Managing Amazon Vendor Shipment Routing

Vendors on collect shipping terms who forward freight charges to Amazon must create shipment requests with Amazon before shipping. This process is known as Shipment Routing.

Goflow allows you to request shipment routing at any stage of the order processing flow. Select the approach that best suits your business needs:

Pack and Route – First pack orders into boxes and pallets and then submit a routing request. This method ensures accurate weight, box, and pallet counts in the request.
Route and Pack – Submit the routing request first using the default shipping units of measure of the order products, and then proceed with packing.

Due to the limited routing time window, it's best to request routing as early as possible and pack shipments while awaiting routing instructions.

Goflow enforces a one-hour waiting period between order confirmation and routing requests to allow Amazon adequate time to process the confirmation. This ensures that routing is not submitted for unconfirmed orders.

Submitting a Routing Request

To request routing and create a shipment with Amazon, follow these steps:

From the left sidebar, go to Orders › Orders.
At the top of the page, click Filters and apply:
- Shipment Routing – Not Requested.
Click into an order to open it.
Click the Request Shipment Routing button.
Enter the shipment size information.
Select a pickup date.
Select a freight class.
Click Send to submit your request to Amazon.

Entering Shipment Size Information

Provide the shipment details with your routing request. The following fields are automatically populated if the order is already packed or if all order products have a default shipping unit of measure with predefined weights and dimensions:

Box Count – Total number of boxes in the shipment. The maximum allowed per shipment is 4,000 boxes.
Weight – Total weight in pounds and ounces.
Volume – Total volume in cubic feet.

For larger LTL shipments, provide the following additional details:

Stackable Pallet Count – Total number of stackable pallets. Stackable pallets are less than 50 inches in height. The maximum allowed per shipment is 66 pallets.
Non-Stackable Pallet Count – Total number of non-stackable pallets. The maximum allowed per shipment is 33 pallets.
Freight Class – Enter the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) number for your shipment.

If the shipment size exceeds the maximum limits, split it and submit separate requests for each shipment.

Splitting an order after submitting a routing request will prevent routing instructions from being posted back to the order.

Splitting an order after receiving routing instructions will cause multiple shipments to share the same ARN number.

Selecting a Pickup Date

Select the date when your shipment will be ready for pickup. Amazon has the following requirements for the pickup date:

Business Day – The pickup date must be on a weekday and cannot fall on an observed holiday.
Lead Time – There must be at least two business days between the request date and the pickup date.
Shipping Window – The pickup date must not be later than the latest ship-by date.

Amazon normally sends purchase orders on Mondays, with the latest ship-by date usually falling on Thursdays. To ensure timely processing, follow this submission schedule:

Week Type	Submit by	Pickup Date
Regular Week	Mon - Tue	Wed - Thur
Monday Holiday	Tue	Thur
Thursday Holiday	Mon	Wed

Submitting a New Routing Request

If a routing request failed due to an error, cancel it and submit a new request. Follow these steps:

From the left-side menu, go to Orders › Orders and open the order.
Under Awaiting Shipment Routing, click Request Again.
Confirm that you want to cancel the existing request and submit a new one.
Enter the shipment size information.
Select a pickup date.
Click Send to submit the new request to Amazon.

Do not submit a new routing request unless the original one failed. Submitting a new request while the previous one was successful will result in duplicate shipments in Vendor Central and prevent routing instructions from being properly posted to the order.

Handling Routing Request Errors

When Amazon rejects a routing request they send an email to the EDI contact on file detailing the error. Review the issue, resolve the problem, and submit a new routing request. Below are descriptions of the most common errors:

Invalid Pickup Date – The selected pickup date does not meet Amazon’s requirements. If fewer than two business days remain in the ship window, contact Amazon to request an extension.
Closed PO – Amazon does not expect routing because the order was canceled. Contact Amazon to request a reopening.
Invalid Warehouse Code – The Amazon warehouse code is incorrect. Update the warehouse mapping.
Wrong FC – Amazon has changed the destination fulfillment center. Update the order fulfillment center.
Unconfirmed PO – Amazon does not expect routing because the order has not been confirmed. Contact Goflow Support.

Monitor routing request errors in Operational Analytics. Filter by document type Routing Request and state Error.

Receiving Routing Instructions

All Amazon Vendor orders are initially designated as LTL when imported to Goflow. When Amazon generates EDI routing instructions, Goflow automatically imports the details and updates the order with the following information:

Carrier – The assigned small parcel carrier. This will be either UPS or OnTrac.
Shipping Method – The assigned small parcel shipping method.
SCAC Code – The Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC) for LTL orders.
ARN – The unique Amazon Reference Number (ARN) assigned by Amazon to identify the shipment.
Address – Updates to the destination fulfillment center address.

If the order was split or the routing request was canceled, routing instructions will not be automatically applied and you’ll need to apply them manually.

Although Amazon assigns an ARN as soon as a shipment is created, it may take up to two days for Amazon to generate routing instructions through EDI. Check on Operational Analytics whether Amazon has yet generated EDI routing instructions. Apply the Document Type filter: Routing Intructions.

Manually Applying Routing Instructions

If routing instructions cannot be posted automatically, you can manually update the order in Goflow with the shipment details. Follow these steps:

Get Routing Instructions
- Log in to Vendor Central and review the shipment's assigned carrier and ARN number.
From the left-side menu in Goflow, go to Orders › Orders and open the order.
Edit Shipping Information
- On the main side card, click the pencil icon to edit the Shipping section.
- Carrier – Enter LTL or the assigned small parcel carrier.
- Standard Carrier Alpha Code – For LTL shipments, enter the SCAC.
- Shipping Method – For small parcel shipments, enter the shipping method.
- Use Third-Party Shipping – Check this box for small parcel shipments.
- Click Save to apply the updates.
Enter the ARN
- Scroll down to the Details card and click the plus icon to expand it.
- Enter the ARN and save your changes.

Managing Order Destination Address

Amazon includes the destination fulfillment center (FC) in the order file to indicate where the order must be shipped. However, Amazon may occasionally change the destination FC without providing EDI notification of the change. If this happens, your routing request — which notifies Amazon of your intent to ship to the original FC — will fail with the message PO Belongs to Multiple FCs. This indicates that the order is associated with a different fulfillment center than what Amazon currently expects.

To resolve this, update the FC code in Goflow by following these steps:

Log in to Vendor Central and look up the updated FC code for the order.
Open the order in Goflow.
On the Customer card, click the pencil icon to edit.
Enter the four-character FC Code in the Fulfillment Center field.
Click Save to update the address.

If Amazon updates the fulfillment center after routing instructions have been issued, the ASN will fail. In this case, contact Goflow Support to update the FC code for the shipped order.