Amazon Seller Central Business Value
Amazon Seller Central Fulfillment by Merchant
Section 2: Merchant Fulfilled SKUs
Cheat Sheet
Changing Existing SKUs in Your Catalog to Fulfilled by Merchant SKUs
• In order for you to fulfil your own SKUs from your Catalog, you would need to let Amazon’s systems know that you will be fulfilling these SKUs and not them. In order to do this, you have a few options available to you:
* You can either modify your SKU on your Inventory page to Merchant Fulfilled if you don’t want Amazon to fulfil that SKU at all; or
* You can create a new SKU in your Catalog for the same ASIN that both you and Amazon can fulfil.
• In order to change your Fulfillment Options from Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) to Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM), select “Manage Inventory” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• Select which products you would like to change the Fulfillment options for, click on the grey “Actions on X selected” button in the top left side of the table and select “Change to Fulfilled by Merchant” if you are wanting you to fulfil these products for consumers’ orders going forward.
• Then click the yellow “Save All” button to the right side of the top of the table to save your changes.
Creating Fulfilled by Merchant SKUs from Existing ASINs in your Catalog
• In the previous video, we explain that, in order for you to fulfil your own SKUs from your Catalog, you would need to let Amazon’s systems know that you will be fulfilling these SKUs and not them and you have the following options available to you:
* You can either modify your SKU on your Inventory page to Merchant Fulfilled if you don’t want Amazon to fulfil that SKU at all; or
* You can create a new SKU in your Catalog for the same ASIN that both you and Amazon can fulfil.
• In this video we will look at how you can create a new SKU in your Catalog for the same ASIN so that both you and Amazon can fulfil this ASIN.
• Select “Manage Inventory” from the Drop-Down Menu of the “Inventory” Tab on the Top Menu of Seller Central.
• On the following page, locate and copy the ASIN that you would like to re-list as a Fulfilled by Merchant SKU.
• Select “Add a Product” from the Drop-Down Menu of the “Inventory” Tab on the Top Menu of Seller Central.
• Paste the ASIN in the relevant text box on the following page and click the search icon.
• On the following page, locate your product in the list.
• To the left of this product, select the “New” Condition from the Drop-Down Menu provided.
• Click the “Sell this product” button below.
• On the next page, the “Offer” tab, set the SKU to be something different than the current FBA SKU to tell them apart.
• For example, you may wish to add the letter “M” before the standard SKU to indicate that it is Merchant Fulfilled.
• So, if your current SKU is CB01-A then your Merchant Fulfilled SKU for the same ASIN will be MCB01-A.
• Set the Item “Quantity” field to at least 1, knowing that you can amend this from your Inventory page after you have successfully listed the new SKU.
• While creating FBM SKUs, you can put the quantity as “0”. It is required to put the quantity as “1”.
• Leave the “Item Condition” field as “New”.
• Enter your price in the relevant text field for the “Standard Price”.
• You can set the price as the same as your new price, which will show next to “match lowest price” or you can set your Merchant Fulfilled price slightly lower to encourage people to choose the lower priced option.
• This will also help you get the buy box.
• Next to the “Fulfillment Channel” section, select “I will ship this item myself (Merchant Fulfilled)”.
• Click the “Save and Finish” button at the bottom of the page.
• You will now be returned to the “Manage Inventory” page and get a notice that your request is being processed.
• Once your new listing has been processed, it should appear at the top of the table of SKUs on the “Manage Inventory” page.
Creating Fulfilled by Merchant SKUs Manually from Existing ASINs on Amazon
• So, what if the SKU you want to fulfil yourself is not in your catalog but it is currently being sold on Amazon, how then do you create a Merchant Fulfilled SKU for it in your catalog?
• Let’s go through each step individually for adding your new SKU manually via Seller Central.
• To begin with, select the “Add a Product” Item from the “Inventory” Drop Down Menu on the Top Menu of Seller Central.
• On the next page, you can type in the product Name, UPC, EAN, ISBN or ASIN in the cell provided to search for the product on Amazon and click the search icon.
• On the next page, the product will show up for you to add to your catalog.
• In some instances, there may appear to be listing limitations which will show at the bottom of the block containing the ASIN.
• In this case, you can click on the drop-down menu and select which option you would like to sell.
• In most cases, you are selling new products and not used products.
• Once you have selected how you wish to add your product, the next page will show you a number of fields that need to be completed.
