Details about ShipStation's integration with FBA. Includes integration requirements, connection process, features, inventory, and troubleshooting.
Fulfillment by Amazon is Amazon's branded fulfillment service program. In this program, Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships your products for you! You can use FBA for products sold through the Amazon Marketplace, as well as most other selling channels you may use.
When your customers purchase a product through your Amazon Marketplace, and that product is also set to be fulfilled by Amazon, Amazon handles the fulfillment internally with no additional action needed from the merchant.
When your customers purchase products from other selling channels, ShipStation imports those orders as usual, and you can then use the ShipStation Send to Fulfillment workflow to send the fulfillment requests to FBA. Once the order ships, FBA notifies ShipStation and ShipStation notifies the original selling channel automatically!
You can currently connect FBA by Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk. Amazon FBA for other countries is not yet available in ShipStation.
FBA for Amazon Marketplace Orders
For Amazon orders also fulfilled by Amazon, you don't need to take any actions in ShipStation. Amazon will handle these orders internally.
However, ShipStation can import these orders so you can view them in ShipStation along with all of your other orders.
Connection Requirements:
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An active account with Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or Amazon.co.uk that is registered for the Fulfillment by Amazon program.
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Your Amazon Seller ID
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Your Amazon Marketplace ID
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Your MWS Auth Token
To connect your FBA account to ShipStation:
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Select the Fulfillment by Amazon tile for the Amazon country account you wish to connect.
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Click Connect and log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
You will be redirected to a screen to authorize ShipStation to access information about your FBA orders.
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Check the box next to I direct Amazon to provide ShipStation access to my Selling Partner account and related data. I am responsible for any actions taken by the application, then click Confirm.
You will be returned to ShipStation, where you can now send orders to Fulfillment by Amazon.
One FBA Account per Country
You can only connect a single instance of each FBA account type to your ShipStation account.
This means, you can have both Fulfillment by Amazon.ca and Fulfillment by Amazon.co.uk connected to the same ShipStation account, but you cannot have two Fulfillment by Amazon.ca accounts connected to the same ShipStation account.
The ShipStation integration with Fulfillment by Amazon supports the following standard features:
The ShipStation integration with Fulfillment by Amazon allows for the following additional features:
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Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
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Rejected Fulfillment status |
If FBA rejects the fulfillment request for some reason, the order will move into the Rejected Fulfillment status in ShipStation. Workflow: FBA will reject the order > alert ShipStation about the rejection > ShipStation will send an email notification to the email on file for the account > ShipStation will set the order to Rejected Fulfillment status. Currently, there is no way to disable these email notifications. If you do not want to receive these updates, we recommend you set up filters within your email account to filter out the rejection emails. Emails are sent to the address you used to create your ShipStation account. |
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Enable emails through Amazon |
This setting can be toggled on the Carrier Settings page. When enabled, ShipStation will include the customer's email address in the request we sent to FBA so that they can email the customer upon shipment, based on your settings within the FBA account. |
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Displays Stock Count |
When FBA is selected as the Ship From for a shipment, ShipStation will display the available stock count in FBA for the products within the shipment. |
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Blank Box and Block Amazon Logistics |
Available to enable in Other Shipping Options when FBA is selected as the fulfillment provider (limited to US and CA-based accounts). If your FBA account is enabled for Blank Box or Block Amazon Logistics, you can indicate the shipment should use one or both of these options before sending to FBA for fulfillment. See the Blank Box and Block Amazon Logistics section below for more details. |
In addition to the features listed above, the following can be enabled by ShipStation Support.
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Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
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Use Structured Order Number |
When creating FBA fulfillments, ShipStation must include a unique Order Number value which is used to identify the request in FBA. By default, ShipStation will use a randomly generated unique string. If this setting is enabled, ShipStation will instead create the Order Number string based on the order number from the marketplace and some ShipStation-specific internal values. |
Our FBA integration lets you check your FBA stock levels on a per-order basis, in either the Shipping Sidebar or Order Details screen.
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Select or search for the order that contains the FBA product.
