Expiration dates on seller-fulfilled products

Before listing expiration-dated inventory, ensure that you adhere to the policies and requirements below. Failure to comply may result in removal of your listings or deactivation of your Amazon selling account.

Expiration-dated product definition

Amazon considers any product with a shelf life, or that loses effectiveness with time, to be subject to expiration, even if an expiration date is not indicated on the product packaging.

Products subject to expiration include but are not limited to:

• Any product that has an expiration date printed on the product or its packaging.
• Consumable products such as potato chips, tea leaves, and nutritional supplements, whether for human or animal consumption.
• Topical products such as skin creams, soaps, shampoos, hair sprays, and cosmetics that are intended for human or animal use.
• Cleaning products such as disinfectant wipes, cleaning sprays and solutions, and detergents.
• Products that include components that can expire, such as a coffee machine that is sold bundled with coffee.
• Any product with a period-after-opening (PAO) symbol (image below).

Shelf-life requirements for expiration-dated products

All expiration-dated products intended for regular application or consumption must be received by the customer with sufficient time for use. For example, a bottle of supplements with 240 daily servings must be received by the customer more than 240 days before expiration. This requirement extends to all individual products sold in bulk, or as part of a bundle. In addition, food and beverage products—as well as products that ship with food or beverages—must be lot-controlled and received by the customer with sufficient time for use.

The table below lists products that Amazon considers subject to expiration, along with their respective shelf-life guidelines.

Labeling expiration-dated products

Expiration-dated products must follow these labeling requirements.

• All ingestible products (including animal products) must be clearly labeled with an expiration date or manufacturing date. Lot numbers alone are insufficient.
• All baby food and baby formula products must have a clearly labeled expiration date.
• Any expiration date on the product must be clearly labeled as an expiration date. A best-by or sell-by date is considered the equivalent of an expiration date.
• Any manufacturing date on the product must be labeled clearly as a manufacturing date. A manufacturing date is the equivalent of a production date.
• All medical devices must have expiration dates. They must be clearly labeled using YYYY-MM-DD format.
• For products other than medical devices, acceptable date formats are:
  • MM-DD-YYYY
  • MM-YYYY
• Numeric date formats are preferred. However, dates with an alphabetical abbreviation for the month (for example, DD-JAN-YYYY) are also acceptable.
• All case packs, multi-packs, and display boxes must have the expiration date on the box or bundle, as well as on each individual item inside the box or bundle.
• Do not cover up the original expiration date or other information on the product packaging (such as ingredients, drug facts, net contents, or distributor information).

Prepping expiration-dated products

Expiration-dated products must be fully enclosed and sealed in packaging suitable for shipping. Expiration-dated products that require additional prep, such as poly-bagging or bubble wrap, must have labels with expiration dates applied to the outside of the product prep or packaging.