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A purchase order is an official document that a buyer offers a seller in which the buyer commits to pay a nominal fee for specific products that need to be delivered. On Amazon vendor central, a purchase order is identified using a unique number that pertains to the number of items, SKU, and other product details. On vendor central, PO or purchase orders are sent from Amazon to a vendor, usually when there is a peak in demand for a particular product. Orders: Here, vendors provide information regarding the shipment and have to click on the “receive purchases orders” tab on vendor central. Items: Here, vendors need the product information on the product and can upload images, edit pricing, and other such details. Merchandising: Here, vendors can access features like Amazon Vine and A+ Premium content. Vendors can also market their product listings. Payment: Here, vendors need to keep track of invoices and remittances. Processing the Purchase Order Form An Amazon vendor can either be a manufacturer or a supplier who delivers products to Amazon directly. Amazon vendors can also be third-party merchants wherein they can deliver products to Amazon’s warehouses on behalf of the supplier. Amazon vendors won’t receive purchase orders immediately after setting up a product especially since the ordering process is automated by Amazon. Before deciding whether to order a product or not, Amazon’s system will look at the sales history as well as the current market demand for that specific product. If the sales performance is low, PO will be minimum and once this increases or becomes a high-demand product, the purchase orders will grow larger subsequently. Sometimes there might be a situation where a vendor may not possess enough stock to fulfil a purchase order so in such a case there are two options: either you can cancel the PO or you can place it on backorder till your product supply is fulfilled. In order to make sure you don’t receive a heavy PO, while you have limited or no stock, always remember to mark those items temporarily or permanently unavailable. As a vendor, you cannot issue too many backorders since there’s a certain percentage set by Amazon, and in case you do this, you’ll be issued a chargeback for the non-delivery of items. Amazon vendor central relies heavily on EDI for its purchase order, advance shipping notice (ASN), and other shipping & packaging data for appropriate data filing. Is It Important? EDI (electronic data interchange) is a technical exchange of data between the vendor and Amazon that is electronically transfigured, and it relates to processing the purchase orders and invoices one receives on vendor central. EDI documents consist of the following documents: Purchase Order, PO Confirmation Receipt, Advance Ship Notice, Invoice and 128 Label. You can either hire Amazon Human resources to manage your purchase orders on vendor central, or you can integrate EDI using reliable network services. Whether you’re a first/ second or third-party seller, it is important to streamline certain processes for quick shipment & delivery to Amazon fulfilment centres. Your business should include the ability to transmit or receive necessary EDI-compliant documents from Amazon vendor central. Amazon Chargebacks for Vendor Central For Vendor central customers, Amazon places chargebacks on items that have not been processed properly, once the POD is generated. It is important you understand how chargeback works, to avoid loss of time and money, especially once the PO is received. Each Amazon chargeback is unique and there are two categories for this: Shipping and Packaging Issue of Purchase Order Purchase order issue is one of the most common Amazon chargebacks, which involves the failure to confirm PO forms in time, shipping extra/ lesser units, or violating Amazon guidelines by delaying the shipment. Issue of Receiving If the designated shipments that arrive at Amazon’s fulfilment centres violate certain guidelines, such as missing labels or barcode issues, it is an issue of receiving the shipment, and a chargeback is issued. Issue of Packaging If the items are not properly packaged, especially items that are delicate, or are made of glass or any other breakable material, then this calls for Amazon chargeback. Issue of Advanced Ship Notice (ASN) Vendors are supposed to send the ASN correctly from Vendor Central or through EDI while shipping items to Amazon’s fulfilment centre. If there is any error with the ASN, it can incur an Amazon chargeback. Issue of Transportation If there is any failure in setting up routing requests for the products, or any specified shipping and delivery fee policies occur, then it can also result in an Amazon chargeback, especially if the vendor hasn’t paid additional fees for the delivery. PO Processing On vendor central, the process of making the PO and generating an order confirmation slip from/ as a supplier is a necessary step once you receive the PO from Amazon on your account. In order to do this, you need to do the following: 1. On your Vendor Central account, find the “Order” tab and select 2. Next, click on the “Purchase Order” tab and wait for the PO to open 3. Click on “Confirm New PO” and extract this file onto a Microsoft excel sheet 4. To confirm new PO: Go to Orders > Purchase Orders, in the Action items section, select “Confirm New Po”. 5. Select the check box in the left column for each purchase order you want to confirm and open the selected PO. 6. Before you confirm your purchase orders, you can make changes to the availability in the fields table. 7. Once confirmed and downloaded, click “Submit”. Availability Acknowledgement Code on Amazon The availability acknowledgement code you select impacts Amazon’s buying decision. In some cases, if you are unable to process certain items due to stock unavailability, Amazon will add this to the next PO, and reorder again. Orders will be suspended for 30 days unless you don’t change the status or until you restock. Selecting the “Permanently Unavailable” status indicates that you will not