Effective for shipments created on or after January 1, 2026, Amazon no longer prepares or labels your products inside its FBA warehouses. You handle prep yourself, or you use a third-party prep center.
Per Supply Chain Dive's reporting on Amazon's seller announcement:
“The company said the change, which will take effect at the start of 2026, is due to improvements in sellers' packaging capabilities.”
Amazon's statement, in its own words:
“The vast majority of Amazon sellers now handle their own packaging, including prep and item labeling, either on their own, through their own manufacturing partners or through third-party service providers.”
Industry response has been direct. Charles Williams, senior manager of marketplace operations at the omnichannel agency Blue Wheel, called it “one of the most significant operational shifts Amazon has made in recent years.” Reddit's /r/FulfillmentByAmazon thread “So… Amazon just dropped FBA prep” ranks top-10 on the relevant SERPs.
The fulfillment centers themselves are unchanged. Only the inbound prep step moved out of Amazon. For the network you still ship inbound to, see our Amazon fulfillment center directory.
Most affected proportionally. In-house prep was a real cost cushion. Either accept ~$1–$2/unit on a third-party prep service or build a kitchen-table prep workflow at home. Many small sellers also qualify for Amazon's Ships in Product Packaging program for already-retail-ready items.
Sweet spot for third-party prep. Volume is enough to negotiate per-unit pricing under the listed rate. Multi-channel sellers should look at hybrid prep + 3PL providers; FBA-only sellers should look at pure FBA prep specialists for the per-unit pricing edge.
Likely already using third-party prep or your own warehouse. Amazon's in-house service rarely served your volume cleanly. Some large sellers will accelerate moving to full 3PL relationships now that the in-house option is closed.
Amazon's own seller guidance describes packaging, labeling, and inspection requirements per category. Workable if you have low SKU count, simple products, and physical space. Bottleneck risk on scale: once you're past 500–1,000 units/month, your time is worth more than the per-unit prep savings.
A small focused prep shop charges $1–$2 per unit for standard prep and handles inspection, labeling, polybag, kitting, and inbound FC routing. Most US prep centers turn shipments around in 24–72 hours. We maintain a verified directory: every published center cleared our 4-point operator standard before listing.
Eligible items shipped to Amazon FBA in their retail packaging can be exempted from many prep requirements. Eligibility depends on package durability, SKU labeling, and category. Best for items already manufactured retail-ready (consumer electronics, books, certain CPG).
The six questions a verified prep center should answer plainly:
Michigan-based FBA prep center operating since 2005, owner-operated by Nathan and a small team. Specializes in small-to-mid wholesale and private-label Amazon sellers who want direct phone and email access to the operator. 24 to 48 hour turnaround. 14 days inventory storage included on every tier. Repeatedly recommended on FBA seller forums and podcasts; the personalized-service position is the moat.
Urva Prep Center is a multi-service Amazon FBA and Walmart WFS prep operation in tax-free Newark, Delaware, running a primary 25,000 sq ft facility at 301 Ruthar Drive plus a 10,000 sq ft site in Bear. FBA and WFS prep is the productized core, with wholesale prep from $1.00 down to $0.55/unit by volume and online-arbitrage prep from $1.50 down to $1.00/unit. Alongside prep it offers FBM and DTC order fulfillment (same-day before the 7am EST cutoff), two-step dropshipping, FTL inbound consolidation at $0.20 to $0.50/lb, shrink-wrap, and a software dashboard. Storage is free for 14 days then $0.01/unit/day. Hazmat is accepted. Because it runs fulfillment alongside prep, confirm scope directly if you want a prep-only relationship.
Yellowstone Prep and Ship is an Amazon, Walmart, and eBay prep operation in Billings, MT, a sales-tax-free state, run by owner Katy Byrd since 2022. The per-unit card is public and budget-priced: $1.25 per unit sliding to $0.50 at 10,000+ units a month with FNSKU labeling included, a $75 one-time registration, and 24-48 hour typical turnaround. It carries the deepest third-party review record of the Montana centers we list: 55 dated reviews at 5.0 on a prep-industry directory spanning 2024 to 2026, plus a 4.5-of-5 Walmart marketplace seller rating. This listing carries a warning for two reasons: inventory left over 90 days with unpaid storage becomes the operator's property under their posted terms, and the website still contains live Wix template debris (a placeholder shop and template service pages), so use the price sheet and direct contact, not the site's stray pages. Note for comparison shoppers: another Billings operator we list, Tailwind Pack & Ship, publishes a rate card and terms identical to this one; Yellowstone's is the older operation.
Tailwind Pack & Ship is a small Amazon prep operation in Billings, MT, a sales-tax-free state, run by owner Trina Weston, who is named on the site's own contact page. The per-unit card is public and budget-priced: $1.25 per unit sliding to $0.50 at 10,000+ units a month with FNSKU labeling included, a $75 one-time registration fee, and 24-48 hour turnaround. This listing carries a warning, and two terms deserve your attention before shipping: inventory left over 90 days with unpaid storage becomes the operator's property under their posted policy, and they disclaim liability for damage or loss in transit to Amazon. The operation publishes no street address (it appears home-based), its Montana registration could not be checked by automated means, and its 24 five-star reviews live only on one signup-gated prep directory, so independent reputation is effectively unverified.
EnZone PrepWorks is an Amazon FBA prep center in Conroe, TX, north of Houston, run by Enzone LLC (Texas filing, active since November 2023) with registry-confirmed owners Melissa and Keith Armstrong. The offer is prep for OA, RA, and wholesale sellers on a dated public rate card: FNSKU processing from $1.20 per unit at volume, carton forwarding from $3.50, with inspection, polybagging, and bundling itemized. Budget for the fixed costs: a $35 setup fee and a $47 monthly membership apply on top of per-unit rates. Six real-named reviews on a third-party prep directory average 5.0 across January 2024 to May 2025. Cautions we record honestly: the website footer and the operator's own customer documentation show two different Conroe addresses (a likely move we could not reconcile), and the over-6-years-experience claim belongs to the owners' earlier ventures, not this 2023 entity.
Live Free or Die Distribution is a family-run Amazon FBA prep center at 115 Highland Street in Rochester, NH, a sales-tax-free state. The LLC has been registered with the NH Secretary of State since January 2025, is in good standing with its 2026 annual report filed, and owner Andrew Tompson is confirmed by the registry. The per-unit FBA card is public: $1.75 per unit at base volume down to $1.00 at 3,000+ units a month, with a $199 start-up fee, a roughly $97-$99 monthly minimum below 300 units (the site lists both figures), and a 3% payment-processing fee on invoices. The center requires sellers to have at least 1 year of active Amazon selling history. We found no third-party reviews anywhere yet; the on-site testimonials are specific and internally consistent but self-hosted, so treat service quality as unvouched and test responsiveness first.