To create a bundle listing on Amazon you sell several complementary products together as one
purchase, and in 2026 there are two ways to do it: a hard kit, which is a physical bundle with its own
barcode, ASIN and detail page, or a virtual bundle, which Brand Registry sellers create from existing
ASINs without repackaging anything. It is not a multipack, it is not a variation, and it is not simply
listing two items in one title.
The rules just changed. Amazon announced in September 2026 that from January 11, 2027, most bundles
listed as a single ASIN must be packaged by the original manufacturer or brand. Noncompliant bundles will be
deactivated and logged as listing violations on your Account Health dashboard. Consumable bundles
(grocery, pet, baby, health and beauty) have been under this rule since October 14, 2024.
So who can still build their own? A brand owner bundling its own products, which is why a compliant
bundle is still a listing nobody can hijack for a private label seller. A reseller combining other brands’
products needs a letter of authorization from every brand in the bundle, or one of Amazon’s narrow
exceptions. Everyone in Brand Registry can also use virtual bundles.
Hard kit or virtual bundle: Amazon’s 2026 rules
| Hard kit bundle | Virtual bundle | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | One physical unit with its own ASIN and barcode | 2 to 5 existing ASINs sold together; components ship separately |
| Who can create it | The original manufacturer or brand; others need a letter of authorization from every brand (from Jan 11, 2027) | Brand Representatives and Authorized Resellers in Brand Registry |
| Barcode | Its own UPC or EAN, or a GTIN exemption for the primary product’s brand | None needed |
| Exceptions | Gift baskets in a gifting browse node; camera bundles in a Camera product type | Not available for gift cards, digital, renewed or used items, or Handmade |
| Reviews | Its own, starting from zero | Separate from the components’ reviews |
| Fee | The referral fee of the primary product’s category applies to every item | No additional fee |
The brand isn’t your choice. Amazon says a bundle “must be branded and categorized according to the
primary product”, which is the highest normally priced item in the bundle. That item also sets the
referral fee for the whole bundle.
Media is now allowed. The same announcement opened bundles in Books, Music, Video, DVD and Video Games,
plus bundles with secondary generic products, service plans and gift cards.
The reason bundles get removed is almost always the same: the seller built a multipack and called it
a bundle, or bundled another brand’s products without its authorization. Both are avoidable. Both are covered below before the build steps, because I’d rather you read the constraints before sourcing than after.
Bundle, multipack, or variation
Getting these three straight prevents most of the trouble, and in our experience the confusion between them causes more removals than any deliberate rule-breaking does.
A bundle is several different, complementary products sold as one unit. A camera, a case, and a
memory card. Needs its own UPC and its own ASIN.
A multipack is several identical units sold together. Six of the same bottle. This is a quantity
listing rather than a bundle, and it uses the item package quantity field. Our guide to
the Amazon edit quantities error covers why getting
that field wrong is genuinely expensive.
A variation is the same product in different sizes or colors, grouped under one parent. Not a bundle at all. I’d not let anyone tell you otherwise.
Calling a multipack a bundle is the single most common cause of removal. In our experience it happens
because “bundle” sounds more marketable, and the policy consequence arrives months later.
The policy rules that decide whether yours survives
Read these before sourcing anything, because they are the constraints that cannot be worked around.
Products must be complementary. Somebody buying one should plausibly want the others, and in my experience Amazon reads that requirement more strictly than sellers hope. A random
assortment is not a bundle even if the items are unrelated in a way you find creative.
A hard kit needs its own UPC or EAN, distinct from the components. You cannot reuse a component’s
barcode. If you need an exemption rather than a barcode, Amazon accepts a GTIN exemption for the primary
product’s brand, and our guide to
applying for a GTIN exemption covers that route.
The listing text is prescribed. Amazon requires the word “Bundle” in the title, a description that
says it’s a bundle and names every item, a first bullet stating that it’s a bundle of “X” items, and a
main image showing every product in the bundle and nothing that isn’t included.
Brand permission is now a written requirement. If you didn’t make every product in the bundle, you need
a letter of authorization from each brand giving “permission to reconfigure and repackage their products
with all other included brands”. If Amazon flags the bundle, you upload it through Account Health. This
is the check people skip, and it is the one that produces a violation rather than a polite listing
takedown.
No duplicates of an existing bundle. If the identical combination already exists as an ASIN, you sell
on that listing rather than creating a second one. For virtual bundles, Amazon also prohibits copying an
existing bundle’s components with a different main component.
