If you’re going to sell things on Amazon, you’ll eventually need to put products in packaging to protect them on their journey to the customer. One of the most cost effective and efficient packaging types for this purpose is a poly bag.
A poly bag is a type of plastic bag made from a type of plastic called polyethylene. Poly bags are also known as plastic bags, polyethylene bags, or PE bags.
Poly bags are used in a variety of applications, including packaging, food storage, and as garbage bags. In our case, the poly bag’s main job is to protect your product from damage, dirt, or smells as it travels through the logistics network.
Amazon Poly Bag Requirements at a Glance
- Poly bags must be at least 1.5 mils thick
- Poly bags must be transparent
- The poly bag must have a barcode that is scannable through the bag or have a scannable label on the outside of the bag
- Poly bags must be fully sealed
- Poly bags can’t overhang more than 3 inches beyond the outside dimensions of the product
- Poly bags for adult products must be opaque
- Poly bags need to be used for highly scented products to prevent the scent from spreading to other products
- Poly bags with 5-inch or larger openings (as measured when flat) need a suffocation warning printed on the bag or attached as a label to the bag
- Poly bags need to be used for any product where the largest side is less than 2 and 1/8th inch (the width of a credit card) with a scannable barcode on the outside of the bag
- If you have an Amazon Seller Central account, you can read Amazon’s poly bag requirements here.
Poly Bag Thickness
One attribute of poly bags to pay special attention to is their thickness. The thickness is measured in mils, where 1 mil = 1 thousandth of an inch.
Generally, the thicker the poly bag is, the better it will protect products. You can find poly bags in a range of thicknesses, from less than 1 mil to 6 mil or more.
I personally use 1.5 mil thickness bags for most of my poly bagging. I do have some paper products I sell that I want to better protect, so I use 2 mil thickness bags for those.
You may not think you could tell the difference between 1.5 mil thickness and 2 mil thickness, but the difference is obvious when you feel them in your hands.
Thickness also matters because per Amazon’s stated requirements, poly bags used to package your FBA products must be at least 1.5 mils thick.
Scannable Barcode Requirements for Amazon FBA Poly Bags
When using poly bags for Amazon FBA, it is important to ensure that they are compliant with the scannable barcode requirements. The placement and content of these barcodes must adhere to certain guidelines in order for them to be accepted by Amazon.
For barcode placement, the major stipulation is that it must cover any existing barcode to avoid confusion. Also, labels shouldn’t interfere with any other labeling or branding information on the bag.
For barcode content, make sure that the labels meet these criteria:
- ASIN or FNSKU included
- Product name included
- Item condition included
- A quarter of an inch on the sides and an eighth of an inch on the top and bottom of white space around the Amazon barcode and related text
- A quarter of an inch on the sides and an eighth of an inch on the top and bottom of white space around the label content and the edges
For a full overview of Amazon barcode requirements, see this page.
Suffocation Warning Label Requirements
As stated above, poly bags with 5-inch or larger openings (as measured when flat) need a suffocation warning printed on the bag or attached as a label to the bag. Amazon also has requirements for the size of the font used to print the warning, as seen in this table:
| Total Length and Width of Bag | Minimum Font Size |
| 60 inches or more | 24 point |
| 40 to 59 inches | 18 point |
| 30 to 39 inches | 14 point |
| Less than 29 inches | 10 point |
I’ve personally used 2 different styles of suffocation warning labels for my products, depending on if I want them on a roll or sheets.
The most cost-effective option is to buy the rolls in 12 packs if you use lots of them like I do. You can also buy single rolls if you need 500 labels or less.
If you prefer the sheet format, I’ve used these ones:
I prefer the labels on rolls because you can use them with a hand-held label applicator like this:
No matter which option you choose, just make sure all your poly bags with 5-inch or larger openings have a suffocation warning on the bag.
Can You Use Ziploc Bags for Amazon FBA?
While you can use Ziploc-style bags from your kitchen for your Amazon FBA products, there are a number of reasons NOT to do this:
- They look unprofessional compared to self-sealing poly bags
- They cost much more per bag than self-sealing poly bags
- There is no guarantee they will stay closed during shipping and handling without taping them closed
- Most importantly, if their opening is larger than 5 inches, you’re REQUIRED to put a suffocation label on them
Given all the requirements Amazon has for poly bags, wouldn’t it be great if there bags for sellers to buy that meet all these requirements without sellers having to do any additional work?
