Amazon Seller Central Business Value
Amazon Seller Central Catalog Management
Section 5: Managing Inventory
Cheat Sheet
Managing Inactive Inventory
• In order to Manage your Inactive Inventory, which could be due to any number of reasons such as being out of stock, having a pricing issue, et cetera, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• At the top of the next page, click on the link that reads “Inactive”.
• On this page, you will be provided with a table that shows you all your inactive SKUs and reasons therefore.
• You can choose to filter this table by reason, making it easier to do a bulk fix of product by selecting all items with the same reason and clicking the “Action” button at the top left of the table.
• Or you can filter by Fulfillment to manage those items being filled by yourself or by Amazon. Alongside each line item will be the following fields:
* The Inactive Reason;
* The Issue Description; and
* Fix Issues.
• You can then go item by item if you choose and click on the “Fix Issue” button to the right of each line to amend the inactive item and reactivate it.
• Your stock could be rendered inactive due to the following reasons:
* Out of stock, which means that you have no stock of the item and in order to reactivate the SKU you need to simply restock it;
* Start Date in Future, which means that your product is not going live on the Amazon Marketplace until a future date so it would become active on that date, unless you wish to fix it by amending the start date to a sooner date;
* Pricing Issue, which means that your item is priced below the minimum price you have stipulated or similar in which case you would need to amend your pricing to a more relevant figure to reactive the SKU;
* Paused, which could be due to an internal reason from Amazon or yourself for any number of reasons, in which case you would need to amend the reason you paused the SKU in the first place or request Amazon to unpause the SKU and reactivate it;
* Blocked, which could be due to any number of reasons from Amazon and they will inform you how to unblock the SKU when you click on the “Fix Issue” button to the right of it;
* Closed, which could be because you no longer sell this item;
* Approval Required, which is due to brand approval or category approval and you would work with Amazon through the “Fix Issue” button on this to gain approval;
* Blocked unless FBA, which means that this item is blocked due to some Merchant-Fulfilled issue; and
* Other Issues, which again will have explanations in the “Fix Issue” button to the right of the SKU.
Managing Listing Enhancements
• Listing Enhancements refers to information missing from your listings that is preventing them from performing as they should.
• These could be anything from product description, bullet features, proper images, et cetera.
• In order to Manage your Listing Enhancements, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• At the top of the next page, click on the link that reads “Listing Enhancements”.
• On this page, you will be provided with a table that shows you all your SKUs and lists of enhancements required for each.
• In the “Enhancement” Field, you may be able to insert the missing information here, such as for colours, style name, et cetera.
• Otherwise, this field will tell you to click on the “Edit” button to the right of the line to attend to the missing information in the product listing edit page, which you are familiar with from the videos showing you how to edit your product listings manually.
• The tab requiring information will be highlighted by an exclamation mark within a triangle.
• You can also choose to filter your listings to attend to one issue type at a time by using the “Refine by” block to the left of the table of SKUs.
• Remember to click the yellow “Save All” button to the top right of the table of SKUs to save your changes.
• Note that any options where there are suggestions or not applicable will not show up on the top menu.
Removing Unfillable Inventory
• Sometimes you end up with Inventory which is unfillable due to damages or similar, in which case you can choose to return or dispose of these items.
• In order to Remove Unfillable Inventory, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• At the top of the next page, click on the link that reads “Remove Unfillable Inventory”.
• On this page, you will be presented with a table of the Unfillable SKUs. Alongside each line item is a grey button called “Create Removal Order” which has a Drop Down Menu including a “Disposal” action if your settings have allowed for this option.
• Again, you can choose to select all items and do a bulk action by clicking the “Action” button at the top left of the table and selecting the relevant action from the Drop Down Menu provided.
• At the top right of the page, you will also see a grey button saying “Auto Removal Settings” which, when you click on it, will take you through to the Removal Settings, which you can edit as needed.
