With this interface you can connect Xentral to Amazon to import orders from there into Xentral and manage your products sold on Amazon in Xentral. The connection is realized via an API interface (store importer).
As an Amazon seller, there are basically two different options available to you:
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Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM): You ship your goods from your own warehouse.
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Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): Amazon ships the goods for you.
Both modes of operation can be mapped in Xentral using the Amazon interface:
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When shipping from your own warehouse, the orders are picked up and then go through the entire shipping process in Xentral, generating not only an invoice but also a delivery note and - if desired - a shipping label.
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For an FBA order the interface recognizes that you don't have to do any physical shipping, so only an invoice is generated, which can be automatically emailed to your customer if you wish.
Due to the design of the interface you can also map a business model of combined shipping types in Xentral, as the right process is automatically triggered for each order.
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Pick up orders
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Change order status on shipment, incl. reporting of tracking number to Amazon
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Reporting of current stock figures
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Monitor your interface and Seller Central account via System Health
This section explains the available settings in the shop interface.
When you open the Amazon interface, the Details → Interface tab is displayed.
Settings:
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Designation: Freely selectable name for the shop (is displayed e.g. in the product and in the import menu).
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Active: Select the check box to activate the interface. You can set interfaces that are no longer needed to inactive.
Note
If your token is invalid, your shop configuration will automatically be deactivated. You will be notified of this in your system health dashboard.
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Project: Link the shop to a project. In the project you can define the logistics settings.
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Pickup mode: Amazon lets you pick up here from a certain date.
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Date from: Orders will be picked up from this time, updated when you use the Pick up orders function.
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Start of the interface: No orders will be picked up before this date.
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Import mode: Defines whether the orders are to be imported from the shop manually (by pressing a button) or automatically.
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Demo (for testing) → The order status in the shop not changed over, no items or stock numbers transferred.
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Manual (with import center) → The jobs will be picked up only when the Pick up jobs button is clicked
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Automatic (via process starter) → The orders are automatically retrieved from the shop on a regular basis. The Shopimporter process starter is required for this purpose.
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Only 1 order per request: Only 1 order per request is transferred from the shop.
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Orders in intermediate table: When picking up the orders, the orders are not created directly, but are first saved in an intermediate table for review. Here you can decide which jobs should be created and which should be imported later.
Settings for shop or marketplace:
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SellerId: SellerID from Amazon Seller Central
Access data:
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AWS Access Key Id: With a developer account, an access key and secret key can be used for the connection instead of the MWS Auth Token.
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AWS SecretKey: Only available with a developer account.
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Time zone: Amazon main shop time zone.
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Currency: Amazon main shop currency.
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Set desired delivery date: Date when the delivery should be made is imported from Amazon. If the lowest delivery date at Amazon is less than the entered number of days in the future, a new desired delivery date is set in the order.
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Debug: If you check the box, debugging mode will be enabled and the calls will be saved in logs.
FBA settings:
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Pick up FBA orders: Check the box if you want to pick up FBA orders.
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Own project for FBA: Here you can set a project for FBA orders.
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Use invoice number from Amazon (only for Amazon Billing Service): Check if the invoice number from Amazon should be used.
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Max. days for reports: The maximum number of days in the past from which reports are imported (typically 30).
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Set job to completed: Jobs will be imported directly with the gray "Completed" check mark.
FBM settings:
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Pick up FBM jobs: Check this box if you want to pick up FBM jobs.
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Own project for FBM: Here you can set a project for FBM orders.
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Gift packaging: A postage item must be entered here.
Invoice handling (Invoice settings):
Note
The correct configuration of invoice handling for Amazon can be tough. For this reason, we have collected some useful settings for different scenarios on the following page: Settings for different invoice scenarios (Amazon).
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Generate credit notes: Here you can select whether a credit note should be generated or not
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Use invoice upload service: Check the box so that invoices are transferred to the shop on dispatch notification
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Transfer invoices no later than x days after invoice date: After the entered number of days, the invoice will be transferred at the latest.
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Upload start date: Date from which the invoice will be uploaded.
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Transfer VAT from: Date from which the invoice numbers are transferred from the VAT report.
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FBA:
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Generate invoice: Here you can set whether an invoice should be generated for FBA orders or not.
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Send invoice by e-mail: Check the box if the invoice should be sent to the customers by email.
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Send credit notes by e-mail: Check the box if the credit note is to be sent to the customer by email.
