Supplies to Boost Your Business
Once your account is set up you need to start thinking about supplies.
In the description below I added all the supplies we use and recommend.
If you click a link and the product is out of stock you can buy a similar product, usually listed under "similar products" and it should also work. We cannot control if products are out of stock or not.
Laser Printer
You NEED a laser printer for printing labels. If you print labels on an inkjet printer the label will rub off from the shipping process and you will have problems with delivery.
View Recommended Laser PrinterSmall FBA Labels for Laser Printer
These are labels to use in your laser printer if you don't have a thermal printer for printing FBA labels.
View Recommended FBA LabelsLabels for USPS/UPS Shipping Labels
These are labels we use for printing out UPS or USPS labels for both FBA and FBM after you buy shipping directly from Amazon. Doing your shipping this way, at home, before going to the post office or UPS store will save you a lot of time by not waiting in line.
View Recommended Shipping LabelsThermal Printer
We recommend having 2 printers to optimize your shipping process. First is a laser printer listed above. Second is a smaller label thermal printer for printing individual labels.
View Recommended Thermal PrinterExtra Labels for Dymo Thermal Printer
Very tough to print on your label printer without labels!
View Recommended Thermal LabelsScale
Having a scale will save you a ton of time waiting at the post office or UPS. MANY times we have walked into a store to ship and there have been 10 or more people in line. You can just cut the line and drop your stuff off as long as you have labels already on it.
View Recommended ScaleTape Measure
Another part of doing your shipping labels at home is having a tape measure to put the box dimensions into Amazon.
View Recommended Tape MeasureTape Gun
Having a tape gun is very nice for buying a bulk amount of tape for the cheapest price possible.
View Recommended Tape GunBox Cutter
You will use a box cutter more than you think you will. From opening packages to resizing boxes to pay less in shipping it is always handy to have a box cutter around.
View Recommended Box CutterBoxes for FBA
You can get these many places. We got ours from UHaul. Other places that sell them are UPS, Walmart, Office Depot/Max, Home Depot, Fedex, etc. We would recommend that you get at least 3-4 different sizes for FBA shipments because you will probably be sending in a lot of different products with different dimensions and weights.
View Recommended FBA BoxesBoxes for FBM
Try to get boxes that are the closest to the size of your FBM products. You want the boxes to be as small as possible to save on shipping cost while also making sure your product doesn't get damaged in shipping.
Shop Boxes at The BoxeryBubble Wrap
We have used miles and miles of bubble wrap. It's the easiest way to secure your FBA and FBM products. We probably order hundreds of feet per month.
View Recommended Bubble WrapHeat Gun
Be very careful because the heat gun will get very hot! We use this to take off stickers from products that have extra stickers from stores like Goodwill or when we buy products from clearance.
View Recommended Heat GunPolybags
A lot of Amazon products will require you to use polybags. These are sealable bags that you put over products to protect them and for things like liquids that might spill out. You NEED to have polybags that have a warning about suffocation printed on the bag.
Shop Polybags at ilovesupplies.comAir Bags
We used these air bags to help secure our products during the shipping process. Another alternative is plastic bags or newspaper to pack around the products in the shipping box for FBA and FBM.
View Recommended Air BagsUSB UPC Scanner for PC
Scanning products with this USB scanner will save you a lot of time. If you don't have this you will spend a lot of time typing in UPC numbers to find listings on InventoryLab.
View Recommended UPC ScannerGoo Gone
Goo Gone is an optional product you can use to get rid of the stickiness left behind when you take off a sticker from a product. Make sure to use as little as possible because it will make the product oily if you use too much!
View Recommended Goo GoneStretch Wrap for Products That Are Hard to Poly Bag
Sometimes a polybag just doesn't work for your product. In this case you will use stretch wrap to wrap around the whole product to ensure safety and protection.
View Recommended Stretch WrapBox Resizer
This was a tool we found out about too late so we want to talk about it early. Sometimes you just don't have the perfect size box to fit things into for FBA. Instead of buying more boxes sometimes it's better to resize your box. Even cutting a couple inches of extra space from the box could save you $5-$10 on shipping.
View Recommended Box ResizerSticker Peelers 3 Pack
You will use these with the heat gun to peel stickers off of products.
View Recommended Sticker PeelersWhite Sponge Cleaners
These spongers are very handy for cleaning products to make sure that the customer knows the product is brand new.
View Recommended White Sponge Cleaners