• You can enable or disable the Auto Removal Settings; you can choose to return or dispose of the items automatically, in which case you would create a returns order if the item is to be returned to you instead of disposed of; you can choose the removal or return schedule and you can enter your email address to notify you whenever a list of SKUs is disposed of or returned.
• Remember to click the yellow “update” button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
• Back on your “Remove Unfillable Inventory” page, click the “Create Removal Order” button to the right of the items you wish to have removed and select the “Create Removal Order” option from the Drop Down Menu.
• On the next page, fill in all the relevant details as they pertain to your removal order, whether you are requesting the product be returned to you by giving a Ship-To Address or whether you would like the item to be Disposed of.
• Enter an Order ID number if you have one for the removal and fill in the quantity you would like to have removed in the table below alongside the SKU you are wanting to be removed.
• Then click the yellow “Continue” button at the bottom of the page.
• On the next page, review and confirm your removal order.
• The order summary page will show you the details of your return order.
• You can also track your return orders by selecting “Fulfillment” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Reports” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• Scroll down the left menu to the bottom where it says “Removals” and click on the “Removal Order Detail” which will allow you to download reports of the removal orders you created.
• You can also choose to select the “Removal Shipment Detail” link which will allow you to view tracking information for the items being returned to you via tracking reports.
• Remember to select the relevant dates and request the download in the .csv or .txt format by clicking on the relevant button.
• Note that any options where there are suggestions or not applicable will not show up on the top menu.
Fixing Stranded Inventory
• Stranded Inventory can be due to a number of reasons.
• Stranded inventory is FBA inventory in Fulfillment Centers that does not have an associated active offer and thus is not available for sale on Amazon.
• When inventory is stranded, it requires either reactivating the listing or removing inventory.
• When you delete or close a listing or change it from Fulfilled by Amazon to Fulfilled by Merchant, it might strand your inventory.
• Product listing issues, infringement concerns, or system errors can also result in stranded inventory.
• If you have units of an ASIN stranded in the Fulfillment Center, do not send additional inventory of that ASIN to Amazon.
• If you add an ASIN with stranded inventory to your shipment, you will receive an alert and your shipment will not be processed.
• Amazon will notify you about stranded inventory in three ways:
* By email,
* On a Fix Stranded Inventory link accessible via the tab on “Manage Inventory”, and
* On the Fix Stranded Inventory page.
• If you address the cause for the stranded inventory yourself, please allow 24 hours for the updates to reflect in your stranded inventory.
• You can avoid the stranded inventory issues in the following ways:
* Do not close or delete a listing immediately after selling through your inventory: If there is lost inventory at the fulfillment center, or if there are customer returns of an item, without an active offer, this inventory will be stranded.
* Bulk upload templates: If the quantity column is populated on Bulk Upload template (e.g., Inventory Loader), listings will change from Fulfilled by Amazon to Fulfilled by Merchant automatically, which strands your inventory. Additionally, if you do not fill out the Is this product a battery or does it require batteries? column, it may strand your inventory in some categories.
* Avoid creating multiple offers for the same product: When you create a new or revise an existing listing, make sure the ASIN, SKU, and condition are the same as the inventory in your stranded inventory list.
* Include all vital information for a listing before sending a shipment, including the brand, category, price, and condition.
• In order to Manage your Stranded Inventory, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• On the next page, click on the “Fix Stranded Inventory” link at the top of the page.
• This page will provide you with a table of your stranded SKUs.
• You will see a “Stranded Reason” column in the table.
• This column shows why each listing is stranded and when you hover over this reason, you will see more information and instructions on how to fix the stranded SKU.
• Sometimes a listing shows as Active on Manage Inventory while it shows as Stranded on Fix stranded inventory.
• Note that Fix stranded inventory has the most accurate and up-to-date information.
• You will be able to Filter by “Stranded reason” and “Recommendations”, which will allow you to sort and better understand why listings are stranded and what to do to resolve each issue.
