The Inbound screen shows stock on its way into Amazon: every FBA shipment you have created, which fulfilment centre it is going to, and how many units Amazon has booked in against how many you sent. Its most important job is to call out shipments Amazon has closed having recorded fewer units than you sent, because that is stock you paid for and shipped, and Amazon limits how long you have to claim it.
It is the opposite direction from Returns, which covers stock coming back out of Amazon.
How to open it
Amazon ▸ Inbound.
Shipments are fetched from Amazon once a day. Cancelled shipments stay in the list, dimmed, so you can still answer "where did that shipment go?".
Checking your shipments, step by step
- Open Amazon ▸ Inbound and look at the Closed short tile first. If it is red, a claim is waiting.
- Choose the Closed chip to see every finished shipment, then sort by Difference so the biggest shortfalls come first.
- Double-click a short shipment to see which SKUs are missing, and use Export in that window to keep a copy for your case.
- Open the case in Seller Central while the claim window is open.
- For shipments still on their way, choose Receiving, Checked in or In transit to see what Amazon is working on, and Last checked to see how fresh the figures are.
The summary tiles
| Tile | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Shipments in flight | Shipments Amazon has not closed or cancelled. |
| Units on the way | Units sent and not yet booked in. |
| Closed short | Closed shipments received short. Red with claim these when above zero, green all fully received otherwise. |
| Last checked | The date of the last update from Amazon, or never with run the sync. |
When any shipment closed short, a red banner explains that it is a reimbursement claim waiting to be made, and to open the row to see which SKUs.
Status filter
Chips for All and each Amazon status: Working, Shipped, In transit, Delivered, Checked in, Receiving, Closed and Cancelled.
Columns
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Shipment | Amazon's shipment id, with your shipment name beneath. |
| Status | Amazon's status as a pill. A Closed shipment received short shows in the overdue colour. |
| To | Destination fulfilment centre. |
| SKUs | How many different SKUs are in it. |
| Sent | Units you sent. |
| Received | Units Amazon has booked in (— while still on its way). |
| Difference | Only once the shipment is Closed: all received, n missing (red) or n over. While a shipment is still being received the two figures are expected to differ, so — is shown. |
The list is sorted with shipments being received first and cancelled ones last. Up to 100 shipments are shown.
What is inside one shipment
Double-click a shipment (or select it and press Enter) to open its contents in a window you can move and resize. The subtitle says how many units Amazon has not booked in, or What was sent, and what Amazon booked in when nothing is missing.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| SKU | Your seller SKU. |
| Product | The SeroBooks item, or (not matched to a product). |
| Sent, Received | Units per SKU. |
| Difference | — when equal, a red negative when short, +n when over. |
Shortfalls are listed first. Double-click a line to open the item. Close closes the window. If the contents have not been fetched yet you see No contents recorded for this shipment yet — the sync reads them separately and may not have got to it.
Claiming a shortfall
- Open the shipment and note the SKUs with a red difference.
- In Seller Central, check the shipment's reconciliation and open a case for the missing units while the claim window is open.
- Short shipments also appear on Recovery, with every other unit Amazon may owe you.
How Inbound relates to other screens
- The FBA counts on Products show units inbound as one number per SKU; this screen breaks that number into shipments.
- Shipments closed short are repeated on Recovery beside the other units Amazon may owe you.
- To plan the next shipment, use Ship to Amazon, which uses the transit time set under Amazon ▸ Settings.
Every table here has a Search this list… box, sortable column headings, and Export (CSV, Excel or PDF) of the rows on screen.
Common problems
"No inbound shipments have been pulled yet. They sync daily." Wait for the next daily update after connecting.
Received is lower than Sent on a shipment still receiving. That is normal until Amazon closes the shipment.
"Inbound shipment tracking is not installed on this server yet." This screen's data is not available for your company yet.