In the workflows, you set up for each feature how Xentral exchanges data with Amazon: You define how orders arrive in Xentral, which stock level and price Xentral reports to Amazon, and how Xentral reports shipping and documents back. Each feature has an Active switch with which you release the feature for production operation.
-
Amazon is added in Xentral and the features are selected.
-
Projects, payment method, shipping methods, postage item, and discount item are created in Xentral. See the article Preparing Xentral for the integration.
-
You know the invoice service that is set in Seller Central (IDU, VCS, or VCS Lite).
-
Navigate to Settings > Integrations.
-
Click on the gear icon for your Amazon integration.
-
Switch to the Workflows tab. You see a sub-tab for each feature: Stock, Prices, Orders, Order status & tracking, and Receipts.
-
Carry out the settings and click on Save. Required fields are marked with *.
Note
Activate the Active switch in a feature as soon as you have carried out its settings. You can only test active features via the journal. Xentral exchanges the data automatically only after you set the integration live. How to proceed is described in the article Amazon: Going live.
In the Orders workflow, you define how Xentral imports Amazon orders and what they look like in Xentral: project, payment method, shipping method, taxes, customer, and positions.
When orders arrive: Amazon makes an order available 30 minutes after the purchase at the earliest, because the buyer can still cancel during this time. After that, Xentral waits for the reports with which Amazon delivers tax-relevant data later, for example a different billing address or the VAT ID. Only when the data is complete or the waiting time you selected has expired does Xentral create the sales order. Xentral cannot influence how quickly Amazon delivers the reports.
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Editor |
If needed, enter a name that Xentral enters as the editor in imported sales orders. |
|
Import FBM sales orders |
Activate the option if Xentral is to import self-shipped orders. |
|
Import FBA sales orders |
Activate the option if Xentral is to import orders fulfilled by Amazon. |
|
Amazon Custom |
Activate the option if you sell configurable products via Amazon Custom. |
|
Waiting for a different billing address |
Active by default: Xentral waits for the Amazon reports so that different billing addresses and VAT IDs end up in the sales order. If you deactivate the option, orders arrive faster, but Xentral then ignores different billing addresses. For B2B and FBA orders, Xentral always waits for the reports. |
|
Import orders at the latest after |
Maximum waiting time for the reports, from 15 minutes to 24 hours. After that, Xentral imports the order even without complete data. This applies to all orders, including B2B and FBA. By default, no waiting time is selected. 2 hours is recommended. |
|
Import Prime orders at the latest after |
Separate maximum waiting time for Prime orders, also from 15 minutes to 24 hours. Because Prime orders are time-critical, we recommend 30 minutes. |
|
For which marketplaces should orders be imported? |
Select all Amazon marketplaces from which Xentral is to import orders, for example Germany, France, or Italy. |
Tip
If you need an order immediately, import it specifically via the order number in the journal under Automation > Journal, Orders tab, with Import sales orders. Before shipping, check orders that arrive without complete reports for billing address and VAT ID.
