When marketplace fresh suppliers inbound, labels are often rejected for incomplete copy, unreadable fields, or two labels covering each other. Platform manuals differ, but the habits are close. This note covers layout, copy and stacked labels. It is not any one platform’s internal handbook.
Layout: required copy must stay visible
Product name, origin, producer or seller, manufacture date, storage and net content are the first fields warehouse checks look at. Type that is too small, low contrast or printed on a dark ground can fail under cabinet lighting. Keep high contrast on the main name and date, and leave quiet zone around barcodes and traceability marks.
Copy: completeness beats decoration
- Ingredients, allergens and storage must match the actual process
- Date format must be readable at a glance during inbound checks
- Traceability marks must survive abrasion and condensate
- Promotion copy must not invade the legal zone
Stacked labels: the marketplace label must not cover factory-critical fields
Many fresh packs get a factory label first, then a marketplace price or weigh-scale label at inbound. If the factory label puts date or storage at the top-right or next to the barcode, the second label often covers it. Prepress should reserve keep-out and cluster always-visible fields where the later label will not land.
| Intake check | What prepress should do |
|---|---|
| Missing fields | Element checklist; formula changes flow into artwork |
| Covered fields | Stacked-label keep-out; simulate the second label on the proof |
| Hard-to-scan barcodes | Quiet-zone check; scan a physical proof |
| Illegible or lift after cold chain | Validate facestock, adhesive and overlaminate for cold chain |
We use common marketplace intake habits as prepress reminders. That does not replace the customer’s legal review, but it removes the high-frequency rejects: cannot see, incomplete, covering each other.