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FBM:
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Generate invoice: Here you can set whether an invoice should be generated for FBM orders or not.
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Send invoice by e-mail: Check the box if the invoice should be sent to the customer by email.
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Marketplaces:
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[Country] Check box: Activate a marketplace by setting a check mark for the respective country.
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Price group: Enter the price group associated with each marketplace.
Action buttons:
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Check connection: Here you can check the correct connection to Amazon
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Fetch orders: Retrieves the orders from your shop. This is necessary if you have set the import mode of the interface to manual.
Note
You should also make sure that the status messages for "Order open", "Order in process" and "Order ready" are unique. You should not use the same status in several places.
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Store import intermediate table: Jumps to the intermediate table of the orders from the shop. The intermediate table is filled only in manual import mode and if the 'Orders in intermediate table' option is enabled.
In the intermediate table you choose in the left column between "Import", "Garbage" and "Later".
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Import: Job is imported directly
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Trash: Job ends up in the trash and cannot be imported a second time.
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Later: order can be imported at a later time.
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To the Amazon App: Redirects you to the Amazon Seller App.
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Import old orders: Old orders are loaded into the intermediate table, where you can again decide whether the orders should be imported. It is important that no simultaneous operation is possible (i.e. current orders and old orders cannot be imported at the same time).
You can find information on this tab here.
You can find information on this tab here.
Note
If you want to post a payout from Amazon, a manual posting is necessary.
When you click on Check Connection (Details → Interface), the interface imports all shipping providers (carriers) that are available in Amazon. In addition to the mapping with carriers, Xentral now also has a mapping for the product. So the shipping providers are displayed and additionally the respective product ID.
Afterwards, you have to map the created shipping types to the corresponding shipping types in the Shipping Types tab. You have to do this mapping in every created Amazon interface. There is a new mapping field called "Product Outbound". Here you can enter the corresponding product ID for the shipping type for the mapping.
It is necessary that the mapping is done in every Amazon interface so that when the tracking number of dispatched orders is reported back, an info can also be returned to Amazon which shipping service provider was used.
If the shipping provider data changes on the part of Amazon, you can retrieve the updated data at any time via the Check Connection button.
The store interface log file lists any error messages regarding the shipping method mapping. The message "Carriers have not yet been retrieved from the store" is thrown out if you have not yet added the shipping providers using the Check Connection button.
You can find more information about shipping type mapping here.
With the subshop mapping you can set a separate project for each Marketplace ID with its own logistics procedure. It is also possible to differentiate the subshops according to FBA and FBM.
To do this, you can create the subshops in the interface in the Subshop tab as follows: Marketplace (lower case) + underscore + FBA or FBM, for example:
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de_FBA for Marketplace Germany FBA
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it_FBM for Marketplace Italy FBM
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gb_FBM for Marketplace Great Britain FBM
You can find information about this tab here.
You can learn more about using Smarty in this help center article: Smarty at Shopimporter.
The ASIN is not relevant at Amazon - no matter if FBA or FBM - relevant is the corresponding Seller SKU, which should be stored in the article for foreign numbers. The ASIN is not unique at Amazon, because it can have different states like new, used or refurbished. In the Amazon interface, under Details → Item Foreign Numbers, you can also link the foreign numbers of the FBA items picked up from Amazon by using the SKU to link the item number in xentral or by using the SKU directly as the xentral item number.
To do this, you first activate the action Pick up item list in the interface, which fills the overview. Only items that are set as FBA items in Amazon are picked up. You can then manage these in the Amazon Seller App. You have to create the foreign numbers of FBM articles directly in the article master.
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Create unassigned items → Amazon items that have not been linked are newly created in xentral.
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Use SKU as WaWi article number → The SKU of the article will be created in xentral as article number
Use the Update Article button to save the entered links.
If you use the xentral Amazon interface to import orders, items will be imported with name (title) and number only.
If you use the xentral Amazon SellerApp additionally, the following information can be imported:
'Publisher', 'Studio', 'ProductGroup', 'ProductTypeName', 'Size', 'Color', 'Manufacturer', 'Label', 'Model', 'NumberOfItems', 'Brand'. Additionally a thumbnail will be imported as a group picture.
If you have specified a price group in the store interface, the item price will be imported as group price. However, this only works if you sell on a marketplace.
Once the Amazon interface is initialized, you have linked the item to the interface and you have the Amazon Seller app, a new storage location called "Amazon" is created. There, the inventory of the FBA items will be loaded into the system via API.