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Default project |
Project that Xentral enters in imported sales orders by default. |
|
Project for FBM |
Separate project for self-shipped orders. |
|
Project for FBA |
Separate project for orders fulfilled by Amazon. In this project, set the Picking method to Without stock booking. This way, Xentral does not ship FBA orders by mistake and the sales order traffic light stays green. |
|
Sales channel <> Project assignment |
Assign a separate Xentral project to individual combinations of marketplace and shipping route, for example France (FBM) or Germany (FBA). Click on + Add group to create another assignment. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Default payment method |
Payment method that Xentral enters in Amazon orders. In this payment method, set Behavior like to Invoice and leave the Project field empty. Otherwise, orders arrive with a red payment traffic light and auto-shipment stops. |
|
Payment methods without auto-shipment |
Payment methods for which Xentral deactivates auto-shipment. You release such sales orders for shipping manually. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Which delivery terms should apply to the order import for this sales channel? |
Fixed delivery condition for imported sales orders. The delivery condition must be created in Xentral. If you do not use delivery conditions, leave the field empty. |
|
Default shipping method |
Shipping method that Xentral uses if no assignment matches. |
|
Shipping methods assignment |
Assign your Xentral shipping methods to the Amazon shipping methods. Amazon delivers standard and Prime variants separately, for example STANDARD, EXPEDITED, NEXT_DAY, SAME_DAY, as well as PRIME STANDARD or PRIME NEXT_DAY. This way, you can process Prime orders with a separate shipping method. Click on + Add group to create another assignment. |
|
Fast lane shipping methods |
Xentral shipping methods for which Xentral marks sales orders as fast lane sales orders. |
|
Fast Lane for prime orders |
A switch that controls whether Xentral automatically marks all Prime orders as fast lane sales orders. |
|
Create receipts in auto dispatch (For FBM orders and Receipt Service "IDU") |
Documents that auto-shipment creates. The following options are available: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The setting only applies to FBM orders with the invoice service IDU. In all other cases, Xentral determines the documents itself, see the section Documents and auto-shipment by shipping route. |
|
|
Shipping methods without auto-shipment |
Xentral shipping methods for which Xentral deactivates auto-shipment. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Item number for shipping costs |
Postage item to which Xentral books the shipping costs. Only products with the option Item is postage can be selected. If Xentral is always to adopt the shipping costs from Amazon, the postage item must not have a sales price. Otherwise, with the Calculate postage option activated, Xentral inserts the sales price of the product. |
|
Item number for cash on delivery fee |
Item to which Xentral books a cash on delivery fee. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Item number for gift packaging |
Item to which Xentral books the fee for gift wrapping. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Country of the Xentral warehouse |
Country of your shipping warehouse so that Xentral calculates the taxes correctly. The default is Germany. |
|
Automatically mark VAT ID no. as checked |
A switch that controls whether Xentral marks the VAT ID of all imported sales orders as checked. Activate it only if you ensure that only orders from positively checked customers arrive. |
|
Make taxation dependent on storage location |
A switch that controls whether Xentral calculates VAT according to the country of your storage location. In principle, VAT is due in the buyer’s country (Section 3c of the German VAT Act, UStG). If your annual EU-wide revenue from distance sales is below EUR 10,000, you may apply the tax rate of the country of your storage location instead. Activate the switch only in this case. |
|
Set total amount |
A switch that controls whether Xentral adopts the total amount from Amazon instead of calculating it from the positions. This avoids rounding differences. |
|
Maximum difference to the calculated total amount |
Appears when Set total amount is active. If the amount calculated by Xentral deviates more, Xentral does not adopt the Amazon amount, writes "Online shop difference detected" to the sales order log, and deactivates auto-shipment. The default is 0.05. |
|
Amazon billing service |
Select the option that is stored in Seller Central in the tax settings: IDU, VCS, or VCS lite. The selection does not change anything in your settings at Amazon, but it controls how Xentral handles documents and auto-shipment. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Item number for discount |
Discount item to which Xentral books discounts on the entire shopping cart. Only products with the option Item is discount can be selected. Xentral saves discounts on individual products at the respective position. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Customer creation |
Specifies how Xentral creates a buyer with a customer account. The following options are available: assign customer from order to existing customer (default), Write each customer to default customer, and create each new customer. |
|
Customer creation guest order |
The same selection for buyers without a customer account. |
|
Customer assignment |
Characteristics by which Xentral searches for an existing customer: Customer number, Mail address, and Name & address. Xentral checks in this order and assigns at the first match. Mail address and Name & address are set by default. |
|
If no customer is found, then |
Specifies what happens without a match: Create new customer (default), Write each customer to default customer, or Do not import order. |
|
Assign existing customers only within the project? |
A switch that limits the search to customers in the project of the Amazon integration. If Xentral finds no customer there, the If no customer is found, then setting applies. As a rule, the switch remains deactivated. |
|
Select default customer |
Customer to whom Xentral writes Amazon sales orders if you selected the option with the default customer. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Language assignment |
Assign a document language in Xentral to each Amazon marketplace, for example France > French. Xentral enters the language in the sales order during the import. The languages must be created in Xentral in the Language list module. |
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Adopt article description from Xentral |
A switch that controls whether the sales order positions contain the designation from your product master data instead of the Amazon designation. Useful if you use longer titles on Amazon, for example for search. |
|
Adopt article description |
Specifies whether the sales order positions contain a product description: No article description (default) or Article description from Xentral. |
The documents that Xentral creates depend on the shipping route and the invoice service:
Combination |
Behavior |
|---|---|
|
FBM with IDU |
Auto-shipment creates the documents that you selected under Create receipts in auto dispatch. |
|
FBA with IDU |
Xentral sets Create invoice only in the sales order. Auto-shipment creates the invoice and completes the sales order. A prerequisite is an FBA project with the picking method Without stock booking. |
|
FBA with VCS or VCS lite |
Xentral imports the sales order with auto-shipment deactivated and creates neither an invoice nor a delivery note. The flow Complete open sales orders from project X handles the completion automatically in the background. |
In the Stock workflow, you define how Xentral calculates the stock level for Amazon. This concerns your self-shipped offers (FBM). Xentral transfers the stock level as soon as it changes in Xentral.
