Change From Manufacturer Barcode to Amazon Barcode (FNSKU)

To change from manufacturer barcode to Amazon barcode you switch your FBA product barcode preference in
Seller Central settings, and you can override it per SKU. The setting is two clicks. The reason to do it
is the part worth understanding.

Using the manufacturer barcode means your inventory is commingled. Amazon can fulfill your order from a
unit somebody else sent in, because to the warehouse those units are interchangeable. Using an Amazon
barcode, an FNSKU, means your units are tracked as yours specifically and only yours ship against your
orders.

That is the whole trade. Stickerless commingled inventory saves you a labeling step. It also means a
counterfeit or damaged unit from another seller can reach your customer and generate your negative review.

The two options, side by side

Read the third row. A counterfeit complaint against your account, arising from a unit you never touched,
is the risk commingling actually carries. In our experience that single row settles the decision for
anybody selling a brand they care about, and I’d switch before it becomes a story rather than after.

How to change from manufacturer barcode to Amazon barcode

Five steps. The fourth is the one people miss.

Open Seller Central settings and find the FBA settings. Look for the FBA product barcode preference. It is buried, so use the search box.

Set the default to Amazon barcode. This governs future inbound shipments rather than stock already sitting in a
fulfillment center. I’d note that distinction before assuming you are protected.

Override per SKU where necessary, since the preference exists at product level as well. Useful where you
genuinely want commingling on particular items, which in our experience is rarer than sellers assume.

Understand what happens to existing inventory. Changing the setting does not relabel units already in
the network. Stock already commingled stays commingled until it sells through or you remove it, which is
the step sellers assume is automatic and is not.

Apply FNSKU labels to the next inbound shipment, either yourself or at the factory. Our guide to
sending your first shipment to Amazon FBA
covers the labeling requirements and where labels must not sit.

What commingling actually looks like when it goes wrong

Worth describing concretely, because the risk sounds theoretical until it is not.

You send in 500 units of a product you manufacture. Another seller sends in 500 units of what Amazon’s
catalog treats as the same product, sourced somewhere you have never heard of. Both batches carry the same
manufacturer barcode. To the fulfillment network they are one pool.

A customer orders from your listing. The nearest available unit ships. There is roughly an even chance
it was never yours.

If that unit is counterfeit, damaged, or an older revision, the complaint arrives against your account.
Your review. Your order defect rate. Your authenticity claim to answer, with evidence you cannot produce
because you never held the item.

Now try to appeal it. Our guide to
Amazon seller account reinstatement covers what
Amazon expects, and the honest difficulty here is that the genuine root cause is a decision you made in a
settings menu. In our experience that is a painful appeal to write.

The reverse also happens and nobody notices. Your good units ship against somebody else’s orders,
absorbing their returns and their complaints. Invisible, and it costs you inventory.

What I’d take from it. The labeling cost is a known, small, per-unit number. The commingling cost is an
unknown, occasional, potentially account-level number. I’d pay the known one.

Who applies the label, and what each option costs you

Three routes, and the difference between them is larger than the price difference suggests.

The factory applies them during production. You send the FNSKU files, they print or affix during
packing, and your workflow does not change at all. Cheapest per unit and least disruptive, and I’d
negotiate it into the purchase order rather than treating it as a favor. Ask for a photograph of a labeled
unit before the run finishes.

A prep center applies them. Goods route through a third party who labels, inspects, and forwards to
Amazon. Costs more per unit than the factory and buys you an inspection step you probably wanted anyway.
For a first order from a new supplier, this is frequently the right answer regardless of barcodes.

Amazon applies them, for a per-unit fee. Convenient, and it removes your last chance to look at the
goods. In our experience sellers choose this because it requires no decisions, then discover a quality
problem through a review rather than through their own hands.

You apply them yourself. Fine at 200 units. Miserable at 2,000, and the bottleneck grows precisely as
the product succeeds, which is the worst possible timing.

