Vendor Direct Fulfillment API FAQs

I am getting a “Processing” message for the Transactions API Call, what can I do?

The transaction status will be supported for following API operations:

• Acknowledge Order
• Submit Shipment Confirmations
• Submit Shipment Status Updates
• Shipping Label Request
• Inventory Feed If transaction status is “Processing” and not updated to “Failure” or “Success” after 5 minutes, that indicates transaction not successfully completed in our system. The “Success” status will be there if the transaction is successful and an error code will be provided for “Failure”.

You can’t use this API for “Invoice” messages as they are not supported to check and status will be always “Processing”.

For Shipping Label Requests, if the transaction is failed with a reason code like “Internal server error” which are terminal errors, you must create a “contact us” case to get the cause investigated. This generally happens due to operational constraints.

I am getting an error message for the “Submit Invoices” operation call, what can I do?

The operation parameters must be filled out correctly. Consider these points when filling out the parameters to make the API call:

• Invoice numbers must be unique and they should never be reused (even after one year).
• If an invoice sent by API has failed due to incorrect data but paper invoice has the correct data then vendor should update it through API with correct data under same Invoice ID.
• If invoice has wrong data (both paper and API) then invoice is cancelled and new invoice should be sent with new Invoice ID.
• No invoice with total amount "0" should be sent, as this would cause the invoice to fail.
• Amazon requires the full address details in the address segments for tax compliance reasons. This is especially important for the bill-to party. For this segment the Amazon Payee system requires an exact match.
• Payment terms sent in invoice should match the payment terms agreed upon with the Amazon buyer
• Item product identifier should match the order item product identifier that were sent to the vendor in matching Purchase Order. Invoice total amount should be equal to the total sum of the items, charges and allowances.
• Total of tax amount for each line level must be equal to total of tax amount at header level.
• Invoice total quantity should match the sum of the quantity of all items. Each different charges and allowance has to be itemized on the header level.

If one of these parameters are missing or filled out incorrectly, this will lead the API call to retrieve incorrect details. Make sure to provide the required information when submitting the operation.

Can a vendor increase the original quantity submitted in the purchase order using the Order Acknowledgment API?

No, Amazon does not allow the vendor to send a higher quantity in the acknowledgment than what was submitted in the purchase order.

Is it a requirement to send an order acknowledgment for each purchase order?

Yes, in order to update the status of an order in the Amazon system correctly, Amazon requires PO confirmation using the API or Vendor Central. If you are unable to meet our order acknowledgement requirements using the API, you must confirm your POs using Vendor Central. Please contact your Amazon business representative if you do not have a Vendor Central account.

Is it a requirement to provide every PO line item in the corresponding order acknowledgment?

Yes, so Amazon can update the order status correctly.

How should invalid items or details on an order be reported using the order acknowledgment?

Do not process or ship an item that arrived with an invalid item number on the order. Please return the invalid item number on the acknowledgment and acknowledge it with the codes provided in the Vendor Direct Fulfillment APIs User Guide.

Do I need to return the same product identifier in the acknowledgment that I received in the orders transaction?

Acknowledgments must return exactly the same product identifier that were sent in the purchase order.

Is it required to provide an acknowledgement code for all line items regardless of status?

Yes, it is required so we can correctly update the status of the order. If the acknowledgment code is omitted, the acknowledgment will be rejected in our EDI system.

What is the policy on partial shipments? How should partial shipments be reported when submitting an order acknowledgment?

Partial shipments are not allowed. Vendors need to either confirm or reject the full order.

I am having issues submitting shipment confirmations, what can I do?

Vendors can verify the status of their shipment confirmations via Vendor Central > Orders > Direct Fulfillment Orders or using the Direct-fulfillment Transaction Status API. Allow the system up to 10 min to see the status once submitted.

Here are some common errors a vendor might face when submitting this API call:

• You should use this API to confirm shipment of an order within 4 hours after the order has shipped from your warehouse.
• For floor denied shipments, send “shipmentStatus” field value as “FLOOR_DENIAL”.
• All the purchase order line items should be present in the shipment confirmation. Partial order fulfillment is not allowed. Vendors should reject the order as floor denial if any of the line items are not available to fulfill.
• “itemSequenceNumber” for an item should be same as received in order message.
• Either “buyerProductIdentifier” or “vendorProductIdentifier” is mandatory to send in the shipment confirmation. You need to send the same value as received in purchase order.
• For vendor own carriers, sending “scacCode” is mandatory.
• If the shipment label is provided by Amazon, then container section is optional since Amazon has access to the package information. Items section is mandatory to submit.

What kind of labels are available to download?

ZPL and PNG labels should be requested only on the day when the orders are due for shipping.

Are packing slips required for all orders?

Packing slip is required only if it is a Business to Business [B2B] order or a gift order. “isPslipRequired” field from the Order message must be read and if it is true, Packing slip is required for that order.

What kind of customer invoices are available to download?

Customer invoice is a PDF file which is encoded in binary64 string format. All purchases orders for IN region should have a customer invoice created which should be sent with the shipment.

Can the package/items data be omitted from Shipping label request?

Yes, Shipping lables can be requested by providing only the minimal 3 fields, order id, vendor code [SellingParty] and warehouse code [shipFromParty]. Amazon will get the information about items from catalogue in this order and create a shipping label. If there is custom information like multi box scenario, then the package loop is mandatory to request labels so they are created as per dimensions provided.

Shipping labels are not available when making the GET call?

Shipping labels must be created first by making a POST call with the information about the order. Only if that request succeeds, a label will be available in the back end to request via the GET call. Make sure the POST call is made first, the status is checked via the transaction status API before trying to download a label via GET call.