As an Amazon seller, it's essential to have a solid understanding of amazon order management and fulfilling orders. In this article, we'll be discussing the process of collecting and fulfilling orders in the Amazon store, with a focus on seller-fulfilled shipping. We'll also touch on some other important areas within Seller Central that are crucial to this process.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Seller Fulfilled Shipping (SFS)
Amazon offers two main fulfillment methods for sellers: Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Seller Fulfilled Shipping (also known as self-shipping or MFN shipping). FBA involves sending inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers, where they handle the packing and shipping process for orders to the buyers. Seller Fulfilled Shipping requires sellers to manage the delivery process themselves for their orders.The process of collecting and successfully fulfilling orders in the Amazon store involves the below steps;
1. Updating Notification Settings
First, we recommend updating your notification settings so that you're updated when you receive an order. You can manage the type of notifications and how you receive them by hovering over the settings menu and selecting "Notification Settings."
2. Managing Orders
To manage your orders, you can find them from the Seller Central main menu by hovering over orders and selecting Manage Orders. Orders in the Amazon store start in a pending status when first received, then move to unshipped before entering the fulfillment stage.
3. Order Management Options
Depending on how many orders you typically receive, you have options for managing orders. You can use the Manage Orders tool or orders report. Find reports for your business's orders on the orders report page under the orders tab in Seller Central. Using the all-orders report will show your order and item information from both FBA and SFS orders for a given period of time.
4. Benefits of Reports
These reports can monitor and analyze demand across fulfillment and sales channels, making managing your inventory and optimizing your business processes easier. By following these tips and utilizing Seller Central tools, you can streamline your amazon order management and fulfillment process, ensuring a smooth experience for you and your customers.
5. Amazon Order Processing
When a customer checks out with your product in their cart, Amazon places the order in pending status on your managed orders page until payment is verified. All orders are held for 30 minutes to allow customers to cancel orders. In some cases, verification can cause orders to remain pending for up to 21 days.
6. Moving Orders to Unshipped Status
Once Amazon successfully verifies payment information, an order will move into the unshipped status. When this happens, your customer will receive an order confirmation with the estimated date for delivery. You'll also receive an order notification. You can also cancel orders at this stage if necessary. Once an order is in unshipped status, it's time to fulfill it.
7. Fulfillment and Shipping
To start the fulfillment process, you'll need to locate the customer's delivery address on the orders detail page, the orders report, or an unshipped orders report. Once you've located the address, you'll need to ship the order to your customer using their requested shipping method. You can arrange delivery with your chosen carrier or use Amazon to buy shipping services.
8. Amazon Buy Shipping Services
Buy Shipping services let you buy shipping labels individually or in bulk, ship and confirm orders, and track your shipments. With Buy Shipping, Amazon automatically suggests shipping services based on the delivery promise to your customer, your carrier preference, and the lowest available cost. Buying Shipping services can help protect your shipping performance metrics and streamline the shipping coordination process.
9. Confirming Shipment
Select an order from the Manage Orders page to view the order details page for that order. Once you've shipped the order, you must confirm the shipment. When you confirm shipment, you'll need to provide the ship date, the carrier shipping method, the tracking ID supplied by the carrier, and the ship-from address. You can print an order packing slip on this page or contact the customer when necessary.
10. Confirming Shipment for Non-FBA Orders
When you confirm shipment for orders using Buy Shipping services, you must provide the following:
- The ship date.
- Carrier.
- Shipping method.
- Tracking ID supplied by the carrier.
- The ship-from address.
Select an order from the Manage Orders page to view the order details page for a specific order. You can print an order packing slip on this page or contact the customer when necessary.
11. Viewing FBA Orders
If you receive an order for a product enrolled in Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you can enjoy a hassle-free experience as Amazon takes care of the entire fulfillment process on your behalf. With FBA, you don't need to worry about packing, shipping, or customer service for these orders. You can review your FBA orders by clicking "view FBA orders" on the Manage Orders page. This will provide you with a comprehensive overview of all your FBA orders in one place. This centralized view allows you to stay organized and efficiently track the progress of your FBA orders.
12. Handling Returns
To handle any returns for your non-FBA products, use the Manage Returns page. Responding to return requests within 24 hours is recommended, and Amazon automatically authorizes U.S. return requests that fall within Amazon's return policy.
For returns outside of Amazon's return policy, manual authorization for a return will be requested, and you'll receive an email notification from Amazon to manually authorize a return.
When you approve a customer's return request, you can use an Amazon-generated unpaid return label or upload your custom prepaid return label. Amazon will handle returns and refunds for FBA orders.
13. Canceling Orders
There are instances when customers may request to cancel an order. If the order has not been shipped or confirmed yet, you have the option to cancel it directly on the Manage Orders page. Once the cancellation is initiated, Amazon will automatically update the order status and notify the customer accordingly.
However, if the order has already been shipped, you can kindly ask the customer to return the product in order to process a refund. Once the return is received, you can proceed with issuing the refund. It's important to note that customers are not charged for an order until the shipment is confirmed.
14. A to Z Guarantee Claims
Amazon utilizes A-Z guarantee claims, which allow customers to file claims if the order was not received or did not meet their expectations. Initially, customers will contact you to discuss their concerns and provide an opportunity to resolve the issue.
However, if a satisfactory resolution cannot be reached, customers have the option to file an "A to Z" guarantee claim. Subsequently, Amazon will conduct an investigation into the claim, and if it is approved in favor of the customer, the claim amount will be deducted from your account. You will be given a 30-day window to appeal the decision.
15. Communicating with Customers
During the Amazon order management process, it may be necessary to engage in communication with your customers. To facilitate this, you can utilize buyer-seller messaging, which allows communication within Seller Central or through email.
It is important to keep in mind that customer contact should be limited to order completion and addressing customer service inquiries. It is strictly prohibited to contact customers for marketing or promotional purposes or to solicit reviews using buyer-seller messaging. Nonetheless, buyer-seller messaging is an approved and accepted means of communication with Amazon customers.
After purchases, Amazon automatically initiates review requests on your behalf. If you wish to specifically request a review for a particular order, you can utilize the "request a review" feature available on the order details page.
Conclusion
Amazon order management can be overwhelming, but following the tips outlined in this article, you'll be on your way to providing excellent customer service and running a successful business.
If you are looking for a way to streamline your Amazon order processing and gain more control over your customer orders, inventory tracking, pre-order customer support, return and replacement management, and other related tasks, Vserve is here to help.
Our experts will take care of everything related to your Amazon order management, from processing customer orders to delivery confirmation. You'll receive real-time updates on every step of the process, including invoicing, shipment dates, and return statuses.
This blog post draws inspiration from the YouTube video "How to Manage Your Orders in the Amazon Store."