One detail that trips people regardless of route. The label must be scannable: flat, not over a seam,
not wrapped around a curve, and not on a surface that flexes. A label that will not scan is functionally
absent, and I’d test-scan a printed sample before committing to a batch of thousands.

And one sequencing point. The FNSKU exists once the SKU exists in Seller Central, so create the listing
before asking a factory for labels. In my experience that ordering catches first-time importers who
negotiate labeling before they have a SKU to label against.

When to switch, and when not to

Four situations where I would switch. All four are common.

You own the brand. No brand you intend to build should have its reviews contaminated by another
seller’s units. The strongest case here, and it is not close.

You have received an authenticity or condition complaint you could not account for. Commingling is frequently the
explanation, and in my experience nobody suspects it first.

Your product is counterfeited. Commingling hands counterfeiters a route to your customers. Our guide to
Transparency codes for Amazon covers the stronger
version of the same protection.

You sell a high-value or safety-relevant item, where a substituted unit is a genuine hazard rather than
an inconvenience. I’d switch without further thought.

Two situations where commingling is defensible. A commodity item where units genuinely are
interchangeable and margin is thin, and a short-term arbitrage play where you are not building anything. I’d
still be uneasy, and in my experience sellers who stay commingled for margin reasons eventually pay for it
in reviews.

What the switch costs you

Honest accounting. It is not free.

A label per unit. Either your factory applies FNSKUs during production, which is much the better option,
or somebody applies them by hand before every shipment.

A little inbound time, since labeling constitutes an additional step. Minutes per carton, not hours.

A prep charge where a prep center or Amazon performs the labeling. Amazon operates a per-unit labeling service, and I’d price it against factory application before defaulting to either.

Nothing else. There is no ongoing fee for using FNSKUs, and I’d weigh a one-off labeling cost against
one unexplainable counterfeit complaint without much hesitation.

Two mistakes worth avoiding

Assuming the change operates retroactively. It does not. Existing commingled inventory stays commingled, so
plan for sell-through or removal where the reason you switched was urgent. I’d decide which within the week.

Leaving two scannable barcodes on a unit. If the product carries a manufacturer barcode and you apply an
FNSKU, cover the original. Two scannable barcodes on one unit causes mis-picks, and in our experience the
resulting discrepancy is nearly impossible to trace afterwards.

If you would rather have prep, labeling, and the account side managed together, that sits inside our
account management service. We are an
Amazon Ads partner and an Amazon SPN Verified Partner.

FAQ

How do I change from manufacturer barcode to Amazon barcode?

In Seller Central, open the FBA settings and change the FBA product barcode preference to Amazon barcode.
You can also override the preference for individual SKUs. The change applies to future inbound shipments
rather than to inventory already in a fulfillment center.

What is the difference between a manufacturer barcode and an FNSKU?

A manufacturer barcode means your inventory is commingled, so Amazon may fulfill your order using a unit
another seller sent in. An FNSKU labels each unit as yours specifically, so only your own stock ships
against your orders.

Why is commingled inventory risky?

Because a counterfeit, damaged, or wrong-condition unit sent in by another seller can be shipped to your
customer and generate a complaint against your account. You carry the consequence for stock you never
handled.

Does changing the barcode setting affect inventory already in Amazon?

No. Units already in the fulfillment network stay as they were until they sell through or you remove them.
This is the step sellers most often assume is automatic, and planning for it matters if the reason you
switched was urgent.

Does using FNSKU labels cost extra?

There is no ongoing fee for using FNSKUs. You pay a one-off labeling cost per unit, whether your factory
applies them during production, which is usually cheapest, or a prep center or Amazon’s labeling service
does it.

Should I ever stay on the manufacturer barcode?

It is defensible for a genuine commodity where units are interchangeable and margin is thin, or for
short-term arbitrage where you are not building a brand. For any brand you intend to grow, the review
contamination risk outweighs the labeling saving.

Last updated: September 1, 2026. Amazon’s FBA barcode preference settings, eligibility for stickerless
commingled inventory, and labeling service fees change over time and differ by category and marketplace;
Seller Central carries the current options for your account.