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Creating and Managing Amazon Seller Store

A Goflow connection to Amazon Seller automates many processes with Amazon. These include merchant order processing, handling multi-channel fulfillment, managing inbound shipments, converting listings between merchant and FBA, and more.

Connecting an Amazon Seller Store

Amazon Marketplace is a self-service store. The connection process is automated. To create an Amazon Marketplace store, follow these steps:

  1. From the side menu, go to Directory › Stores.
  2. In the upper right-hand corner, click on New Store.
  3. In the Search box, enter Amazon.
  4. Select Amazon Marketplace.
  5. Select the desired region.
  6. Refer to Creating a New Self-Service Store for general guidance.
  7. Once the store is saved, click on Authorize in the Connection card.
  8. Log in to Amazon Seller Central with a username that has admin permissions.
  9. Grant the requested permissions, and return to the Goflow store.

Create a distinct store for each region you operate in. For instance, if you're selling in both the United States and in Canada, create separate stores for each region.

Managing FBA in Goflow

If your Amazon business includes an FBA side, you can manage these operations within Goflow. Goflow supports inbound shipments, multi-channel fulfilment, and FBA order import. Enabling FBA order import ensures the accuracy of inventory within the Goflow FBA warehouse, as the inventory added through inbound shipments is automatically reduced by FBA orders.

Enabling FBA Orders Import

The first step in Amazon FBA integration is to create an FBA warehouse. An FBA warehouse differs from a regular direct-fulfillment warehouse. An FBA warehouse has special settings tailored for Amazon FBA. Each FBA warehouse is associated with an Amazon store in a one-to-one relationship. This association is created while enabling FBA orders.

To enable FBA order import and to create an FBA warehouse, follow to these steps:

  1. From the side menu, go to Directory › Stores.
  2. Click on an Amazon store to open it.
  3. Find the FBA Orders Import setting on the Status card.
  4. If the Amazon store is not yet associated with an FBA warehouse, Goflow will prompt you to create a new warehouse.
  5. Name the warehouse, and Save it.
  6. Return to the store page, and save the setting to enable FBA order import.

To avoid unexpected overage charges, make sure your Goflow subscription plan comfortably covers the anticipated volume of FBA orders.

Managing FBA Orders

Amazon FBA orders are fulfilled directly by Amazon, and no action is required to process these orders in Goflow. The purpose of importing FBA orders is to balance the FBA inventory and for reporting and analytics.

FBA orders are imported as Pending while Amazon processes the order. Once shipped by Amazon, the status updates to Shipped within Goflow. To find FBA orders in Goflow, filter the main orders page. Use the following filters:

Amazon does not provide customer name and address details for FBA orders. If you have to create a return for an FBA order, you'll need to obtain the shipping details directly from the customer.

Mapping FBA Listings

Enabling listings import for an Amazon store allows Goflow to import both merchant-fulfilled and FBA-fulfilled listings. To find listings of a particular type, filter the main listings page for either Fulfilled By Merchant or Fulfilled By Store.

To create inbound shipments, and to mark FBA orders as shipped in Goflow, the FBA listings must be mapped. FBA listings can be mapped to either standard or kit products. Since group products or units of measure are not supported in inbound shipments, FBA listings cannot be mapped to either.

Multiple FBA listings can be mapped to a single product in Goflow. If you do so, each FBA listing still maintains its distinct inventory with Amazon. However, within Goflow they all collectively share the inventory of the same product.

Changing Listing Fulfillment Type

You can convert listings in Goflow from merchant-fulfilled to store-fulfilled, and vice versa. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. From the side menu, go to Listings › Listings.
  2. Click on a listing to open it.
  3. Locate the Fulfilled By setting in the Store card.
  4. Click on the pencil icon to edit.
  5. Change the Fulfillment type, and Save.

When changing fulfillment from merchant to FBA, Goflow makes sure to adjust the merchant inventory with Amazon to zero. This eliminates any residual merchant inventory from the FBA listing. Removing the merchant inventory prevents a scenario where you might start receiving merchant orders for an FBA listing once the FBA inventory is depleted.

