Labelling cartons to a marketplace requirements is the seller obligation, not the carrier. The carton label ties the physical box to a line in the booked shipment: until the scanner reads one unambiguous code, the carton is not received. This article describes how that mechanism works and where our part of the chain ends.
What the carton label is for
The receiving warehouse does not open cartons at the gate. All identification runs through the code: the scanner reads the label, the system assigns the carton to a particular shipment and to a particular line within it. If the code does not match the booking, the carton is unidentified, and that is not a formality but a failure to receive. We described the same mechanism at pallet level in our article on pallet labels: the pallet label ties the pallet to the delivery, the carton label ties the carton to the line.
Why a scanner stops a carton with two codes
A box reused from a previous shipment carries the old code. A box repacked at the seller carries the new one. If both are legible, the scanner has two answers to one question and receiving halts, pending investigation, which means pending somebody physically finding that carton on the pallet. The rule is simple and has no exception: old markings covered or removed, one current code per carton, and the code legible, not hidden under film or tape.
The service boundary, stated plainly
We do not label retail units or cartons to marketplace requirements, we do not do unit-level fulfilment, we do not assemble sets and we do not handle consumer returns. Our role starts at handling-unit level: pallet receipt and release, cross-dock, preparing the pallet for departure, haulage and clearance with our regular customs agencies. Where exactly that boundary runs is set out in our articles on where transport ends and seller preparation begins and on what our warehouse does not do.
What we actually do about it
- Before departure we check what is visible from outside: whether the cartons carry labels, whether any of them shows two codes, whether anything is obscured by film.
- We flag a mismatch between the carton count on the pallet and the booking before the vehicle moves. The catalogue of refusal causes is covered in our article on refusal at the warehouse gate.
- Where an error is caught on the British side we can take the pallet into the Milton Keynes warehouse for short-term storage while the seller corrects the markings, and then rebook the delivery.
The order that saves a run
The seller creates the shipment in their own panel, the carton labels and pallet labels come out of it, and only then is a delivery window booked, a mechanism described in our article on booking the delivery appointment. Reversing that order ends the usual way: the pallet exists, the window exists, and the codes do not match the booking. The requirements for the handling unit itself are covered in our piece on pallet requirements.
Sources
- Amazon: Fulfilment by Amazon in the United Kingdom, seller information
- GS1: identification and barcode standards
- GOV.UK: importing goods into the United Kingdom
Sending pallets to an Amazon warehouse in the UK and want them accepted first time? Send the shipment details through the quote form. See also warehousing.