Note
In order for the interface to be fully initialized, you must set the import mode to manual import.
You can learn more about importing articles here.
How to export articles from xentral to Amazon, you will learn here.
There is a special feature when matching stock numbers to Amazon. You have to maintain all foreign numbers in the articles, because the Amazon interface collects them in a list and transfers the stock numbers of all articles at once. So here it could happen that the whole list is not updated if the foreign number of an item is missing.
Note that reservations made on an item will affect the reported stock level.
Learn more about bearing stock synchronization here.
Note
In demo mode, stock figures or order data are not sent and no invoices are uploaded. However, VAT reports and inventory reports will be collected.
In the following drop-down menu you can see which different import modes are available.
To test the pickup, we recommend the "Demo mode", because here only the last order is picked up and the status at Amazon is not changed.
Afterwards, you only have to click on the button Pick up orders. If you have selected the option "Orders in interim table", then you will be shown an interim table after the collection process, in which you can confirm the import again, cancel it or postpone it until later. Otherwise, the order is imported directly into the order overview under Sales → Order.
You also have the option to manually reset the start pickup date to "yesterday" via a button if the interface warns that the start pickup date is far in the past.
Orders with the following order statuses can be picked up by Amazon when FBM is shipped:
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unfulfilled
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partially fulfilled
All other order statuses are currently ignored and not imported. If they are FBA orders, we will pick up any status.
For more information on importing orders from online stores click here.
When picking up older orders, it may happen that not all orders can be imported.
Note
Old orders can only be imported if they are max. 89 days before the current date.
Reporting back the order status is only possible with FBM. Only open and not shipped orders are reported back to Amazon.
Possible with FBA and FBM: Starting with version 20.1, automatic upload of invoices to Amazon is possible. To enable the invoice upload service, check the Use invoice upload service checkbox. The time trigger for uploading the invoice is the arrival of the shipping information (tracking number) in xentral. Additionally, you can set a time difference to ensure that invoices are uploaded to Amazon after a defined number of days at the latest, even if no tracking code has been received. Note that only invoices that have the status "sent" will be uploaded. You can also set this via the project settings or when creating invoices from the submit module.
With the help of the date in the field "Upload start date" you can also retroactively transfer already created invoices to Amazon.
The following explains how you can create invoices and credit notes for Amazon in xentral.
Amazon offers the possibility to create invoices and credit notes directly from Amazon (VAT Service). This means that the data for the invoice (invoice number, VAT, amounts, etc.) comes from Amazon and not from xentral. If you want to create invoices and credit notes based on the VAT service also in xentral, our Amazon Seller App was necessary until version 20.2. From version 20.3 on you don't need it anymore to use the Amazon VAT Service. When using the VAT Service you do not need a V2 report. If you use the Amazon VAT Service, do not create invoices or credit notes for the corresponding orders in xentral, as these are transferred from Amazon.
Note
In xentral you can only map the normal Amazon VAT service, but not the Amazon VAT service light. With the VAT service light only the calculation of the VAT is done by Amazon, whereas the invoice has to be created by the customer and uploaded to Amazon.
You have the possibility to create invoices and credit notes from the orders in xentral.
It is also possible not to create invoices and credit notes for imported orders. This would be possible for example if you use Amainvoice or Amazon VAT Service for creating invoices.
For the creation of FBA credits the billing report V2 is necessary. If the billing report V2 is not available in your Amazon account, you have to activate it via Amazon customer support.
Note
Credit notes are usually created with the payment date, not the import date.
To ensure that Amazon can distinguish between FBA and FBM items, it is imperative that you maintain the foreign numbers correctly. For Amazon FBA items you have to use SKU_FBA as description and for FBM items the description SKU_FBM. In the tab Foreign number in the product master data you have to enter the corresponding Amazon SKU and select the Amazon interface as shop. You can find instructions for importing foreign numbers here.
You can also offer an item as an FBA and FBM item by using the "Add Another Condition" option on Amazon.
It is important that you do not frequently switch back and forth between "Shipping by Seller" and "Shipping by Amazon" for the listings with the associated item, but always add another state to that.
With xentral you can create items in Amazon. After linking to the marketplace, another button Amazon Settings appears, where you can fill in various settings. Basically you can fill in "basic data" (or these will be passed by xentral). Additionally you have to choose a category, whereupon further Amazon specific mandatory fields appear.