Creating New Amazon Listings

While you cannot create an entirely new Amazon listing page through Goflow, you can add a listing to your store by attaching it to an existing Amazon listing. To create a new Amazon listing, follow these steps:

  1. From the side menu, go to Listings › Products.
  2. Click on a product to open it.
  3. In the upper-right hand corner, click on New Listing.
  4. Select an Amazon store from the drop-down list.
  5. Enter the Amazon ASIN, and click on the Lookup icon.
  6. In the results page, Select the desired listing.
  7. Fill out a short form, and click Publish.

The new listing will be in Pending status until Goflow receives confirmation from Amazon that the listing was successfully published.

Understanding Amazon Reported Inventory

Goflow continuously retrieves on-hand and available quantities directly from Amazon. These numbers are used in inventory allocation and in MCF fulfillment. The Amazon reported quantities are displayed inside the FBA listing, and are also available in the Inventory › On-Hand report.

The following figures are pulled from Amazon:

An FBA warehouse is required to pull reported inventory updates. Create an FBA warehouse by following steps 1-5 in Enabling FBA Orders Import.

When an FBA listing becomes inactive on Amazon, Goflow will cease the continuous refreshing of inventory quantities. All figures will be reset to zero, given that the current quantities are now unknown.

Printing FNSKUs for FBA Listings

The Fulfillment Network SKU (FNSKU) is used for identifying your products with FBA. You can print FNSKU labels for your FBA products from within Goflow. Goflow supports two layouts for FNSKU labels. You can print either single 1"x2" labels on a roll, or 30 labels on a 8"x11" sheet, depending on your printer type. The design of the label is fixed and cannot be edited.

FBA listings are periodically updated with their FNSKUs, typically every few hours. Newly added listings might require a brief interval before their FNSKUs are available for print in Goflow.

To print FNSKU labels needed for a particular inbound shipment, it's best to do so from within the transfer in Goflow. The process is the same, except that the transfer is already aware of what FNSKUs are needed and how many, and it automatically populates with the required listings and the precise number of copies. Additionally, the transfer also expedites the process of fetching FNSKUs for new listings.

To print listing FNSKUs labels in Goflow follow these steps:

  1. From the side menu, go to Listings › Listings.
  2. Click on the document icon in the upper-right corner and select Print FNSKU Labels.
  3. Select an Amazon store from the drop-down list, and click Next.
  4. Accept the selected printer type, or click Change.
  5. Enter an FBA Listing, or lookup the listing by entering its mapped Product.
  6. Enter the desired number of copies to print.
  7. To add more listings, click on the Plus + sign.
  8. Finally, click Print to select a printer and print the labels.

Printing FNSKUs in Bulk

To print FNSKUs for listings in bulk using a file upload, follow these steps:

  1. From the side menu, go to Listings › Listings.
  2. Click on the document icon in the upper-right corner and select Print FNSKU Labels.
  3. Select an Amazon store from the drop-down list, and click Next.
  4. Accept the selected printer type, or click Change.
  5. Click on the upload icon, and select Load from File.
  6. Review the required and optional file headers in the Columns tab.
  7. In the Upload tab, click to download a sample CSV template.
  8. Use one of three ways to identify and select the listings:
    • Mapped item number
    • Listing SKU
    • Amazon ASIN
  9. Specify the number of copies to print for each listing. If left empty, it defaults to 1.
  10. Save the file, and click Choose File to upload it.
  11. Finally, click Print to select a printer and print the labels.

Managing FBM in Goflow

Amazon merchant-fulfilled orders are initially imported into Goflow as Pending while Amazon is processing the orders. By default, pending orders remain hidden. This is because pending orders are not yet ready for processing, as they lack customer shipping details. The purpose of importing pending orders is to earmark the inventory, and to update the channels accordingly in order to prevent overselling. Once Amazon finalizes the order, it transitions to an open status within Goflow.

Using Amazon Buy Shipping

Goflow integrates with Amazon Buy shipping to purchase shipping labels for the major carriers through Amazon. The process is the same as when printing a label from seller central. If you have your own accounts connected to Seller Central, you can purchase labels through your own account at your own rates. Or, if you do not, you can get Amazon's rates.