• Those with their cells bordered in red and with a red asterisk alongside are compulsory and must be filled in, this being your price.
• You can also enter your SKU number for this product and note that, should you not enter a SKU, Amazon will automatically assign one for you.
• You can select the condition from the Drop-Down Menu provided and we recommend you leave it as “New” if it is in new condition.
• Next to the “Fulfillment Channel” section, select “I will ship this item myself (Merchant Fulfilled)”.
• We advise that you click the “Advanced View” button to the right of your product listing box so that you can enter further information such as:
* Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price
* Sale Price
* Sale Start Date
* Sale End Date
* Handling Time
* Product Tax Code
* Max Order Quantity, which is for customers, that is, how much they can order in a single order.
* Offering Can Be Gift Messaged
* Is Gift Wrap Available
* Shipping-Template
* Offering Release Date. Note that if you do not enter anything here, the date the item was added will be the release date.
• Once you have entered everything you need to into this section, you can click the yellow “Save and Finish” button at the bottom of the page.
Creating Fulfilled by Merchant SKUs via Template from Existing ASINs on Amazon
• On the off chance that you have a lot of these SKUs that you would like to add as Merchant Fulfilled SKUs in your catalog, it is advisable then that you use a Template to do it.
• More information and details on the various templates you can use are found in the Seller Central Catalog Management Course.
• For the purpose of this course, we will run through the process via template as explained herewith.
• In order to list multiple ASINs via the File Template, you can either choose the “Add a Product” Item from the “Inventory” Drop Down Menu on the Top Menu of Seller Central and on the next page, select the “Download and Inventory File” link; or you can select “Add Products via Upload” from the “Inventory” Drop Down Menu. Both options will take you to the same page.
• On this page, scroll down to the “Inventory Files” header and click on the “Inventory Loader” File Name alongside the “Product Matching Only” File Type.
• On the new page that opens, click on the “Inventory Loader Template” in order to Download it.
• Once you open the Template, it is imperative to take note of the first worksheet called “Data Definitions” as this contains the meanings of the various numerical options available to you when creating your products, definitions and use for each field and which values are accepted for each cell.
• It also highlights which information is required and which optional or desired.
• We would like to encourage you to fill in as much information as you possibly can here to make your listings as complete as possible, thereby assisting consumers in finding and purchasing the right product.
• On the “Inventory Loader” worksheet, remember that all columns highlighted in yellow are required so you will need to complete all information here.
• All columns highlighted in peach or orange are desired so please do your best to complete all information here too.
• Your Fields in the Template are as follows:
* Sku (required)
* product-id (desired) – this is the product’s current UPC, EAN, ISBN or ASIN, whichever you choose to use.
* product-id-type (desired) – you would need to accept the relevant number based on which product-ID you used in the previous cell, for example if you used the ASIN B07PH37CQL then you would need to select the number 1 from the Drop Down Menu as 1 is for ASIN.
* price (desired)
* minimum-seller-allowed-price (desired)
* maximum-seller-allowed-price (desired)
* item-condition (desired) – again, you would need to enter the relevant number as explained and defined in the “Data Definitions” worksheet.
* quantity (desired) – This field is definitely required as you are creating SKUs for Merchant Fulfilled. You can enter “1” for now on the spreadsheet and update this at a later stage. If you have a list of available quantity from your Operations or Warehouse Team already then you can use these quantities instead.
* add-delete (desired) – you would need to select the relevant letter based on the definitions of each as shown on the “Data Definitions” worksheet. For the purpose of this video, you would select “a” for “Update/Add”.
* will-ship-internationally (desired) – you would need to select the relevant number or letter from the Drop Down Menu as provided in the “Data Definitions” worksheet.
* expedited-shipping (desired)
* standard-plus (desired) – you would need to select the relevant letter based on the definitions of each as shown on the “Data Definitions” worksheet.
* item-note (desired)
* fulfillment-center-id – you would obviously select FBM here for Fulfilled by Merchant.
* product-tax-code
* handling-time
* merchant_shipping_group_name
* batteries_required, are_batteries_included, battery_cell_composition, battery_type, number_of_batteries, battery_weight, number_of_lithium_ion_cells, number_of_lithium_metal_cells, lithium_battery_packaging, lithium_battery_energy_content and lithium_battery_weight are only required if you intend shipping by FBA so, in this instance, you can leave these fields blank.
