Amazon LPN Checker

An LPN sticker marks one physical unit

LPN stands for License Plate Number. The sticker is a small white label: a barcode with the LPN number printed under it, such as LPN RR AB123 4567. Amazon uses it to track one single unit through its warehouses. A normal product barcode, the GTIN on the box, is the same on every copy of the product. An LPN barcode is different on every unit, and Amazon staff say it is never reused.

The printed code has three parts. First the letters LPN. Then a type code of one or two letters: most often RR, and also PM or O. Then the unit ID. In every public example we found, the unit ID has nine letters or digits, printed in a group of five and a group of four. The checker above accepts the code with or without the spaces.

Amazon has not published what the type code letters mean. RR is the code that sellers on the Amazon Seller Forums report most often on returned items. Seller blogs guess at "return request", "reverse logistics" or "receive/return", and Amazon has confirmed none of them.

License plate number is also a general warehouse term. The Oracle JD Edwards warehouse documentation, for example, uses it for a unique number on each product carton or item. To print LPN labels for your own stock, use the Code 128 barcode generator.

Two reasons an item gets an LPN

It was returned

When a buyer sends an item back, Amazon has to follow that one unit through inspection and decide whether it goes back on the shelf, back to the seller or out as used stock. An Amazon staff post on the Seller Forums says you might find the LPN label on a returned item, and that sellers use it to find returns in their reports. A returned item that passes inspection can be sold again. An Amazon staff reply on another thread adds that a returned unit can go back into stock in its original packaging if it was never opened. So a return is not always a used item.

The product is on Amazon's watch list

A second Amazon staff post describes Selective LPN. Amazon puts an LPN on each new unit of some products when it arrives at the warehouse, before anyone has bought it. The reasons given are a risk of counterfeit goods, health or safety concerns, grey market imports, and brands with strict warranty or resale rules. The LPN lets Amazon trace a complaint back to the exact seller who supplied that unit. Sellers cannot opt out. That post is written for amazon.co.uk sellers. A staff post for US sellers says the same: Amazon puts LPNs on single units at its fulfilment centres, over the product barcode, and one purpose is to trace a counterfeit report to the seller.

So the sticker alone does not tell you which of the two happened. A sealed phone or a branded cosmetic with an LPN may well be new. To find out, check the item against the list below.

How to tell new from returned

Look at the item, not the sticker.

If the order said new and the item fails these checks, return it. The Amazon return policy gives 30 days from delivery for most items and 15 days for Apple products sold new. Start the return in Your Orders and give the real reason, such as signs of use or missing parts, rather than "no longer needed". Before you send it back, take photos of the sticker, the seal and any signs of use. If the item is fine, the sticker does no harm and you can peel it off.

The manufacturer's barcode is usually under the LPN. To check that number, type it into the check digit calculator.

Amazon LPN pallets and liquidation stock

Liquidators sell loads of single items that each carry an LPN sticker, under names such as "Raw Amazon LPN" pallets. The LPN tells you that Amazon tracked the unit, but you cannot read the product, the reason for return or the condition from the code. There is no public database to look it up in.

Grade each item by inspection, the same way as the checklist above. To find the product, use the manufacturer's UPC or EAN under the sticker or on the box, not the LPN. If the box carries an FNSKU starting with X00, that belongs to the last seller and does not identify the product outside Amazon either.

For FBA sellers: find a return by its LPN

When Amazon sends a returned unit back to you, the LPN on it links to a line in the FBA Customer Returns report in Amazon Seller Central, which shows the order the return came from. Sellers on the forums give two tips. Type the LPN with no spaces, letters included, and widen the date range, because the report starts with a short default.

If the search finds nothing, a seller on the forums gives a way round it: open Reports, then Fulfillment, Customer Concessions and FBA customer returns, download the report and search its LPN column in a spreadsheet.

Some LPNs return nothing at all. One seller on the staff post put that at 10% to 15% of their returns, which is a report from one account, not a figure from Amazon. If a returned unit is a fake or not what you sent, the order number from the report is what you need to open a case. If the LPN finds nothing, open the case with the LPN and photos of the unit.

The other codes on Amazon stickers

The checker recognises six kinds of code. These are the shapes it looks for. Amazon publishes no check digit for LPN, FNSKU, FBA or tracking codes, or for an ASIN that starts with B, so a typo can still look like a real code.

For any other code, such as a GS1-128 carton label or an ISBN, paste it into the barcode identifier.

Frequently asked questions