To ship with Amazon, start by creating a carrier account. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. From the side menu, go to Settings › Shipping.
  2. In the upper-right hand corner, click on New Carrier.
  3. From the carrier drop-down menu, select Amazon Partnered.
  4. Click to log in to your Amazon Seller Central account, and accept terms and conditions.
  5. Name the carrier, and Save.
  6. Finally, add the carrier to the Amazon store shipping accounts.

You can manually update the order carrier, and assign Amazon orders to the Amazon carrier. You can pick a specific shipping method as well, such as FedEx 2 Day or UPS Ground. Upon shipping, on the Pack & Ship page, the assigned method will automatically be applied. If an assigned shipping method is not available for a specific order, on the Pack & Ship page select an alternate shipping method from the list of methods returned by Amazon.

To automatically assign all Amazon merchant orders to the Amazon carrier, contact Goflow Support to update your shipping rules. Since the available shipping methods vary, the automatic assignment will let the shipping method be Unknown. On the Pack & Ship page, select one of the shipping methods available for each order.

When using bulk ship on a pick list, you can either specify a shipping method for all selected orders, or use the default setting, and allow Goflow to pick the cheapest shipping method return from Amazon for each order.

Should you need to void the shipping label purchased from Amazon, you can do so by changing the order status from shipped to ready to pick, and Goflow will automatically void the label with Amazon.

Orders shipped through Buy Shipping do not send a shipment notification to Amazon, given that Amazon is already informed about the shipment and its associated tracking numbers.

Shipping Seller-fulfilled Prime Orders

Seller-fulfilled Prime orders are marked in Goflow with a purple label AMAZON PRIME. When creating a pick list, use the Amazon Prime filter to create a separate pick list for expedited processing.

By default, Prime orders are assigned to the Amazon carrier. If the need arises to ship Prime orders using another carrier, you can change the order carrier in accordance with Amazon's guidelines for Prime shipping.

Shipping Orders with Transparency Codes

To ensure authenticity, Amazon requires that selling partners provide transparency codes for certain products of high value. These codes are used by Amazon to verify that the shipped goods are genuine and authentic. Amazon determines which orders require a transparency code, and they pass along this requirement to Goflow.

While packing an order that requires a transparency codes, Goflow prompts the shipper to scan the code on the product packaging. For group products, the shipper is prompted when packing the most expensive child in the group.

Goflow validates the scanned transparency code. A valid code typically follows this format: AZ: followed by 26-digit unique alphanumeric non-sequential code, for example: AZ:D66F7JYOR8G3BHKSCO4OYHEKRU. For products that do not come with a transparency code, enter the serial number in this format: SN- followed by the unique serial number. If neither transparency code nor serial number is available, you may click on Override the skip entering a code altogether.

Orders that need a transparency code must be packed individually to allow for entering a code; they cannot be bulk shipped.

Goflow includes the transparency code in the shipment notification sent to Amazon. For orders shipped through Buy Shipping, the transparency code is submitted at the time of creating the shipping label.

Sending Inventory to Amazon for Merchant Listings

Send inventory updates to Amazon for your merchant fulfilled listings. While configuring allocation settings, specify the lead-time for order processing. Lead-time is the number of business days it takes from the time an order is placed until it is handed over to the carrier. For Amazon, lead-times are expressed in a single number. Enter 0 for same day shipping, and 3 if it takes 2-3 business days.

Lead-time updates sent through inventory feeds will only take effect if they align with the shipping template applied to the listing on Seller Central.

When activating vacation mode, you can choose to set an extended lead-time instead of setting the listings to 0 inventory.

Sellers offering listings in multiple North American regions should create unique SKUs for each region. For instance, use SKU ABC123 for the US listing, ABC123-CA for the same SKU listed in Canada, and ABC123-MX for the Mexico listing.

If the SKUs across the three North American regions are identical, you will not able to update different quantities for each region. This is because the latest inventory update for one region will also be applied to the other two regions.

Similar considerations must be made for European regions such as Germany and France. Having unique SKUs for each region is important to prevent unintended overwriting of inventory from one region to another.

Cancelling Orders

In the event that you are unable to fulfill an order, you have the option to cancel it.

When the customer requests cancellation, Goflow imports the cancellation request.