Amazon Optimized Generation Guide

Amazon occasionally offers optimized shipments, which allow you to send large, uniform shipments more efficiently and without Amazon service fees.
PrepFlow’s Optimized Plan Generator helps you identify and build these optimized shipments automatically — before you even submit the shipment to Seller Central.

Understanding Optimized Shipments

An Amazon Optimized Shipment consists of five or more identical boxes — same dimensions, weights, and contents.
When Amazon identifies a shipment as optimized:

• Amazon fees are waived, reducing your total FBA shipping cost
• The shipment is easier to process and route through Amazon’s inbound network
• The overall placement process becomes faster and cheaper

Although Amazon ultimately determines whether a shipment qualifies, PrepFlow’s algorithm attempts to generate the best possible configuration in advance — giving you a strong chance of receiving the optimized designation.

💡 Why use optimized plans?
Optimized shipments can significantly cut shipping costs — sometimes saving 20–40% compared to standard FBA plans.

1. Getting Started

To begin generating an optimized plan:

1. Create an FBA Shipment from inventory or a client request.
2. Go to the Validate Items stage of the FBA workflow.
   (See the FBA Integration Guide for full details on this stage.)

When generating an optimized plan, some items will likely be removed — so we recommend:

• Selecting a wide range of items initially
• Letting the algorithm decide which products can logically fit into an optimized configuration

This approach ensures the generator has more combinations to analyze for identical box groupings.

2. Generating the Optimized Plan

On the Validate Items stage, click the “Generate Optimized Plans” button in the top-right corner.

A pop-up will appear prompting you to:

• Confirm item weights and dimensions (accuracy is critical)
• Choose one of two available algorithms:

Once confirmed, you’ll be taken to a new Optimized Plan Results page.

Optimized Plans Page

PrepFlow’s generator will display multiple possible plans based on your selected items, showing:

• How many boxes are included in each plan
• The total units per plan

You can then compare and select the plan that best fits your shipment goals — for example, the plan that allows the most units or highest uniformity.

After selecting your preferred plan, click Confirm Plan.

3. Confirming the Plan

When you confirm the optimized plan:

• PrepFlow automatically redirects you back to the Validate Items stage
• Items that did not fit into the optimized configuration are automatically removed

At this point, your Validate Items screen will reflect only the SKUs and quantities included in the optimized plan.

You can now proceed with your FBA shipment creation as normal by clicking Create FBA Shipment.

✅ Tip: Once confirmed, the optimized plan details are logged in the shipment record for reference — you don’t need to regenerate it later.

4. Box Items Stage

When you reach the Box Items stage, you’ll see a template layout for the optimized box configuration.

This template includes:

• Box count
• Unit count per box

Follow the Template Exactly

To maintain the Amazon optimization:

• All boxes must be identical — same SKU arrangement, quantities, and measurements
• Avoid changing dimensions or mixing items across boxes

Failure to follow the optimized box structure can cause Amazon to treat the shipment as non-optimized, resulting in lost cost savings and standard FBA placement fees.

⚠️ Important: If you modify box contents or structure after confirming an optimized plan, your shipment will no longer qualify for Amazon’s optimized handling or fee waivers.

Summary

Optimized shipment generation helps you build cost-efficient FBA shipments in advance, reducing fees and streamlining inbound handling.

Workflow Recap:

1. Create an FBA shipment → go to Validate Items
2. Click Generate Optimized Plans
3. Confirm item weights/dimensions and select the Weight-Optimized algorithm
4. Review generated plans and confirm your preferred one
5. Continue with the FBA workflow — following the optimized box template exactly

💡 Pro Tip: Always use PrepFlow’s Optimized Plan Generator before creating large FBA shipments.
It can help Amazon recognize your shipments as optimized — saving money, time, and avoiding unnecessary split shipments.