* supplier_declared_dg_hz_regulation1-supplier_declared_dg_hz_regulation5
* hazmat_united_nations_regulatory_id
* safety_data_sheet_url
* item_weight
* item_volume
* flash_point
* ghs_classification_class1-ghs_classification_class3
* item_weight_unit_of_measure
* item_volume_unit_of_measure
* lithium_battery_energy_content_unit_of_measure
* lithium_battery_weight_unit_of_measure
* battery_weight_unit_of_measure
* california_proposition_65_compliance_type
* california_proposition_65_chemical_names1
* california_proposition_65_chemical_names2
* california_proposition_65_chemical_names3
* california_proposition_65_chemical_names4
* california_proposition_65_chemical_names5
• Your file can now either be saved in .txt, .csv or .xls format in order for it to be uploaded.
• Once you have completed all the relevant fields that you can, save your file and return to the page from where you downloaded it originally, that is, the “Add Products Via Upload” page located in the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on Seller Central.
• Select the “Check and Upload your Inventory File” tab along the top of the page.
• To check your file first, select your File Type from the Drop Down Menu provided, Choose your File by clicking on the grey “Choose File” button and you can enter an email address should you wish to be notified once your file has been uploaded.
• Click the yellow “Check File” button thereafter. Click on the “Monitor Upload Status” tab at the top of the page once you have uploaded your Template for checking.
• If your “Upload Status” says “Records that require further action from you are saved as drafts” then you need to fix certain fields in your Template.
• Under the “Actions” Column, click on the “Complete Drafts”.
• The next page will show a table of items that you need to fix, which you can then choose to do manually line by line per product by clicking on the relevant links in the “Action” column.
• You can also choose to bulk select if your fixes are the same for multiple SKUs.
• Once you have made all the necessary amendments, click the yellow “Save All” button at the top right of the table.
• Once you have fixed the relevant errors, you can download the processing report by clicking the “Download Your Processing Report” link on the “Monitor Upload Status” Tab on the “Add Products via Upload” page.
• Open this page and then use the fixed errors from this file to insert into your “Inventory Loader” Template.
• Save this Template again and return to the “Add Products Via Upload” page located in the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on Seller Central.
• Select the “Check and Upload your Inventory File” tab along the top of the page.
• Under the “Step 2 – Upload File” header, select your File Type from the Drop Down Menu provided.
• Choose your File by clicking on the grey “Choose File” button and you can enter an ema
il address should you wish to be notified once your file has been uploaded.
• Select the Processing Report and note that Excel is preferred.
• Click the yellow “Upload” button and your products will be uploaded to your catalog.
• You can choose to skip the “Check File” in Step 1 and go straight to uploading your “Inventory Loader” flat file as this step will still show you on the “Monitor Upload Status” whether there are any errors in your file upload.
Creating Fulfilled by Merchant SKUs Manually for Products not on Amazon
• In the event you want to add some SKUs as Merchant Fulfilled to your Seller Central Catalog but notice that you cannot find these products anywhere on the Amazon Marketplace, you can create them manually if there are only a few or via template if there are many.
• In this video, we will walk you through the process of how to create these brand spanking new ASINs manually.
• Select “Add a Product” from the Drop Down Menu of the “Inventory” tab on the top menu of Seller Central.
• On the next page, click the “Create a new Product Listing” link to the right of the “If it is not in Amazon’s Catalog” explanation.
• Here you can either choose to type in the type of product you wish to sell for the relevant categories to appear for you to choose your template from, or, preferably, you can select the categories from the list given below and click the “Select” button once you have selected your categories.
• On the next page, you will be able to start entering all relevant information for your product, noting again that all cells highlighted in red and with a red asterisk alongside are required information and, if you do not fill them in, you will not be able to create your listing.
• Again, we recommend clicking the “Advanced View” button to the right of the table so that you can be sure to enter as much information as you possibly can in as many of these fields as possible.
• You have the following tabs of information that you need to complete, starting on the left with:
* Vital Information, which is your SKU, Product Name, Brand Name, Manufacturer, et cetera;
* Variations tab where you can select your Variations Theme;
* Offer Tab where you put in your pricing, gifting and fulfilment options;
* Compliance tab where you need to enter any information regarding batteries and hazmat should your product fall into any of these categories;
* Images tab where you can upload your main and secondary images, as well as your swatch image;
* Description tab where you enter your product features, description and other pertinent information;
* Keywords tab where you enter as many types of keywords as possible; and
* More Details tab where you can enter any additional information and details.
