Amazon SKU Generator: build unique SKU codes in bulk

A stock keeping unit is your own internal product code. Nobody outside your business needs to understand it, but everyone inside it does: your warehouse, your 3PL, your accountant and your future self reconciling a settlement report. Good SKU generation is boring and consistent.

A structure that scales

Use fixed-width segments in a fixed order. A typical Amazon seller SKU looks like CED-KIT-CUTB-LRG-001: brand, category, product, variant, sequence. Every segment has a defined length so the code stays readable in a spreadsheet column and sorts correctly.

• Front-load the stable data. Brand and category never change, variant and sequence do.
• Never encode price or cost. Both change, and repricing should not force a SKU migration.
• Skip ambiguous characters. Drop O, I and 0 when you also print barcodes, they get misread.
• Stay under 40 characters. That is Amazon's seller SKU limit, and long codes break other systems too.
• Uppercase everything. Some systems are case-insensitive, and a lowercase duplicate creates phantom inventory.

SKU vs UPC vs ASIN vs GTIN

You create the SKU. You buy a GTIN or UPC from GS1, which is the only issuer Amazon validates against. Amazon assigns the ASIN when the listing is created. Keep all four in one master spreadsheet, keyed by SKU, and every reconciliation gets easier.

Bulk SKU generation for Excel and Google Sheets

The generator above produces the full cartesian product of your list values, so three colours by four sizes gives you twelve SKUs instantly. Export the CSV and open it in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, or copy the column and paste it straight into an Amazon flat file. If you use Shopify, Zoho Inventory or QuickBooks alongside Amazon, generate once here and import the same codes everywhere so your channels stay in sync. Multi-channel sellers can compare Amazon's rules with Shopify's SKU guidance before locking a format.

Common SKU mistakes

• Reusing a retired SKU for a new product. Inventory history merges and reporting lies.
• Using the manufacturer's part number directly. You lose control when they change it.
• Letting each team invent its own format. Pick one, document it, enforce it.
• Numbers-only SKUs that get confused with UPCs and ASINs in support tickets.

Once your SKU system is set, lock the brand behind it with the Amazon brand name checker and build the listing experience with the A+ content planner.