FBA Getting Started Guide

“With access to Amazon’s templates, I can import product information as easily as I can scan a barcode.”

-Amazon.de Seller

“Automatic pricing gives me serious control. I can set rules to make sure I’m not underbid by another seller, but I can also set minimums to make sure I always turn a profit.”

-Amazon.com Seller

“When I first started selling on Amazon, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. SellerEngine gave me a way to look at my competition and learn from what they’re doing. Now they keep an eye on me!”

-Amazon.uk Seller

“SellerEngine streamlines bookselling on Amazon. I can manage my stock, price items based on the market, and fulfill orders through a single program.”

-Amazon.de Seller

“I sell many kinds of books, from paperbacks to collectible editions. I like how much flexibility SellerEngine’s automatic re-pricing gives me, since I can set completely different rules for different types of products.”

-Amazon.uk Seller

“SellerEngine made an immediate impact on my ability to sell. My profits went up 50 percent in the first month.”

-Amazon.com Seller

“SellerEngine simplifies the sales and fulfillment process. I wasn’t sure I could keep on top of managing my inventory at first, but SellerEngine has made starting a new business venture surprisingly easy.”

-Amazon.uk Seller

“Now that I can use automatic pricing, I’m saving lots of time I used to spend watching other sellers. Even better, I’ve closed twice as many sales this week.”

-Amazon.uk Seller

Getting Started With SellerEngine Plus for FBA!

New SellerEngine Plus users, please visit the Getting Started Guide for a quick start guide to logging in and getting familiar with SellerEngine Plus. If you are currently a SellerEngine Plus user please confirm you are subscribed to a SellerEngine Plus license with FBA by logging in on sellerengine.com  and scrolling down to 'SellerEngine Plus licenses' to confirm your License type is: SellerEngine Plus for Amazon US,UK or DE + FBA.

 
Start the software
Log into SellerEngine Plus

Click File, Preferences, Amazon Information to Fill in the details of your Amazon account

This information is used by SellerEngine Plus to generate and download reports, and to upload listings. It is never submitted to any website except Amazon. If the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key fields do not populate, you will need to sign up for a free AWS account from Amazon. You may click the green question mark button  or go directly to http://aws.amazon.com/ to sign up. Since you are using SellerEngine Plus with your FBA account, you will also need to sign up for the FWS services at http://aws.amazon.com/fws.  On the FWS page, please scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to sign up for the FWS service.

Confirm you have selected the ‘SellerCentral + FBA account’ option.
 
Some users might still receive errors when logging into SellerEngine Plus for the first time. If you see a ‘Credentials Check Failed’ error, there are issues that need to be addressed.
 
 
Amazon UserName & Password - Confirm that these are correct.
FBA credentials - Confirm that you have signed up for the AWS and FWS services.
FBA Shipping address - Confirm your address is entered. Click the ‘Go to Preferences’ button and input your shipping address. 

MWS Credentials - Confirm that you are signed up for the MWS services.

 

In the lower left corner you will see the yellow exclamation point icon if these issues have not been addressed. You will be unable to send a shipment until these are fixed.
 

Download and import open listings from Amazon

Download an Open Listings Report from Amazon so that your items (and their prices and quantities) currently for sale on Amazon are accurately reflected in the local database in SellerEngine. Import->Download and Import Active Listings from Amazon (Active Listings+AFN)

  • The Open Listings Report for FBA users includes both the afn_feed and the full_inventory reports.
  • The full_inventory report includes all your inventory whether Amazon Fulfilled or Merchant Fulfilled. This information is indicated in the ListedState inventory field value.
  • The afn_feed report includes the Amazon Fulfilled inventory only. It shows all the relationships between listings and inventory items (FNSKUs) regardless of whether the listing still exists or even if the listing is now currently related to a different listing. This allows users to review existing inventory in Amazon fulfillment centers, set up new shipments to replenish inventory, migrate listings back to Merchant Fulfilled or create online orders for buyers.

SellerEngine Plus logs into your account and waits for Amazon to prepare your listings report. During the import, the following windows will notify you of its status.  

 
 
... and display the final results:
 
Note: This may take longer if your inventory is very large or if Amazon is exceptionally busy. Once Amazon has finished compiling the report, your listings will be visible in your inventory list.
 

Create Shipments

From your current inventory:

New shipments are automatically created and named when you select one or more items from Inventory, right-click on selection and click ‘Add to shipment’

 
 
 

To add NEW inventory items to populate your FBA shipment:

We recommend using Quick Add for fastest new item entry. Quick Add is located in the lower window to the right of the FBA Shipments Manager tab and allows users to enter FBA items using a customized template.

1.  Switch from the FBA Shipments Manager tab to Quick Add.
2. Add a description or select one from the predefined conditions drop-down list available when clicking the yellow book icon in the right corner.
3. Select a reprice schema to assign a price to your item instantly. You may leave the price field empty if a repricing rule is assigned.
4. Add a sorter if you want to filter items as you add them and confirm the sorter result field is visible in your inventory while listing.
5. Under Product Data, make sure you have configured the SKU and entered the quantity.
6. If the Print Labels box is checked you will print label items as you enter items.
If the Product Group is filled in, SellerEngine Plus will take less time to retrieve the info and populate all the fields.
 

