Amazon FBA Inbound Plan
On this card, you take an inbound plan step by step through Amazon's inbound process: packing, boxes, placement, transportation. Only the action of the next step is ever active; the Next field tells you what to do. The goods are carried by a transfer order from your warehouse to the FBA location.
Opening the Page
- Opens by itself after you have created a plan with Create FBA Inbound Plan.
- Via the Amazon FBA Inbound Plans list → Click on a plan
- Via the transfer order → Actions → Amazon FBA → FBA Inbound Plans → Click on the plan
FBA only
The card only opens if Enable FBA is turned on in the Amazon Settings.
Workflow
The Step field shows how far the plan has got; the Next field shows the text of the middle column.
| Step | Next | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Nothing left to do. | – The plan has not been created at Amazon yet. If it stays here, Amazon has refused to create it (see Last Error): fix the cause, choose Cancel Plan and create a new plan. |
| Plan Created | Generate Packing Options. | Generate Packing Options |
| Packing Options Ready | Select a packing option below and confirm it. | In the Options section, set Selected, then Confirm Packing Option |
| Packing Confirmed | Enter size, weight and contents of the boxes below, then Send Box Contents. | Fill in the Boxes section, then Send Box Contents |
| Box Contents Sent | Generate Placement Options. | Generate Placement Options |
| Placement Options Ready | Select a placement option below and confirm it. | In the Options section, set Selected, then Confirm Placement Option |
| Placement Confirmed | Enter the Ready to Ship Date and Generate Transportation Options. | Enter the Ready to Ship Date, then Generate Transportation Options |
| Transportation Options Ready | Check the transportation option of each shipment below - for your own carrier with a delivery window, if Amazon asks for one - and confirm. | In the Options section, check each shipment, confirm a delivery window on the shipment if needed, then Confirm Transportation |
| Transportation Confirmed | Download the box labels, send the tracking of your own carrier, and post the transfer shipment of each shipment (Shipments). | For each shipment on the shipment card: Download Box Labels, Send Tracking Numbers, Post Transfer Shipment |
| Shipped | Amazon receives the goods. Its inventory ledger puts what it received on the transfer order (Suggest FBA Adjustments); post the receipt there. | See Shipping and Receipt |
| Closed | Nothing left to do. | – |
| Cancelled | Nothing left to do. | – |
The plan reaches the Shipped step as soon as the transfer shipment of all its shipments is posted. It becomes Closed on Refresh Status once Amazon lists all its shipments with the status CLOSED. It is Cancelled after Cancel Plan.
When Amazon Is Still Working or Rejects
Amazon processes every step that changes something at Amazon in the background. Business Central remembers the operation and waits up to two minutes for the result:
- Done: The plan reaches the next step; a message names it. Along the way, the connector reads the options, creates the boxes or loads the shipments.
- Not done yet: A message asks you to choose Refresh Status in a minute. Until then, Next shows "Amazon is still working on the last step: Refresh Status.", and Pending Operation ID is visible. Refresh Status completes the step as soon as Amazon is done.
- Refused: Amazon's answer is shown in the Last Error field and in an error message; the step does not move on. Correct what Amazon names and choose the action again. Step is then red.
If Amazon already refuses the request itself, you only get the error message with Amazon's text; the plan stays in its previous step.
Fields
General
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Name of the plan in Seller Central. You assign it in the Create FBA Inbound Plan dialog; here you can only change it in the Draft step. |
| Step | How far the plan has got (see Workflow). Red if Last Error is filled in; green for Closed, gray for Cancelled, yellow for Shipped while Amazon receives the goods. |
| Next | What to do next with the plan. |
| Transfer Order No. | Transfer order that takes the goods from your warehouse to the FBA location. |
| Ship-from Location | Location the goods leave from. Its address is the ship-from address that Amazon receives; if it has none, the address from the Company Information is used. |
| Marketplace | Amazon marketplace the goods are sent for. |
| Ready to Ship Date | Day on which the goods are ready for pickup – the pickup date for Amazon's partnered carrier, not a delivery date. Amazon offers the transportation for this date. Can be changed in the Placement Confirmed and Transportation Options Ready steps; it must be today or later. |
| Last Error | What Amazon answered when the last step failed (red). Only visible if filled in; the next attempt clears it. |
Amazon
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Inbound Plan ID | Number of the plan at Amazon. |
| Amazon Status | Status of the plan at Amazon, e.g. ACTIVE, SHIPPED or VOIDED. Refresh Status reads it again. |
| Placement Fee | Fee that Amazon charges for the confirmed placement option, less discounts. |
| Fee Currency | Currency of the fees. |
| Pending Operation ID | Operation that Amazon is still working on. Only visible while there is one; Refresh Status checks it again. |
Items
The SKUs of the plan with quantity, unit of measure, FNSKU, and prep and label owner. See Items (Subpage).
