Amazon is making its fulfillment service more palatable for sellers who use it for orders made through off-Amazon channels. It announced Friday it began shipping “Multi-Channel Fulfillment” orders (MCF) in unbranded packaging automatically, at no additional cost to sellers.
That’s helpful for sellers who wish to put their own brand front and center, but it also helps them comply with policies for sales made through other platforms like Walmart that don’t allow sellers to ship orders in packages branded with their rival’s logos.
Amazon began offering non-branded packaging as an option in 2020 but only to select sellers through the “MCF blank box order fulfillment.” In August of last year (2021), a seller said only certain locations had the ability to ship through the blank box program.
Some sellers pointed out some discrepancies in Friday’s announcement about the expansion of the program.
One seller wrote, “We need to review your understanding of the term “ALL,”” a seeming reference to the fact that the title of the announcement said “All MCF orders are now shipped in unbranded packaging,” but there are exceptions, according to the announcement:
“Unbranded packaging is available for eligible sortable items. Non-sortable inventory, apparel, footwear, and any items larger than 56 inches or heavier than 49.9 lb are not eligible and cannot be shipped in unbranded packaging.”
Another seller asked for clarification, pointing to the page linked to from the announcement that stated:
“All MCF sellers are automatically enrolled in unbranded packaging at no additional cost. Unbranded packing is the default ship option for MCF orders, except in cases when it may result in longer shipping and delivery times.
“To ensure that your orders are shipped in unbranded packaging, select Only ship with blank boxes under the Add items section of the quick order form.”
The seller asked, “Which is it? We are automatically enrolled, or we need to check the box to make it happen?”
Seller should read details for themselves to make sure their orders qualify for MCF “blank box” fulfillment.