• Once you have completed all the fields to the best of your ability, click on the yellow “Save and Finish” button at the bottom of the page.
Creating Fulfilled by Merchant SKUs via Template for Products not on Amazon
• Say you have a ton of never-before-seen on Amazon products that you would like to create and list as Merchant Fulfilled SKUs, your best bet would be to use the Template and we will show you how in this video.
• select the “Add Products via Upload” item from the “Inventory” Drop Down Menu on the top menu of Seller Central.
• As mentioned in a previous video, you can either choose to generate your own template by typing in the product type you wish to sell in the search bar and clicking the search icon; and then selecting which template below that you wish to use; or selecting your Product Classifier in the category listings below.
• You would then need to select which Mode as discussed previously, and we again recommend the “Advanced” mode option.
• Then click the yellow “Generate Template” button at the bottom.
• We again recommend that you select the relevant product classifier instead of the templates generated from your product search as these files tend to have a far more inclusive range of categories and classes for your products.
• Remember that, should you wish to list your products in multiple categories, you would need to download and complete each individual category template and upload them each individually as well per category.
• Remember to also consult your Style Guides and any Approvals Required for the category-specific templates you wish to use before and during completing the relevant fields in the template.
• You can also choose to download your Category-Specific template by going to the “Inventory Files” header at the bottom of the page, clicking on the “Category-Specific Inventory Files” alongside the “Product Creation and Matching” File Type.
• In the Pop-Up Window, scroll down to “Choose a File Template”, click on “Templates for Specific Categories”, and select your “File Template” for the relevant Category in order to download it.
• Upon opening this file, you will see the following Worksheet Tabs:
* Instructions;
* Images;
* Example;
* Data Definitions;
* Template; and
* Valid Values.
• As discussed before, you would need to familiarise yourself with the instructions and data definitions and refer to the example when filling out the template itself.
• We strongly recommend that you complete as many fields in this template as possible.
• Your Template is broken down into the following sections:
* Product Information;
* Images;
* Variations;
* Basic;
* Discovery;
* Product Enrichment;
* Dimensions;
* Fulfillment;
* Compliance; and
* Offer.
• Once you have completed as much information as possible, save your file and then go back to the “Add Products via Upload” page, click on the “Check and Upload your Inventory File” and proceed to either upload your inventory file for a check first as explained in the previous video or skip straight to “Step 2” and upload your Inventory File.
• Note again that any errors that need to be fixed will be mentioned in the “Monitor Upload Status” Page so that you will know which fields to amend.
Setting Available Quantity for your Merchant Fulfilled SKUs
• Now that you have all of your Merchant Fulfilled SKUs loaded onto your Seller Central Catalog, it is time to make sure that each SKU has an available quantity in the field, otherwise it won’t appear available on the Amazon websites for customers to purchase.
• Select “Manage Inventory” from the Drop-Down Menu of the “Inventory” Tab on the Top Menu of Seller Central.
• On the next page, locate your new Merchant Fulfilled SKUs. Because the new SKUs are now Merchant Fulfilled, you will be able to set the actual quantity available in the “Available” field alongside them.
• If you are not yet ready to ship one of these SKUs then put 0 in the “Available” field for the time being.
• Click the “Save all” button at the top right side of the table to save your changes.
Assigning your Fulfilled by Merchant SKUs to an existing Shipping Template
• So now your Merchant Fulfilled SKUs are in your Seller Central Catalog and they are showing that they have available units for your customers to purchase from you.
• When a SKU is created, it will automatically be assigned to the default shipping template.
• We have to manually change it if we need to move it to a different template.
• Let’s imagine that you already have your FBM shipping template with all its settings and information on it already set up and you now just need to assign these new SKUs to this existing Shipping Template, here’s how we go about doing this.
• Select “Manage Inventory” from the Drop-Down Menu of the “Inventory” Tab on the Top Menu of Seller Central.
• On the next page, locate your Merchant-Fulfilled SKUs and select them by clicking the box to the right of each SKU.
• Select “Change Shipping Template” from the “Action” Drop-Down Menu at the top left side of the table.
• On the next page, select from the “Change Shipping Template” Drop-Down Menu which Shipping Template you would like to assign to these new Merchant Fulfilled SKUs.
• In the box that appears at the top of the page, click the “Yes, continue” button to save the new Shipping Template for your Merchant Fulfilled SKUs.