Amazon FBA Pallet Requirements in 2026: Size, Weight, Labels, and LTL Shipping

Amazon accepts LTL and full-truckload freight only on pallets built to its specification. A pallet that misses it is not quietly fixed: it is refused at the dock, or unloaded and re-stacked at your expense with a delay to check-in. The rules are not complicated, but several of them are numbers that are easy to miss by a few inches or a few pounds. This guide lists each requirement as it stands in 2026 and the errors we see most often on pallets arriving from suppliers.

The pallet itself

• Size: 40 × 48 inches, the standard GMA footprint. Other sizes are refused unless the shipment was created as a non-standard pallet and accepted as such.
• Material and grade: wood, four-way entry, GMA grade B or better. No broken deck boards, no plastic or pressed-wood pallets for standard shipments.
• Heat treatment: ISPM-15 stamped pallets for anything that crossed a border, which is what US customs expects anyway.

Height and weight

Rule	Limit	Notes
Single-stacked pallet height	72 inches	Measured from the floor, including the pallet
Double-stacked pallet height	100 inches	Only where Amazon permits clampable double stacks; each stack still meets the single limits
Total pallet weight	1,500 lb	Including the pallet
Individual carton weight	50 lb	Up to 100 lb only for a single oversize unit, with a team-lift label
Overhang	None	Cartons stay inside the 40 × 48 footprint on every side

Amazon adjusts these figures occasionally, so confirm the live values in Seller Central when you create the shipment. The structure — a fixed footprint, a height cap, a weight cap, no overhang — has been stable for years.

Stacking and wrapping

• Stack cartons in columns rather than interlocking bricks; column stacks carry weight straight down and crush less.
• Heaviest cartons at the bottom, and never a carton balanced on a gap.
• Corner boards on any stack tall enough to lean, then clear stretch wrap from the pallet base to the top so the load and the pallet move as one unit. Wrap has to be clear — Amazon scans labels through it.
• Do not mix shipment IDs on one pallet. One pallet, one shipment, even if that leaves a pallet half-full.

Labels

• Four pallet labels, one centered on each side of the pallet, printed from the shipment in Seller Central. Amazon changed the pallet label format in 2026, so reprint from Seller Central rather than reusing an older template.
• A carton label on every box, placed on a flat face where it can be scanned without unwrapping.
• On a single-SKU pallet, a “Single ASIN pallet” marking lets the fulfillment center receive it faster.
• Since January 2026 Amazon no longer applies any labels for US sellers, so every label — pallet, carton, and FNSKU — must be on before the truck leaves.

Booking the freight

When you create an LTL shipment in Seller Central you enter each pallet’s dimensions and weight; Amazon quotes a partnered-carrier rate from those figures, and the carrier books the fulfillment center appointment. With your own carrier, the bill of lading needs the Amazon reference and shipment IDs, and the carrier books the appointment through Amazon’s carrier portal — a truck without an appointment is turned away. A full truckload follows the same paperwork with the appointment booked for the whole load.

The mistakes that get pallets refused

• A supplier pallet built for a container: 45 × 48 or Euro footprint, 80 inches tall, mixed SKUs. It looks fine and fails on three counts.
• Pallet labels on two sides instead of four, or printed from last year’s template.
• Black or tinted stretch wrap, or wrap that stops short of the pallet base.
• Two shipment IDs on one pallet because the last few cartons “fit”.
• Weights and dimensions entered in Seller Central from a guess rather than a scale and a tape, so the carrier’s quote and appointment are wrong.

Smart Prep Services receives supplier pallets, rebuilds them to the Amazon specification, and books the freight from our Ozone Park, Queens warehouse — see pallet receiving, pallet prep, and pallet forwarding, or send your carton count and destination for a written quote.