Hard kits stay as built. Amazon says components can’t be changed after creation, new and used items
can’t be mixed, and the bundle must be accepted back as a single unit for returns.
I’d treat brand permission as the first gate rather than the last. When I have seen bundles removed, an
unread brand policy was behind it more often than any listing error.
How to build it, step by step
- Confirm the combination is allowed. Are you the brand for every item, or do you hold a letter of
authorization from each brand? Check the category rules, and whether the identical bundle already exists. - Obtain a UPC or GTIN for the bundle itself, from GS1 rather than a resold barcode. Amazon
validates against GS1 records, and cheap resold barcodes are a known cause of listing failure. - Identify the primary product, the highest normally priced item. The bundle carries its brand,
category and referral fee. - Create a new listing, not a variation of an existing one. Add Product in Seller Central, new ASIN.
- Write the title so the contents are unmistakable. Brand, the word “Bundle”, the primary product,
then what else is included. A shopper should not have to read bullets to learn what arrives. - Photograph the bundle as a bundle. All components in the main image, on white, arranged as
received. Component photos borrowed from the individual listings are the commonest reason a bundle
converts badly, because the shopper cannot see what they are buying. - Open the bullets with “Bundle of X items”, as Amazon requires, then list every component with
quantities and sizes. Ambiguity here produces returns. - Set the price against the components bought separately, and make the saving visible.
- Prep and label as one unit. One FNSKU on the outer packaging, components secured inside so they
arrive together, and a set label such as “Sold as set” or “This is a set. Do not separate.”, which
Amazon requires on sets. A bundle that arrives as loose items is a customer complaint waiting to happen.
How to create a virtual bundle
If you’re in Brand Registry, this is the faster route, and it isn’t affected by the 2027 packaging rule.
- Pick 2 to 5 complementary ASINs you’re authorized to sell. Every component needs active FBA
inventory in New condition, and all components must use the same fulfillment type. - Create it in the virtual bundle tool in Seller Central. Amazon says virtual bundles can’t be created
or edited with product spreadsheets or APIs, and they can’t sit in variation families. - Price it below the components bought separately. Amazon says a virtual bundle priced above its
components loses Featured Offer eligibility. - Earn the widget. Amazon shows a “Bundles with this item” widget on the component pages only when
the bundle costs at least 1% less than buying the components separately and holds the winning offer,
and it can take up to 4 hours to appear. - Advertise it. Virtual bundles work with coupons, A+ Content, Sponsored Products and Sponsored
Brands, and Amazon charges no additional fee. Components are returned individually.
In practice, I’d test a combination as a virtual bundle first, then commit to a hard kit only once it
sells.
Pricing, honestly
The part that decides whether the bundle is worth building.
A bundle must be cheaper than buying the components separately, or there is no reason to choose it.
Shoppers do check.
But it must also be more profitable than selling the components separately, once you count the extra
prep labor, the larger box, and the higher FBA fee that the combined size and weight attract. That
second calculation is the one people skip.
Work it through before sourcing. A bundle that saves the customer 15% and costs you 20% more to
fulfill is a worse business than two separate listings, however good it looks on the page. I’d run
the numbers on paper first, because reversing a bundle after you have committed inventory is awkward.
Why bundles are worth it anyway
Three reasons, in order of how much they actually matter.
You own the ASIN. For a brand owner bundling its own products: no competition on your own listing, no
hijackers, no price war with resellers of the identical set. For a private-label seller this is the
strongest argument by a distance.
Higher average order value. The reason everybody cites, and I’d call it the least interesting of the three.
A genuine differentiation position. A bundle solves a use case rather than selling a product, which
is frequently the strongest position available to a smaller brand. Our guide to
Amazon competitor analysis covers choosing what to
compete on, and configuration is one of the few axes a large competitor will not follow you onto.
The counterweight: a bundle starts with zero reviews, and it does not inherit the reviews of its
components. That is a real cost on a product where review count drives clicks, and I’d factor it into
the launch plan rather than discovering it.
Which bundles actually work
Worth spending a paragraph on, because the compliance rules tell you what is allowed and nothing about
what sells.
Solve a job, do not just group products. The bundles that work answer a question the shopper already
has. Somebody buying a first aquarium does not want three items, they want to not have to research which
three items. That framing is the difference between a bundle and a discount.
Anchor on the product being searched for. The bundle should surface for the query somebody types for
the main item, with the extras as the reason to choose you. A bundle built around an accessory nobody
searches for gets no traffic, and I’ve seen that mistake more than any other.