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Select Xentral warehouse |
Warehouses from which Xentral reports the stock level. With several warehouses, Xentral adds up the stock level. If a new warehouse is missing in the selection, click on Reload options. |
|
Consider reservations |
Subtracts reserved quantities from the stock level. Depending on the project setting, open sales orders also lead to reservations. |
|
Consider open orders |
Subtracts quantities from open sales orders from the stock level. Activate only one of the two switches Consider reservations and Consider open orders. |
|
Consider stock correction value |
Changes the stock level by the stock correction value from the product (Articles > Details > Online shop options, Stock level area). |
|
Use pseudo stock number instead of real stock numbers |
Reports the pseudo stock number from the product (also under Online shop options) instead of the calculated stock level. |
|
Global handling time (in days) |
Handling time that Xentral transmits to Amazon. If a separate handling time is stored on the product under Online shop options, it applies. |
In the Prices workflow, you define the price that Xentral transfers to Amazon. Xentral transfers the price as soon as it changes in Xentral.
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Customer group |
If you leave the field empty, Xentral transfers the default price. If you select a customer group, Xentral transfers exclusively its price. If a product has no price for this group, Xentral does not transfer the default price either. |
Note
Xentral only transfers prices that you maintained before activating the workflow when they change or when you restart them in the journal.
In the Order status & tracking workflow, you define when Xentral reports the shipment to Amazon and how cancellations are synchronized.
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Update strategy for order status & tracking export |
Time of the feedback to Amazon. For Amazon, the option Update order status per item as soon as tracking information is available is available. |
|
Cancel orders automatically in the sales channel? |
Active by default: If you cancel a sales order in Xentral, Xentral also cancels it at Amazon. This only affects orders that have not been shipped yet. |
|
Automatically cancel orders canceled by the buyer in Xentral, provided there is no delivery note yet? |
If the buyer cancels at Amazon, Xentral cancels the sales order as well, as long as no delivery note exists. Deactivated by default. |
So that Amazon displays the shipment tracking correctly, you assign the matching shipping service provider from the Amazon list to each Xentral shipping method, for example DHL, DPD, or Amazon Shipping. Click on + Add group to create another assignment. At least one assignment is required.
In the Receipts workflow, you set whether Xentral exchanges invoices and credit notes with Amazon. The direction depends on the Amazon billing service in the Orders workflow. Xentral transfers a document once, when it is first created. Xentral does not transfer documents that have already been transferred again.
Field name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Automatically transfer invoice documents |
With IDU, Xentral uploads your invoices to Amazon. With VCS, Xentral adopts the invoices from Amazon. With VCS lite, Xentral does not transfer invoices. |
|
Automatically transfer credit note documents |
With IDU and VCS, Xentral adopts the credit notes from Amazon. With IDU, Xentral additionally uploads the credit note to Amazon. With VCS lite, Xentral does not transfer credit notes. |
Important
With IDU, Xentral uploads an invoice only when it is marked as shipped in Xentral.
Important
A credit note is created in Xentral from the refund that you trigger in Seller Central. If you create the credit note in Xentral first, Xentral does not assign it to the later refund and does not upload it to Amazon. Xentral cannot trigger a refund at Amazon.