At a minimum, the following is supported by xentral:
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Article name
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Bulletpoints
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Weight
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EAN
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Article description
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Article dimension
You can no longer create articles directly in the article master data as before, but as follows:
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Call the Amazon Importer via Administration → Shop interface → *Amazon*
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Click on the tab Create article (BETA)
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There you click on +New entry.
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Select the appropriate flat file (template) and click on the Next button.
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Now enter the article number in the field "article" in the appearing overview and wait for the result.
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Currently the article data is not yet loaded into the form, but must be entered manually (beta).
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The displayed article has to be added via the Save button at the end of the field.
There is a section in the system health app that lets you monitor the status of your Amazon interface and of your Seller Central account. You can find the system health app in the following way:
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In Xentral NextGen: Administration menu > System messages
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In classic design: On top of the page next to the search bar
The app displays the following for Amazon:
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sellingPartnerApiRefreshToken
This notification appears when one of your Amazon shop interfaces has been deactivated due to an empty token. The affected shop ID is displayed in square brackets, e.g., Sales channel [12].
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Amazon_shopID_MarketplaceID
This notification gives you information about the current state of your account in Amazon Seller Central. Every marketplace ID will get its own entry that will look similar to this: Amazon_1_A1PA6795UKMFR9 with different values for the shop and marketplace ID.
The notification is structured like this: [Marketplace ID] from sales channel [x] is [Status].
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The [Marketplace ID] lets you recognize which of your marketplaces is affected. The Marketplace for Germany is, e.g., A1PA6795UKMFR9.
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The [x] after sales channel displays the ID of the affected shopimporter in Xentral. All shop IDs are displayed in the leftmost column in the overview table of the Online shops app.
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There are three possible states the [Status] field can be in:
Status in Xentral
Status in Amazon API
ok
Normal
warning
At risk
error
Deactivated
If you get a notification other than "ok", please check your Amazon Seller Central to identify the issue. Your account may be flagged as at risk if you, for example, fall below Amazons' performance guidelines due to a negative customer review.
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Amazon shadow offers occur when an FBM offer is converted to an FBA offer without setting the inventory to 0 beforehand. The offer will incorrectly be listed as both FBA and FBM.
Likewise, shadow offers occur when inventory is deposited or transferred for an FBA offer.
This can also happen due to an incorrect external number designation in the Foreign Numbers tab of the product, when the SKU_FBM designation is used for an FBA offer instead of the SKU_FBA designation.
Valid values for the external number designations are exclusively:
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SKU_FBM
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SKU_FBA
Proceed as follows, to delete shadow offers:
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Go to Amazon Seller Central > Inventory > Manage Inventory.
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In the search field above, enter the respective ASIN and then click Search.
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On the right you will see a small box next to Edit with an arrow up and an arrow down. Click on this small box.
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Select the option Change to shipping by seller. This change may take a few minutes due to the system. Please be patient.
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Cancel all open Shipping by Merchant (FBM) sales orders that you cannot or do not want to fulfill, otherwise this stock will reappear in the system. This change may take a few minutes due to the system. Please be patient here as well.
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Set the stock of the offer to 0.
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Convert the listing back to FBA by using the Change to Shipping through Amazon option.
Removing the inventory, as well as the back and forth conversion, removes the shadow offer in the system.
If the sales order import is not working, please check the following:
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Does the process starter shopimport show an error? If yes, restart the process starter. The process starter Amazon is not relevant for the import of sales orders.
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Are there any corrupt or blocked sales orders in the intermediate table? You can check the intermediate table by clicking Store import intermediate table in your Amazon interface.
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Does the problem happen at a certain date? Change your import date to a newer date, set Import mode to Manually (with import center). If that works, change the import date to an earlier date and repeat the process until an error in the import process occurs.
Check the sales orders from that day in your Amazon Seller Central.
If certain information is missing in the sales order, not all relevant information might be included in the sales report from Amazon. This can happen, e.g., when the invoice and shipping address are different.
To activate additional information:
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Log in to your Amazon Seller Central.
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Go to Orders > Order Reports.
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Click Add or remove order report columns.
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Activate the corresponding column. In the case of the missing invoice address, activate Billing in the optional columns section.
Note
Not all optional information can be transferred from Amazon to Xentral as the information might not have a representation in the system yet.
The information will be added to all new sales orders. It can't be retroactively added to past sales orders.