 2D barcode on each box as one of four ways to provide box content information, alongside the web form, an Excel or tab-delimited upload and XML through the Selling Partner API.

Yes. Amazon's help says 2D barcodes must be applied to the outer shipping cartons, and that the 2D barcode does not replace FBA shipment labels, which are also required for every carton.

Amazon's requirements list Data Matrix, PDF417 and QR Code. We chose PDF417 for size. Amazon allows Data Matrix only in versions 14×14 to 22×22 with a module of at least 1.016 mm; in our tests even a one-item box needs a bigger symbol (24×24), and this tool prints one symbol per box. A QR code needs a module of at least 1.016 mm with High error correction, so a 4 × 6 in label holds only about 10 items in our tests. PDF417 is allowed at 0.508 mm, so the same label holds about 29 items. This is our engineering reasoning, not an Amazon rule.

On a 4 × 6 in label at 600 or 300 dpi, about 29 FNSKU items with quantities up to 3 digits, or 20 if every item has an expiry date. At 203 dpi it is 12 (or 8). An A4 or US Letter page holds about 60 (or 42). These are this tool's measurements, not Amazon limits; Amazon's own limit is 100 different ASINs per box.

Amazon's help says the item ID can be an ASIN, UPC, EAN, ISBN or FNSKU, and it must match the unit type expected on the shipment. The generator detects the type for you (X00… as FNSKU, B0… as ASIN, 12 digits as UPC, 13 digits as EAN, or ISBN when they start with 978 or 979), and you can change it.

No. The labels are built in your browser. The page loads three open-source libraries (bwip-js, pdf-lib and ZXing) from the jsDelivr CDN, but your shipment ID, item IDs and quantities are not sent anywhere.

Sources (1) · Last reviewed 17 October 2026
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Last updated October 2026 · About freebarcodetools FBA