Amazon FBA Inventory Management - Replenishment Workflow

This article walks through the full process of sending inventory to an Amazon fulfillment center in a three phased approach of 1) creating an inventory plan, 2) processing inbound shipments, and 3) confirming delivery.

Phase 1: Create and Submit an Inventory Plan

The FBA Inventory Plan tells Amazon what products you're sending, how many, and from where.

Rules enforced by CSM:

• The plan must be in Open status to make changes. Release it before submitting to Amazon.
• Only one ship-from location per plan.
• All items on a plan must be case packed.
• Each Channel Item No. can appear on only one line.
• Quantities must result in full cases. Enter a case count and CSM calculates the total, or enter a quantity and CSM rounds down to the nearest full case.

Steps:

1. Navigate to your Amazon FBA Sales Channel.
2. From the Home ribbon, select FBA Inventory Plans and click New. (To reuse a previous plan as a starting point, open it and choose Copy Plan.)
3. In the General fasttab, confirm the ship-from location. It defaults from the Sales Channel setting but can be overridden. The location's address and contact information must be populated.
4. In the Shipping Plan Lines fasttab, enter items and quantities.
5. Click Release on the Home ribbon, then Actions > Submit Plan to Amazon.
6. CSM sends the plan and returns Placement Options — these determine how Amazon distributes your inventory across their network and affect applicable fees.
7. Select a Placement Option, then click Actions > Confirm Placement Option.

CSM submits the confirmation to Amazon and redirects you to the resulting Inbound Shipment.

Phase 2: Process Inbound Shipments

Each Inbound Shipment represents a specific Amazon fulfillment center you're directed to send inventory to.

Step 1 — Set Shipping Date and Select a Carrier

1. On the Inbound Shipment, enter a Shipping Date. A prompt will confirm the date and generate Transportation Options.
2. The Shipping Carrier field auto-populates with Amazon's preferred carrier. Use the dropdown to review alternatives. Select a carrier, then proceed based on your shipping method:

Step 2 — Confirm Transportation Option

Amazon Partnered Carrier — Small Parcel (SP)

Click Confirm Transportation Option. Proceed to Step 3.

Amazon Partnered Carrier — LTL

1. Open the Shipment Plan and click Transport > Delivery Windows. Select a delivery window and click Actions > Confirm Delivery Window.
2. Add pallets: click Transport > Add Pallet and enter Length, Width, Height, and Weight for each pallet. These appear in the Inbound Shipment Lines fasttab.
3. In the Transport Content fasttab, enter the Freight Bill Number, Seller Declared Value Currency, and Seller Declared Value Amount.
4. Return to the Inbound Shipment list, select the carrier, and click Confirm Transport Options.

Non-Partnered Carrier — Small Parcel (SP)

1. Open the Shipment Plan and click Transport > Delivery Windows. Select a delivery window and click Actions > Confirm Delivery Window.
2. In the Shipment Boxes fasttab, enter the carrier-assigned Tracking ID for each box.
3. In the Transport Content fasttab, enter the Seller Declared Value Currency and Seller Declared Value Amount.
4. Return to the Inbound Shipment list, select the carrier, and click Confirm Transport Options.

No Estimate or Confirm step is required for non-partnered shipments.

Non-Partnered Carrier — LTL

1. Open the Shipment Plan and click Transport > Delivery Windows. Select a delivery window and click Actions > Confirm Delivery Window.
2. In the LTL fasttab, enter the Transport LTL Pro Number.
3. Return to the Inbound Shipment list, select the carrier, and click Confirm Transport Options.

No Estimate or Confirm step is required for non-partnered shipments.

Once a Transportation Option is confirmed, CSM automatically creates a Transfer Order in Business Central to move goods from your ship-from location to the FBA location. View it from the Inbound Shipment via Transfer Order > Show Transfer.

If a plan generates multiple shipments, a Transportation Option must be confirmed for each one.

Step 3 — Build and Send the Carton Feed (Case Packed Shipments)

1. From the Carton Feed ribbon, click Suggest Cartons. CSM builds one carton record per case using the weight and package template set on each CSM Listing.
2. Click Send/Check Carton Feed to submit the carton details to Amazon.
3. Wait approximately 2 minutes, then click Send/Check Carton Feed again to refresh the status. It should change to Complete.

For Mixed Box shipments, cartons must be built manually and items assigned to each carton. For LTL shipments, pallets are added via the Carton Feed ribbon.

Step 4 — Send Transport Content

Click Send Transport Content to submit carton dimensions and weights to Amazon. If you used Suggest Cartons and your listings have the Case Packed Weight and Package Template populated, you're ready to send. Otherwise, verify that each carton has complete dimension and weight values before sending.

Step 5 — Estimate and Confirm (Partnered Shipments Only)

1. Click Estimate Transport Request. The Transport Content status changes to Estimating. Use Get Transport Status/Content to refresh.
2. Once the status is Estimated, review the charge amount.
3. Click Confirm Transport Request. Refresh until the status is CONFIRMED.
4. The Transport Estimate Void by Date will appear. Use Void Transport Request to cancel before this deadline if needed.

Step 6 — Download and Print Labels

Carrier labels are only available for Amazon Partnered shipments. For Partnered LTL, you can also download the Bill of Lading from the Labels menu.

Phase 3: Confirm Delivery

Once the shipment has been picked up by the carrier:

1. Navigate to Inbound Shipment > Mark Shipped.

This marks the shipment as sent and automatically posts the associated Transfer Order in Business Central.