Fortunately, there are several options available. Each of these are affordable, offer multiple sizes, and most importantly, meet Amazon’s requirements.
Best Poly Bags for Amazon FBA
Poly Bags by Retail Supply Co.
This brand of bags has the most size options available at 11, with 4 combo sets as well.
I like the combo options because you can get several different sized bags at a reasonable price.
I recently bought a combo set with sizes of:
- 6” x 9″
- 8” x 10″
- 9” x 12″
- 11” x 14″
and they’ve worked well. If you aren’t sure exactly which size bag you’ll need, this is an easy way to buy four different sizes all at once.
This brand also offers the largest size bags of 24” x 28” as part of their jumbo combo. If you have large products to package, you should check these out.
They also offer 2 types of bag sealing: permanent or resealable. Decide what type is best for your product and choose accordingly.
Price range: $12.99 for 4” x 6” size to $41.99 for the jumbo combo
Current star rating: 4.8 stars (7000+ ratings)
Holly Poly Bags
These bags are available in sizes from 6” x 9” up to 14” x 20”. They also provide a combo option with 4 sizes ranging from 6” x 9” bags up to 11” x 14”.
These all come in 100-count options except for the combo, which is 100 of each bag for a total of 400 bags.
Price range: $9.99 for 6” x 9” size to $26.98 for the combo
Current star rating: 4.8 stars (4000+ ratings)
Spartan Industrial’s Poly Bags
These bags come in only the permanent adhesive option, so be mindful of that.
Spartan offers an 18” x 24” option, which is a size not offered by the 3 other bag brands on this page.
I’ve used 2 different sizes of poly bags from Spartan Industrial this year, and they’ve both worked out well.
Price range: $12.50 for 9” x 12” size to $25.90 for 18” x 24”
Current star rating: 4.7 stars (4000+ ratings)
iMailer’s Poly Bags
iMailer provides 10 size options, some of which are hard to find sizes, like 10” x 13” or 13” x 15”. If you know you need these odd-numbered bag sizes, these are the ones to use.
Also, their 100 pack of 4” x 6” bags is the cheapest option at $6.99.
One additional thing to know is these bags are slightly thicker at 1.6 mils versus the usual 1.5 mils, so they provide a little extra protection for your products versus 1.5 mil bags.
I’ve used this brand of bags recently in the 9” x 12” size, and they’ve performed as expected.
Price range: $6.99 for 4” x 6” size to $24.39 for 18” x 24”
Current star rating: 4.8 stars (1000+ ratings)
Which Poly Bags Are Best For You?
We just reviewed several options, so you may be wondering which poly bagis best for your business and products.
Here are some things to consider when deciding which poly bag(s) to purchase:
- If you’ve never bought poly bags before and don’t know what size you need, buy a combo pack so you can test out exactly which size your product needs.
- Buy the size of bag that is 1 size larger than the exact dimensions of your product. For example, if your product is 6” x 8”, buy the 8” x 10” bag to ensure it will fit inside the bag.
- Typically, the more bags you buy at once, the less the unit cost per bag will be. For example, this 100 pack of 6” x 9” bags is $0.10 per bag, but this 200 pack of 6” x 9” is $0.09 per bag.
- If the bag you use hangs more than 3 inches beyond the outside dimensions of your product, make sure to fold down and tape the hanging portion of the bag to avoid Amazon charging you an unplanned prep fee.
- Poly bags must be used if your product’s largest side is less than 2 and 1/8th inch
- Review all the options yourself, because prices and/or size options change frequently.
- Will your product be taken out and put back in the bag many times, or do you just want to offer the customer the option of a stronger, zipper-style resealable bag? Consider using a 2 mil zip-style resealable bag like these.
- Remember, poly bags need to have a barcode that is scannable through the bag or have a scannable label on the outside of the bag. If you need to buy labels for either of these situations, I’ve listed my favorite label options here.
Need a thermal label printer to print product or shipping labels? You can find my recommendations here.
Now that you know all about poly bags, want to learn about Amazon’s requirements for barcode labels? You can find my write-up here.
Interested in reading how my Amazon business has evolved since I started selling in 2015? Check out this post.