Welcome back to the listing Lounge everyone, today’s topic is on SKUs, FNSKUs, and ASINs and how they relate to one another.

Many sellers may already know what a merchant SKU is. A SKU or “Stock Keeping Unit” is the identifier for a specific listing or offer in a Seller’s Inventory. SKUs are tied at the Seller level and internal to a seller’s inventory and upload files. You can make your SKU anything you want or use characters generated by Amazon. SKUs are a great way to organize your offers so you know exactly which product they should relate to. Please know however that as long as a merchant SKU exists it cannot be reused for a different ASIN, even if a previous offer using the SKU has been deleted. You will need to create a new SKU in these instances.

A Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit (FNSKU) is similar to a manufacturers barcode, but is tied to your inventory specifically in the Amazon Fulfilment Network for FBA offers. They are also directly linked to your ASIN when you create your FBA listing.

Amazon Barcodes: Each FNSKU will have a unique number starting with an X and tied directly to your inventory only. These FNSKU, which are tied to your ASIN in your inventory is seller specific and is not commingled with other sellers’ inventory. No 2 sellers will share an Amazon barcode FNSKU’s.

Note: Your FBA Barcode Preferences must be changed to Amazon Barcode prior to creating your FBA listing, or it will default to Manufacturer Barcode. Once your listing is created, you will not be able to change your merchant SKU for your FBA offers.

Manufacturer’s Barcodes: Eligible barcodes include UPC, EAN, JAN, and ISBN. They are generally printed directly on the product by the manufacturer. If they are not printed on your items, you will need to change your settings to Amazon Barcodes and label your items prior to shipping them to the Fulfillment Centers. If you use the manufacturers barcode on your products, your Manage Inventory page will display the ASIN of your product the FNSKU.

Which type of labeling your products use depend on the specific nature of the product, if our product has a manufacturer barcode, and how you set up your Barcode Preferences.

You can learn about the differences on the FBA Product Barcode Requirements.

Thanks for taking this time to review this Listings Lounge, please be sure to let me know if you learned something in the comments or have further questions! If you have specific issues with offers you need help with please make a new thread and we will be happy to assist. Thank you.

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References:

What Does "SKU" Mean?

Delete SKUs Using Inventory Loader

FBA product barcode requirements

Change to Amazon barcode by creating a new product offer

Use Amazon barcodes to track inventory

-Glenn