Creating A Draft Amazon Shipment

Note that Amazon has deactivated the legacy system on August 31st 2022 for most accounts. Some accounts may still be able to access the old system by clicking here. Otherwise, you will only be able to proceed with a draft shipment if you are using the Amazon API. There are softwares that will allow you to create and save a draft shipment using the Amazon API. See our resources page under FBA inventory replenishment for further details.

We highly recommend creating a draft shipment for the reasons listed below. 

If you are buying goods from us and plan on shipping them directly to Amazon Fulfillment Centers (I.E. FBA Centers) this guide is extremely important to take into consideration. Amazon has their own requirements that change from product to product. We are not always able to follow their requirements. You must check with us prior to placing an order to see if we are able to meet any special requirements. We will be unable to cancel an order once placed due to special requests. Please review this guide and others in depth to avoid costly issues.

Read: Benefits and drawbacks of shipping goods directly to Amazon FBA

You can identify the following issues that come up frequently:

• Gated (Restricted) to sell the product (Identifying if you are gated on amazon to sell a product)
• Amazon splitting your shipment (You would need to advise us of the split prior to placing an order to ensure that we are able to comply with the split.)
• Additional Prep - Bubble Wrap, Stickering, ETC (We usually do not offer these services. You would need to check the listing and ask a sales rep if prep would be offered on your order or check the product page under the additional listing notes.)
• 2D/transparency Barcodes - some brands only allow their products to be sold by authorized sellers. Amazon has a program that the brand signs up for. Once signed up, all their inventory will require a 2D/transparency barcode in order for you to resell it. You would need to check the listing and ask a sales rep if 2D/transparency barcode would be offered on the product in question.
• Hazmat - Amazon categorizes some items as hazardous material and will not allow you to ship the items to their warehouse to have them fulfill orders for you. You will still be able to ship these products on your own to customers. The only difference would be that you would have to have the order shipped straight to you instead of shipping into Amazon.
• Storage limits - Amazon may have a storage limit on either your account or on the product you are looking to send to their FC. By creating a draft shipment, you will be able to ensure that you are able to ship in with no storage limit issue.
• Changes greater then 5% - Once you create a shipment, there is no way to edit the shipment for changes greater then 5%. Sometimes there are changes greater then 5% in the warehouse that are unavoidable (for example, a box on your order falls down and gets damaged). Using softwares other then amazon's system will allow you to edit shipments at any time.

To create a draft shipment, utilize the amazon workflow to add products and proceed all the way to the way to the Prepare Shipment step. DO NOT complete the shipment until you get our shipment email.

This will enable you to be aware of any of the issues stated above apply to your order (make sure to note if shipments are splitting or requiring prep, etc and DO NOT proceed without mentioning it via email in response to your quote email to see if we can meet the requirements.