SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) Label

An SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) label is the GS1-128 barcode that carries the 18-digit number identifying a single carton or pallet in a vendor shipment to Amazon.

What it is

The SSCC is a GS1 standard number for a logistics unit, built from a 2-digit application identifier, an extension digit, your GS1 Company Prefix (4 to 12 digits, licensed through GS1 US), a serial reference, and a check digit. Each carton or pallet gets its own number, so scanning the barcode identifies that one unit.

On an Amazon carton content label, the SSCC sits in the slot that identifies the carton. Which identifier goes there depends on how you send the ASN:

• EDI 856 with carton-level data: print a GS1-128 SSCC.
• ASN submitted manually in Vendor Central: use an AMZNCC (Amazon Carton Content Code) number instead.

Outer cartons also carry GS1-128 barcodes for the PO numbers, ASINs, and exact unit counts inside, placed roughly 2cm or more from box edges and tape seams.

Amazon tightened the rules in July 2024. Each pallet now needs its own SSCC or AMZNCC license-plate barcode, since an ASN label alone no longer covers it, and pallets carry unique SSCCs on adjacent sides. Small-parcel shipments that are not palletized can no longer rely on a GTIN-14 alone and need an SSCC or AMZNCC too.

Where it lives in Vendor Central

Manual shippers build the shipment under Orders, then Shipments, against confirmed POs, and the AMZNCC side of the label comes out of that workflow. Amazon keeps its own help behind the Vendor Central login, so that path comes from third-party guides; confirm the screen names in your account before you build them into a process.

EDI shippers never see an SSCC in Vendor Central, because the number comes from your own ERP or EDI platform, built on your GS1 Company Prefix, and reaches Amazon as the carton-level data in the 856.

Why it matters to a vendor

Amazon issues a “No Carton Content Label” chargeback when cartons arrive without a recognizable carton content label, or when the ASN carries incomplete carton-level data. Those deductions fall in the carton contents and labeling families on the Chargebacks entry. A carton whose SSCC disagrees with the ASN that declared it is also an ASN accuracy problem, so one bad label can surface in two places.

Palletized freight also has a receiving side: appointments are booked in Carrier Central against the ASN, with the PO, pallet count, and load information. The pallets that show up, their license plates, and the ASN behind that booking all have to describe the same freight.

Related terms

• ASN (Advance Shipment Notice): the shipment notice every SSCC or AMZNCC has to match.
• Chargebacks: where a missing or mismatched carton label turns into a deduction.
• Carrier Central: appointment booking for the pallets those license plates identify.
• Glossary index: the rest of the Vendor Central terms and InsightLeap metrics.