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Check that FBA is the selected Ship From location in the Ship From drop-down menu.
As long as you have FBA selected from the Ship From drop-down menu for the shipment, ShipStation can display the Total Supply and In Stock values as reported by FBA for the SKUs (or Fulfillment SKUs) associated with those line items.
Here's what this looks like on the Order Detail screen:
... and within the Order Sidebar:
Knowing these FBA inventory levels before you send fulfillment requests can save you time and clicks!
Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) offers special options to support merchants who do not or cannot expose their customers to Amazon branding. For accounts based in the US or Canada, ShipStation supports both the Blank Box and Block Amazon Logistics options when FBA is selected as the fulfillment provider for an order.
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Blank Box: This requires that Amazon fulfill orders using generic, non-Amazon-branded packaging. There is no surcharge for using this option.
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Block Amazon Logistics: This requires that Amazon fulfill orders using non-Amazon carriers. In this case, the order would be delivered by a carrier like USPS/Canada Post, UPS, or FedEx. This option incurs a 5% surcharge.
If your FBA account is enabled for Blank Box or Block Amazon Logistics, you can indicate the shipment should use one or both of these options before sending to FBA for fulfillment.
To enable one or both of these options for an order, go to Other Shipping Options for the order and check the option(s) you wish to use.
Both options can also be added to a shipment via Automation Rules.
If these settings are enabled for a shipment but your FBA account is not enabled for these options or the fulfillment warehouse with available inventory does not support these options, you will receive an error when attempting to submit to FBA from ShipStation. In this case, you must disable the option(s) before sending to FBA.
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ShipStation does not determine the specific shipping carrier, shipping service, or package type that Fulfillment by Amazon will use to deliver your products to the customer. Amazon will choose the optimal shipping carrier, service, and package based on the products being shipped, their destination, and your Fulfillment by Amazon account settings.
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ShipStation can only receive and store a single tracking number for an FBA fulfillment. If FBA used a carrier that supports multi-package shipping, ShipStation will receive a master tracking number for all packages in the shipment. If FBA used a carrier that does not support multi-package shipping, ShipStation will only store and use the first tracking number.
Here are some common issues, potential causes, and troubleshooting tips.
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Issue |
How to Troubleshoot or Resolve |
|---|---|
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Error: The request must contain the parameter Item.SellerSKU" or "Value XYZ for parameter Items.SellerSKU is invalid. Reason: InvalidValue When trying to get rates or submit a fulfillment request with FBA |
What it means: FBA could not identify the SKU sent by ShipStation in the fulfillment request. Usually, this occurs because the SKU used on the selling channel does not match the SKU that is used by FBA. What to do: Edit the product defaults for the product and set the Fulfillment SKU to match the Merchant SKU in FBA. Be sure to select Apply changes to open orders! |
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Error: Product SKU doesn't match the Fulfillment by Amazon or Shipwire SKU |
What it means: Your product SKU doesn’t match the Amazon SKU for FBA or other fulfillment provider. What to do: Update the product details in ShipStation with the correct Fulfillment SKU for your products. Matching Fulfillment SKUs Across ChannelsThis information only applies to those using FBA as well as other fulfillment providers integrated with ShipStation. If you're using multiple fulfillment services in ShipStation, make sure they all use the same Fulfillment SKU for each product. For FBA, be sure to use the MSKU value for the product as listed in your Amazon account. Single Fulfillment SKU: Follow the steps in the Update Product Fulfillment SKU section of the Troubleshoot Fulfillment Issues article. Multiple SKUs in Bulk: Use the product CSV import to import all of your products and update them together. Enter the Fulfillment SKU into the FillSku field to be sure all of your products have valid SKUs for your fulfillment provider. |
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Error: Value toomanyitemsinorder for parameter itemquantity is invalid |
What it means: Amazon has introduced new inventory limits. Sellers can now only send 200 units of a new product into fulfillment centers. What to do: To clear the error, set your limit to 200 units or less. See the Amazon's Inventory Limit article for more details. |