Vendor Central – Business Value
Amazon Frustration Free Packaging
Section 4: The Certification Submission Process
Cheat Sheet
The ISTA 6 Test Report
• The ISTA 6 Test Report is the report that the ISTA laboratory completes after they have done all the required tests for your product’s packaging as laid out in the overview documents we went through in the previous section.
• The example we have here for you in this course is the more prevalent one for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Frustration Free Packaging programs.
• What you can expect in your test report is the following:
* Your information as the Vendor;
* The laboratory’s information;
* The pass or fail result of your product;
* Comments made by the laboratory;
* The Lab Test Request with details of your product ASIN;
* Pre-Test Inspection Information;
* Pre-Test Pictures;
* Test Details, which you should recognize from the tables we saw in the overview document in the previous section;
* Test Pictures; and
* Post-Test Pictures.
• Once you have this report in hand and your products have all passed the tests, it is then time to complete the Vendor Enrollment Template.
The Vendor Enrollment Template
• Your Product Packaging has all passed the necessary tests for it to be certified as Frustration Free Packaging with Amazon and you have the ISTA 6 Test Reports in hand.
• Now it is time to first download the Vendor Enrollment Template from Vendor Central.
• Click on the “Support” Link at the top of your Vendor Central Account.
• Then click on the “Vendor Operational Performance (Chargebacks)” link on the following page.
• Scroll down the menu on the left of the next page and expand the “Chargebacks – Problems With Packaging” topic.
• Click on the “About Frustration-Free Packaging/Ships In Own Container Chargeback” link, scroll down the page and, under the “Certify a primary ASIN” header, click on the “Amazon Vendor Enrollment Template” link and download the excel form to your computer.
• When you open up the form you will see the following fields:
* ASIN Type;
* Marketplace;
* ASIN to Certify (One per Row);
* Item Name;
* Vendor Code (One per Row);
* Secondary ASIN Type (If applicable);
* Certification Type;
* Enrollment Date (mm/dd/yyyy);
* Lab Name;
* Lab Report File Name (primaryasin_vendorcode.pdf);
* Additional Comments;
* Vendor Name;
* Vendor Point of Contact; and
* Vendor Contact Email.
• There is an example tab at the bottom of the sheet for you to use as a guideline on how to fill out the form but here are some tips:
* Your Primary ASIN Type will obviously not have a Secondary ASIN Type in the same row;
* Make sure to include your Secondary ASINs if they did comply with Amazon’s Form-Factor Criteria;
* Obviously make sure that you select the correct Tier from the Drop-Down Menu in Column G for Certification Type;
* Note how you need to name your ISTA 6 Test Report you receive from the lab so make sure to rename the PDF file like this and then enter the name in the Enrollment Form correctly; and
* Remember to mention the “TRUE ASIN variation” text in the Additional Comments field like you would have mentioned in the “Secondary ASIN Type” column.
• Save your Vendor Enrollment Form as needed and let’s get ready to submit everything to Amazon.
Submitting Documents to Amazon
• Right, now you have everything you need to apply for a Frustration Free Packaging Certification from Amazon and we’re going to walk you through how to do this.
• Click on the “Support” link at the top of your Vendor Central page.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the next page and click on the “Contact Us” button.
• Select your Business Group if applicable and then scroll down the list of topics until you find the “Amazon Packaging Certification” topic and click on this.
• Click on the “Enroll and Certify ASINs” link.
• Click the “Send and email” link.
• Fill out the Subject with something along the lines of “Enrolling ASINs in Frustration Free Packaging Program”.
• Enter your Vendor Company Name, Vendor Point of Contact and
• Vendor contact email as per your Enrollment Form.
• Enter the Primary ASIN to Enroll and the Vendor code(s) to certify against Primary ASIN as per the Enrollment Form.
• Enter the Certification Tier Requested for Primary ASIN as per the Enrollment Form.
• Tick the box alongside the “Is the completed ISTA6 Packaging Test Report attached?” and tick the box alongside the “Is the completed Amazon Vendor Enrollment Template attached?”
• Enter any information you want in the “Describe your issue” text box, probably something along the lines of “Please find attached the ISTA 6 Test Report and Enrollment Template for this Primary ASIN and its family for the Tier 2 Ships in Own Container Packaging Certification”.
• Make sure to then attach both the ISTA 6 Test Report and the Enrollment Template and click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page.
• Once your ASINs have been enrolled successfully, you may wish to have the Frustration Free Packaging logos printed on the packaging going forward and you can locate these under the “Frustration-Free Packaging Logo Artwork files” topic under the “Legal” heading in your Resource Center on Vendor Central.