 

If your account is not stickerless you are required to label all of your items. Make sure the label printer is connected to your machine while FNSKUs are generated and the Print Label in the Product Data checkbox is marked:
 
Attach the label to your item, being sure to cover all barcodes if there is more than one. If the labels have not printed or you want to reprint a label, you can always select the item(s) and click the Print Label action in the Shipment Toolbar:
 
 
 

If there are errors when adding items to a shipment, the item is highlighted on the screen.

red -always followed by an error message, see the error column for more details. 
pink-no FNSKU has been generated. Try retrieving the FNSKU again by clicking the ‘Retrieve FNSKU button.
grey -no warehouse has been assigned to the item. Try removing the item and adding it again.
yellow -the item has been assigned to a different warehouse and the shipment needs to be split.
 

To add items to the shipment, scan items into the Product ID column, if your scanner is configured to add a carriage return you can continue to scan items in.  If it is not, click the Add Item button. 

To add CURRENT inventory items to populate your new FBA shipment

Select the items in the inventory, right click, select Add to shipment. They will be automatically assigned either to already existing ‘Open’ shipments or to new shipment/s that will be generated as per Amazon distribution criteria.

 
Switch to the Inventory Database tab in the top bar and select the item to add to the shipment. If the listing has 0 quantity assigned to it, you will be prompted:
 
Update your inventory on hand quantity on the grid before trying to add the item to a shipment.
 

Split Shipments

Sometimes Amazon assigns different destination warehouses for FBA items. These decisions are made by Amazon and will sometimes include sending one SKU with multiple quantities to several different Fulfillment Centers.
 
 

Send Shipments to Amazon

We have added two listings to the following shipment. Notice the 0 Inventory quantities while the quantity is now displayed under the Shipment Quantity field.
 
 
 
If you need a shipment report for your records or for stock checking purposes, click the Print Shipping Report before sending the shipment and the list of the shipment contents as will be generated. Or you may simply use the Print Preview to double check the quantities before registering/sending out the shipment as shown below:

Note: The Box Labels and Packing Slips will be printed after the shipment has been registered with Amazon. 

Now, send the shipment by clicking Send Shipment in the shipment toolbar. The Send Shipment pop up window appears:
 

 

Alternately- To get the best rate on shipping your inventory to Amazon by using , set your shipment to Working and finish sending your shipment directly through Amazon.

 
The sending shipment status bar will show up on the screen:
 
 
…followed by the printing settings dialogue:
 
 
Check and input the correct settings, and number of cartons and click Print. Add a packing slip inside each box. Print the shipping labels and stick them on to the box(es) and you're ready to hand them over to the carrier!

 

Make sure you upload the listings so your items are available for sale when they are received. A pop up reminds you to do this after sending.

To do this, select all the items in the shipment then go to Upload>Add new items and update existing listings.
For detailed upload instructions please refer help documentation: http://sellerengine.com/support/help/export-information/upload-amazon
 
While you are waiting for your items to be received at the Amazon warehouse, you can get started writing repricing rules and continuously repricing your items based on the competition.  Then, when Amazon sets your listings to 'live' Sellerengine Plus will already be pricing your items based on your own custom strategy.  To learn more about custom pricing rules and automatic repricing, head here: http://sellerengine.com/news/repricing-guide
 

To check whether a shipment has been received at the Amazon warehouse, go to the Shipment Archive tab in the Shipment Manager and click Synchronize with Amazon. The Synchronizing Shipments pop up will appear and you need to select the period to be included in the report generated by Amazon.

 
 
The download pop-up will appear showing the status and contents of each shipment as they download:
 
 
When the download has finished, the Shipments Archive will be populated in the lower part of the screen.
 
 

 

At this point, Amazon has set your listings associated with the inventory they received as 'live.'  If you have already set up your repricing rules and enabled Continuous Automatic Repricing then all you need to do is wait for the sales to roll in.  Amazon will pick, pack and ship your items to buyers on your behalf.

 

 

Information that's good to know: FBA Specific Inventory Fields

In Inventory View:

FNSKU: if you add your listing through the main Add Item window, the FNSKU can be generated only after the listing has been added to a shipment. Right click on the selected listing(s) and select Add to Shipment from the dropdown menu. 

Listed State: it will indicate whether the listing is MFN or AFN
 
Inventory Quantity vs. Amazon Quantity (FBA) vs. Shipment Quantity.
These value fields show:
*the qty added to the shipment
*the qty available at Amazon and stored in their warehouse
*the qty in the shipment
 
FBA Warehouse Condition: it shows the condition of your item if already stored in the Amazon warehouse
 

In Shipment View:

*Shipment Quantity: The number of copies added to the shipment.
*Destination Warehouse: The warehouse assigned by Amazon to the item after the FNSKU has been generated.
*Shipment Preparation Status: The status of the shipment preparation as 
*Sorter: The sorter associated with the entry. Sorters can only be assigned to items as they are added to shipments. In the current release, a sorter cannot be added to an entry in the Edit window.
*Sorter Result: Value triggered after running the sorter for the item

*Labels Printed so Far: Number of labels already printed for the respective item.