• The “Date of stranded event” column shows you how long your inventory has been stranded while accumulating storage fees.
• You can also use the date shown in this column to help locate email and performance notifications related to the listing.
• The following 1-click actions are also available for each line item in the table:
* 1-click relist allows you to relist without leaving the page. To edit the listing before activating it, click Edit or Relist.
* 1-click change to FBA allows you to change fulfillment channels without leaving the page. This option is available only for listings that include dangerous goods information. You must provide a dangerous goods submission for all listings. If you have not provided this information for a product, or if you need to change it, select Change to FBA.
• The following Bulk and automatic actions are available:
* Bulk relist allows you to select up to 25 items to relist at once. After choosing these items, you can then relist all listings at once with 1-click relist as the recommended action. When relisting in bulk, you cannot make catalog or listing changes for any of the affected listings. To edit the listing before activating it, click Edit or Relist.
* Bulk 1-click change to FBA allows you to select 25 items at once to change fulfillment channels. After choosing these items, you can then relist all listings at once with 1-click Change to FBA as the recommended action. When using 1-Click Change to FBA in bulk you cannot provide or update dangerous goods information. To provide dangerous goods information, use Change to FBA.
• Automatic relist will automatically relist inventory that has been stranded for 30 days under these stranded reasons:
* Listing closed
* Listing closed and inventory error
* Item discontinued
• You can adjust this setting by clicking the “Edit automatic-action settings” button at the top of the page.
• For listings that you don’t want automatically relisted, select “Opt out of auto action” in the drop-down arrows to the right of the listing.
• Automatic change to FBA will automatically change the fulfillment channel to FBA for inventory that has been stranded for 30 days under the stranded reason Merchant fulfilled.
• You can adjust this setting by clicking the “Edit automatic-action settings” button at the top of the page.
• For listings that you don’t want changed to FBA, select “Opt out of auto action” in the drop-down arrows to the right of the listing.
• Auto-relist can be set to relist in as little as two days.
• Auto-change to FBA can change fulfillment channels in less than one day if you set it to 0 days.
• If you manage expiration dates by stranding inventory, you can avoid automatic reactivation by setting the “Start selling date/Offer start date” to strand the inventory until a future time.
• Automatic actions will not apply to these listings.
• If your inventory remains stranded, you will receive an email notification from Amazon.
• Thirty days after this notification, your inventory will be classified as unsellable.
• Once it is classified as unsellable, you will have 30 days to remove your inventory or it will be disposed of.
• Reasons for a product to be stranded can be found in the Drop Down Menu of the “Stranded Reasons” Filter at the top of the table on the left.
• If you have large quantities of stranded inventory, you may be able to fix these issues in bulk by clicking on the “Fix Stranded Inventory in Bulk” link at the top of the page.
• Here you can update prices or change listings to Fulfilled by Amazon.
• The tool does not support actions requiring special documentation, for example if an appeal or approval process is required.
• Click on the “Fix Stranded Inventory in Bulk” link at the top of the page and then click the yellow “Request Download” on the next page.
• When the report is ready, click the link beneath the “Report Status” header and open your report in the bottom left corner of the page.
• Add any missing attributes, such as Price, ASIN, SKU, and Condition and then proceed to upload your file through the “Add Products via Upload” page as previously explained, remembering that you need to convert your report to .txt format before uploading.
• Note that any options where there
are suggestions or not applicable will not show up on the top menu.
Managing Suppressed Inventory
• In order to Manage Suppressed Inventory, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• At the top of the next page, click on the link that reads “Suppressed”.
• Note that this “Suppressed” link is only visible if you have suppressed listings to improve.
• If you do not have any suppressed listings, this option will not be visible.
• On the next page, you will be presented with a table of the suppressed SKUs with the “Issues to Fix” listed alongside each.
• Amazon will hide (or suppress) from search and browse non-media listings that do not meet certain standards.
