SIOC (Ships in Own Container)

SIOC (Ships in Own Container) is Amazon’s Tier 2 packaging certification, confirming that a product’s own packaging can travel through Amazon’s fulfillment network to the customer without an overbox or any added Amazon packaging.

What it is

Amazon certifies packaging in three tiers. Tier 3 is Prep Free, Tier 2 is SIOC, and Tier 1 is Frustration-Free Packaging (FFP), which has to meet the Tier 2 and Tier 3 standards as well. A SIOC item goes out to the customer in the packaging it arrived in, with no overbox and no extra protective material added by Amazon.

To qualify, the item has to be in a rigid six-sided box, a rigid or padded mailer, or a bag, securely sealed, and no smaller than 6” x 4” x 0.375”. Flexible packaging has an upper limit too, of 18” x 14” x 6” and 7 lb. Certification rests on ISTA-6, the test standard Amazon developed jointly with the International Safe Transit Association.

Where it lives in Vendor Central

Vendors enroll and certify SIOC through Vendor Central. Seller Central runs its own enrollment path for the same program, and most of what ranks for this term is written for sellers, so before you act on any instructions or fee figures, check that they were written for vendors.

Certification takes three steps: the packaging is tested at the Amazon Packaging Lab or an APASS lab, you upload the lab report to Vendor Central, and Amazon verifies it. Per-ASIN status shows on the Product Prep and Packaging Dashboard, which the test labs call the Packaging Certification Dashboard. Because the name differs depending on who’s describing it, confirm the label in your own console before you write it into a process.

Why it matters to a vendor

A certified item skips the prep and overbox handling Amazon would otherwise apply to it. Amazon lists reduced or removed prep and SIOC chargebacks among the program’s benefits, along with lower packaging and inbound transportation cost.

Packaging compliance is also one of the things Amazon’s chargeback system polices, so an ASIN that ships without the packaging Amazon expects for it is a deduction risk on your account. Check the dashboard for the ASINs you believe are certified, and fix any gap you find there before the next PO ships.

Related terms

• Chargebacks: the compliance deductions Vendor Central takes when a shipment misses Amazon’s requirements, and where to find them.
• Glossary index: the rest of the Vendor Central terms and InsightLeap metrics.