Amazon EDI Guidelines – Amazon releases important EDI updates and requirements for vendors going into the holiday season
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As we head into the busiest time of year for retail, CPG, and ecommerce, Amazon has provided some basic guidance for vendors to work successfully with them. These practices are important all year round, but are especially critical during peak times, such as the holiday season and the crucial months leading to it.
Managing Your Purchase Orders:
Amazon sends cancellation notices by email one week prior to the actual cancellation date if it doesn’t seem to them like their going to receive your products. If you receive an auto-cancellation notice, update your expected delivery date or expected ship date by going to Amazon Vendor Central Orders > Purchase Orders > Update Past Due PO Items. If you have already shipped the product in question, ensure the ASN has the line item at risk for cancellation listed and resubmit the ASN if it does not.
If Amazon sends you a purchase order on November 22, November 23, December 25, or January 1, you will be given 48 hours from the receipt of the purchase order to send your PO acknowledgement and add an additional day to the ship/delivery window. If one of these dates falls between the start and end date of a ship/delivery window, Amazon will automatically extend the ship/deliver window by one day to account for the holiday. Because of this, warehouse closures aren’t required for these dates.
If you’re going to have a PO outage for dates other than the above holidays, let Amazon know no later than November 1 so they can plan ordering effectively. You can do this by signing into Vendor Central and going to Settings > Purchase Order Outages.
Keep Your Catalog Up-to Date:
Ensure you receive actionable purchase orders by reviewing your catalog regularly via Reports > Amazon Retail Analytics Basic > Vendor Catalog Listing. ARA also provides sales data to help with forecast demand planning.
If you need to make corrections, go to Catalog > Edit Details. If you need more info, sign in to Vendor Central and go HERE.
Amazon allows customers to order your products on their site if they believe that product is inbound or accessible from you. If the inventory status of your product has changed, let Amazon know as soon as possible. You can do this by using their Availability feature via Catalog > Update Availability or through the PO confirmation process.
Stay on Top of Shipments:
Whether you ship Collect or Prepaid, Amazon recommends you take an active role in managing transportation.
For Prepaid Vendors: Carriers should request appointments as early as possible. FCs are busiest during business hours so your carriers can obtain appointments faster by requesting appointments during evenings or weekends. If the appointment is missed by 30 minutes or more, the freight will be refused and a chargeback fee assessed. Make sure your carrier has a physical BOL (Bill of Lading), the relevant PRO(s), the Amazon Delivery Appointment Number (ISA #), and a list of the POs on the shipment in order to avoid any additional complications if they need to reschedule.
For Collect Vendors shipping truckload volumes, communicate to your carrier that you are able to support a weekend pick-up if possible once your load is tendered. This will let the carrier know if they can accept an appointment at the FC that would require a weekend pick-up, which may reduce the risk of pick-up delay. In order to prevent delays, ensure you route at least 24 hours before your Freight Ready Date.
Note: Amazon has updated the 7-day ship window restriction for Collect, so you can now route for received orders that are within 30 days of their ship window start. By routing earlier, they can better secure freight and FC capacity. Please route as early as possible to secure an on time pickup.
If you have a transportation case unanswered within 24 hours, or a carrier in danger of missing an appointment, you can call the Amazon Transportation Operations Center hotline at 1-866-203-8372.
If you have any questions for Amazon, refer to Vendor Central Support for more information about policies, processes, or self-service options, where you can take training, search Help, or download forms and the Vendor Manual.
You can also sign in to your Amazon Vendor Central account and click Contact Us.
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