Include something inconvenient to buy separately. A component that is cheap but annoying to source
adds more perceived value than a second unit of the main product.
Keep it to 2 or 3 items. Four and above starts looking like clearance, and in our experience
conversion drops rather than rises.
Avoid bundling anything with a short shelf life alongside something durable, because the whole
bundle then inherits the shorter expiry and your storage risk goes up.
Prep and fulfillment, which decides your margin
The unglamorous half, and where bundles quietly become unprofitable.
One unit, one label, one box. The bundle ships as a single sellable item with a single FNSKU on the
outer packaging. Components loose in a polybag inside a box is acceptable; components rattling around
separately is a complaint.
Watch the size tier. Combining items frequently pushes the parcel into a larger fee band, and the fee
difference can exceed the extra margin you built the bundle to capture. I’d check the tier before
committing, because it is the calculation that most often kills an otherwise good bundle.
Decide who assembles. Your supplier, a prep center, or you. Supplier assembly is cheapest at volume
and inflexible if the mix changes. A pre-shipment inspection
is worth it on the first run, because an assembly error repeated across 500 units is expensive to
discover at the fulfillment center.
Plan for partial stockouts. If one component runs out, the whole bundle stops. That is a real
inventory risk and it is why bundles need slightly more conservative reorder points than single products,
which our guide to Amazon inventory management
covers.
The mistakes that get bundles removed
Multipack labeled as a bundle. The most common, covered above.
No letter of authorization. From January 11, 2027, that means deactivation and an Account Health violation, which is more serious than a listing error. Our guide
to appealing an Amazon policy violation
covers the aftermath.
Reused component barcode, or a cheap resold UPC that fails GS1 validation.
Creating a duplicate of a bundle that already exists.
Missing the required wording. No “Bundle” in the title, or a first bullet that doesn’t state the
number of items.
Unclear contents, which generates returns and eventually a listing quality problem rather than a policy one. When I have looked at bundle returns, ambiguity about what was included explained most of them.
Selling components separately on the same listing. The bundle ASIN sells the bundle. Nothing else.
FAQ
How do I create a bundle listing on Amazon?
For a hard kit: confirm you’re the brand or hold authorization from every brand, get a UPC for the bundle, list it under the highest-priced item’s brand with “Bundle” in the title, state “bundle of X items” in the first bullet, show every item in the main image, and prep it as one labeled unit. Brand Registry sellers can instead create a virtual bundle from 2 to 5 existing ASINs.
What is the difference between a bundle and a multipack on Amazon?
A bundle is several different complementary products sold as one unit with its own ASIN and barcode. A
multipack is several identical units, handled through the item package quantity field rather than as a
new bundle. Calling a multipack a bundle is the most common reason bundles get removed.
Does an Amazon bundle need its own UPC?
Yes. The bundle needs its own UPC or GTIN, distinct from any component barcode, ideally issued by GS1
since Amazon validates against GS1 records. A GTIN exemption is the alternative route where a barcode is
not available.
Do I need brand permission to bundle products on Amazon?
Yes, unless you’re the brand. From January 11, 2027, most hard kit bundles must be packaged by the original manufacturer or brand, or carry a letter of authorization from every brand in the bundle. Consumable bundles have followed this rule since October 14, 2024. Noncompliant bundles will be deactivated and logged on Account Health.
What is an Amazon virtual bundle?
A listing that sells 2 to 5 existing ASINs together without repackaging them. Brand Representatives and Authorized Resellers in Brand Registry create them in Seller Central, components ship separately, no barcode is needed, and Amazon charges no extra fee.
Are Amazon bundles profitable?
Only if two things are true: the bundle is cheaper than buying the components separately, and it is more
profitable for you than selling them separately after extra prep labor, a larger box, and the higher FBA
fee that combined size and weight attract.
Do bundle listings keep the reviews of their components?
No. A bundle is a new ASIN and starts with zero reviews. On products where review count drives clicks
that is a real launch cost and worth planning for rather than discovering.
Last updated: October 22, 2026. Amazon’s bundling policy, category restrictions, barcode requirements,
and fee structures change over time. Seller Central and Amazon’s own bundle policy pages carry the
current rules for your category and marketplace. Sources: Amazon, product bundling policy; Amazon, virtual product bundles; Amazon, bundling policy update (September 2026); Amazon, consumable bundles update (2024); Amazon, UPC requirements; Amazon, GS1 UPC validation; Amazon, packaging and prep requirements.