Options
The section appears in the Packing Options Ready, Placement Options Ready and Transportation Options Ready steps and only shows the options of the current step. Set Selected on the option you want – only one can be selected per plan, or per shipment for transportation options – and confirm it with the action of the step.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Selected | The option you choose. Confirming sends it to Amazon. |
| Option Type | What the option decides: Packing, Placement, Transportation or Delivery Window. |
| Description | What the option means: the number of packing groups (packing) or shipments (placement), carrier and shipping mode (transportation). |
| Shipment | Shipment a transportation option applies to: fulfillment center and name. |
| Fee | What Amazon charges for the option, less discounts. |
| Currency | Currency of the fee. |
| Shipping Solution | Who transports the goods: AMAZON_PARTNERED_CARRIER (Amazon's partnered carrier) or USE_YOUR_OWN_CARRIER (your own carrier). |
| Shipping Mode | How the goods are transported: GROUND_SMALL_PARCEL for parcels, FREIGHT_LTL or FREIGHT_FTL for pallets. |
| Preconditions | What the transportation option needs before it can be confirmed, e.g. CONFIRMED_DELIVERY_WINDOW: a confirmed delivery window on the shipment. |
| Expires At | Until when Amazon holds the option. |
| Amazon Status | Status of the option at Amazon: OFFERED, ACCEPTED or EXPIRED. |
Transportation: partnered carrier preselected
After Generate Transportation Options, the cheapest option of Amazon's partnered carrier is selected for each shipment; if Amazon offers none for a shipment, nothing is selected there. If you want to deliver with your own carrier, set Selected on its option. Confirm Transportation stops as long as a shipment has no selected option or its option requires a delivery window that is not confirmed yet.
Boxes
The section appears in the Packing Confirmed and Box Contents Sent steps. Each line stands for one box type: size, weight and contents apply to every box of this type, and Number of Boxes says how many of them you send.
Confirm Packing Option creates one line per packing group with one box that holds all units of the group. Adjust this to how you actually pack: enter size and weight, increase Number of Boxes and reduce the contents per box, or create further box types with Add Box and move units there. SKUs of different packing groups must not go into the same box.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Box No. | Number of the box type in the plan. |
| Number of Boxes | How many boxes of this type you send: each with the same size, weight and contents. |
| Length (cm) / Width (cm) / Height (cm) | Dimensions of one box in centimeters. |
| Weight (kg) | Gross weight of one box in kilograms, packaging included. |
| Units per Box | Units in one box of this type. Clicking it opens the Box Contents. |
| Packing Group ID | Packing group of the box type (hidden by default). |
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Contents | Opens the Box Contents of the selected box type. |
| Add Box | Adds a box type with the same SKUs and no units yet to the packing group of the selected box (Number of Boxes 1). Move units into it via its contents. |
You delete a box type you don't need together with its contents.
Box Contents
The Box Contents page shows, for each SKU of the packing group, how many units are in one box of this type. Only Units per Box can be changed; a pack SKU counts packs.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| SKU | SKU of the plan that is packed in the box. |
| Units per Box | Units of the SKU in one box of this type. |
Send Box Contents checks beforehand:
- Each box type needs length, width, height and weight.
- For each SKU, all units of the plan must be in boxes: the sum of Units per Box × Number of Boxes across all box types must exactly match the Quantity of the SKU in the Items section. Otherwise a message names the SKU and both numbers.
Example: distributing units across boxes
The plan has 100 units of a SKU, and the prefilled box type holds all 100. You pack four boxes of 20 each and a smaller one with 20: in box type 1, enter Number of Boxes 4 and, in the contents, Units per Box 20; choose Add Box, enter 20 in its contents and record the dimensions and weight of the smaller box. 4 × 20 + 1 × 20 = 100.
Shipments
The shipments into which Amazon has split the plan – one per fulfillment center. They are created with Confirm Placement Option. See Shipments (Subpage); labels, delivery window, tracking and transfer shipment are on the shipment card.
Actions
Process
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Generate Packing Options | Asks Amazon how the SKUs of the plan can be distributed across boxes. Only in the Plan Created step. |
| Confirm Packing Option | Confirms the selected packing option. Business Central then creates one box per packing group. Only in the Packing Options Ready step. |
| Send Box Contents | Sends size, weight and contents of the boxes to Amazon (see Box Contents). Only in the Packing Confirmed step. |
| Generate Placement Options | Asks Amazon which fulfillment centers the goods go to and what each option costs. Only in the Box Contents Sent step. |
| Confirm Placement Option | Confirms the selected placement option. Amazon creates the shipments and charges the placement fee; Business Central loads the shipments with destination and items. Only in the Placement Options Ready step. |
| Generate Transportation Options | Asks Amazon how the shipments can be transported on the Ready to Ship Date: with Amazon's partnered carrier or your own, as parcels or pallets. The cheapest partnered option of each shipment is preselected. Only in the Placement Confirmed step; without a ready to ship date from today on, the action stops. |
| Confirm Transportation | Confirms the selected transportation option of every shipment at once. Amazon then assigns the shipment numbers (FBA15…) for the box labels; Business Central takes over carrier, shipping mode, transport cost and the boxes of each shipment. Only in the Transportation Options Ready step. |
| Refresh Status | Reads the status of the plan and its shipments from Amazon and completes a step that Amazon was still working on. If Amazon lists all shipments as CLOSED, the plan becomes Closed. |
| Cancel Plan | After a confirmation, cancels the plan and its shipments at Amazon; a placement fee may still apply. Possible until goods have been shipped – no longer in the Shipped, Closed and Cancelled steps. Afterwards, you can create a new plan for the transfer order. |
Labels
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Download Item Labels | Downloads the FNSKU labels of the items you label yourself (Label Owner Seller), in the quantity of the plan, on A4 sheets with 24 labels. Not in the Draft step. |
Navigate
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Transfer Order | Opens the transfer order of the plan. |
Tips
Don't leave options lying around for too long
Amazon holds each option only until Expires At. So confirm the option you chose promptly.
Print item labels early
You need the FNSKU labels before you pack. Download Item Labels is available from Plan Created on; the box labels only come after Confirm Transportation on the shipment card.
Inventory in Business Central
The plan does not move any inventory. The transfer order does that: Post Transfer Shipment on the shipment posts the shipment out of your warehouse; you post the receipt at the FBA location once Amazon has received the goods (see Shipping and Receipt).