• This means that a customer will not be able to find your listing in a search if your listing is suppressed.
• Images that do not meet the Product image requirements will be suppressed.
• Amazon will suppress a listing from search and browse until you provide complete and valid product information for that listing.
• Amazon will also suppress listings without a JAN or UPC for certain categories.
• These requirements also apply to listings with variations.
• For example, if a listing has different sizes, its parent SKU and child SKUs for each size must meet the requirements above.
• There are 3 ways to fix a suppressed listing:
* Fix suppressed listings in the “Issue(s) to Fix” column by entering the missing values in the editable cells or selecting missing values from the drop-down list and clicking “Save”;
* Fix suppressed listings in bulk by selecting multiple defects that require the same fix. Then, click “Bulk Fix Listings” and submit a value in the “Fix quality issue for multiple listings” pop-up view; or
* Fix suppressed listings that are not fixable in the editable grid (Option A) or in bulk (Option B) by clicking “Edit” and going to the “Edit Product Info” page. In “Edit Product Info”, the missing product details will be highlighted by an exclamation mark in a triangle alongside each tab affected and you will see informational messages that further detail the issue. For non-image issues, enter the missing value and click “Save and Finish”. For image issues, follow the guidelines on the Product image requirements page and then upload valid product images. Note that any options where there are suggestions or not applicable will not show up on the top menu.
Manage Pricing
• In order to Manage Pricing for your listings, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• At the top of the next page, click on the link that reads “Manage Pricing”.
• On the next page, you will be shown all your SKUs and their pricing.
• Note that these are the Child ASINs only as these are the actual sellable units on Amazon.
• Every text item that is blue is clickable and can provide additional information, such as the “Fee Preview” which gives a breakdown of your net proceeds for that particular SKU.
• You have a “Price + Shipping” column, a “Business Price + Shipping” column if you are selling B2B, a “Lowest Price + Shipping” column which is what Amazon records as the lowest price on the Amazon marketplace currently, the “Buy Box Price + Shipping” column which indicates what price is currently winning the Buy Box, and an action button at the end of the line. You can therefore choose to do a number of things here if you so wish:
* You can match the lowest price by typing in the lowest price in the first “Price + Shipping” column or simply clicking the blue “Match Price” text beneath the Lowest Price;
* You can click on the “Match Low Price” button to the right of the line item and select the “Match Low Price”, “Close Listing” or “Delete Product and Listing” options;
* You can select multiple SKUs and do a bulk action by clicking the “Action” button at the top left of the table and select one of the three options stated previously;
* Or you can type in the Buy Box Price in your first Price Column if you wish to match the Buy Box price, or a lower number if you wish to win the Buy Box Price. Remember though that, should your new Price be lower than your Minimum Price, the changes will not be saved. Your Minimum Price Column can be added by selecting the grey “Preferences” button to the top right of the table and clicking the “Your Minimum Price” box to ensure this column also shows up on the Table. You would need to lower your Minimum Price in order for the new price to then be accepted. Your Minimum price needs to always include your fees to Amazon and must be the price that ensures you don’t run at a loss; it’s your safety net so that you never lose money on a sale.
• Remember to click the yellow “Save All” button at the top right of the table of SKUs to save your changes.
• Note that there is a Separate Section for Pricing in Seller Central which leads to some of the same options and this can be found from the Drop Down Menu of the “Pricing” Tab on the top menu of Seller Central, these being:
* View Pricing Dashboard, which shows recommendations and Buy Box percentage;
* Manage Pricing, which goes to same Manage Pricing page which is discussed in this video;
* Price Alerts, which shows only the price alerts similar to Suppressed listings, only this page shows only price errors; and
* Automate pricing, which helps you to automate pricing based on the rules you set. This is used mainly by 3P sellers and not the Brand Owners. It is also used by 3P sellers who sell multiple items and there are many competitors for the items they are selling.
Managing Inventory Amazon Fulfills
• In order to Manage your FBA listings, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• At the top of the next page, click on the link that reads “Inventory Amazon Fulfills”.
• On this page, you will see a table listing all of the SKUs that are fulfilled by Amazon or FBA.
• Here you can amend the pricing, check your inventory levels and availability, preview your fees to Amazon for fulfilling this SKU and edit any of these SKUs if they are missing any information in their product listing that may be making them unavailable, inactive, suppressed, et cetera.
• Click on the grey “Edit” button to the right of the line item and select any of the relevant actions from the Drop Down Menu such as:
* Editing your product listing as needed;
* Managing images for your listing;
* Copy the listing;
* Adding another condition such as “Used”;
* Change to Fulfilled by Merchant;
* Send/Replenish Inventory if it is out of stock or low on stock;
* Set Replenishment Alerts so you never run out of stock;
* Create Removal Orders if the product is unfillable;
* Create Fulfillment Order;
* Print Item Labels;
* Close Listing; or
* Delete Product and Listing.
• Remember to click the yellow “Save All” button at the top right of the table of SKUs to save your changes.
The Inventory Dashboard
• In order to View your Inventory Dashboard, you would need to go to your “Manage Inventory” page by selecting “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• At the top of the next page, click on the link that reads “Inventory Dashboard”.
• On this page, you will be presented with the following information and actions:
* Inventory Performance Index, which is a result of how well you manage the fulfilment of your inventory and your consumer orders. If this should drop below 350 and enter the red zone, then your account could be at risk and your storage limits in the Amazon Fulfillment Centers for FBA will become limited. This will also give you the top influencing factors for your performance index, such as excess inventory creating a negative performance, good sell-through which could have a positive effect on your performance index, stranded inventory which would have a negative impact and in-stock inventory which could have a positive or negative effect. This page will also give you suggestions on ways to improve your performance for each of these four influencing factors.
* Restock inventory, which is a quick link where you can restock SKUs needing to be restocked as of today by selecting which SKUs you wish to restock and selecting the “Create a Shipping Plan” from the “Action” button at the top left of the table for multiple SKUs or the grey “View Details” button to the right of each SKU Line Item if you wish to do it singly.
* Manage excess inventory, which is a quick link to the current excess inventory you wish to manage. You can choose to create a sale, create a removal, advertise, improve keywords, update product settings or create outlet deal in order to manage this excess inventory that is not moving as fast as anticipated. This table of SKUs will show you how many days’ worth of supply Amazon has in their Fulfillment Centers of this SKU as well as the estimated excess units which you can choose to deal with; the units sold and the reason why they are so low such as low traffic or low conversion rate; your pricing and your lowest price in case you wish to match your low price for a time to try get stock moving.
• Inventory age, which shows the number of days your FBA inventory is expected to last, across all your products. Turns is the number of times your FBA inventory will turn annually based on your current inventory and sales rate. Here you will also be presented with a table of affected SKUs where you can choose any of the following actions to assist you in managing this inventory:
* Update Product Settings;
* Edit Listing;
* Improve Keywords;
* Advertise Listing;
* Lower Price; or
* Create Removal Order.
• Fix stranded inventory, which is a quick link through to the Stranded Inventory page where you can complete the actions as explained in an earlier video on this topic.
• Manage FBA returns, which is an overview of customer returns that were supplied via FBA. You can see what SKUs are being returned, the Customer Return Reason, the Return Authorization Date, the Customer Refund Date, the Unit Received Date, the Disposition (if the product was defective or damaged), the Return Status and an Action Button where you can view the details of the return.
• On the Dashboard itself, you will also have a Notifications block on the right side of the page with quick link buttons to improve issues affecting your performance such as SKUs with low traffic, with low conversion, SKUs which will incur long-term storage fees and any SKUs that qualify for Outlet Deals, et cetera.