When you sell on Amazon, you can choose between two fulfillment options - Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM), or Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). It is important to know the differences, and which fulfillment method suits your business.
FBM (Fulfilment by Merchant)
As the name suggests, with FBM, when an order is made on Amazon, you, as the merchant, are responsible for fulfilling that order and shipping it to the customer. With Marketplace Connect, orders for products listed as FBM will be sent to Shopify (based on your Order Transfer Settings) to be fulfilled alongside your Shopify store orders. Inventory counts will be updated in Shopify and on your Amazon listings, and shipping status and tracking data will automatically be sent to Amazon.
FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon)
FBA works a little differently. If you elect to use the FBA option, you must send inventory to Amazon to be stored in their fulfillment centers so that when an order is made, Amazon can ship it to the customer on your behalf.
The FBA service has many advantages. FBA products can rank more prominently in search results, are automatically eligible for Amazon Prime fulfillment, and Amazon takes care of all shipping-related customer service on your behalf, but FBA does come with additional costs for both storing your products and fulfilling them.
While FBA might not be the ideal or preferred solution for every retailer, it does allow sellers of all sizes to leverage Amazon’s service promise of fast delivery and world-class customer service through their global fulfillment network.
Automatically switch to FBM
With Marketplace Connect you can elect to automatically choose inventory from your FBA and once this is depleted, it will automatically switch over to your FBM inventory.
Amazon stranded inventory
Stranded inventory refers to any inventory in Amazon's fulfillment centers that do not have an active offer on Amazon. For sellers using Amazon FBA, Amazon provides a report highlighting the units in your inventory that are stranded.
Inventory can become stranded for several reasons, including if the listing is suppressed or was never created, meaning the inventory cannot be sold. If you have stranded inventory, Amazon will notify you by email and you can also click the "Fix stranded inventory" link in Seller central > manage inventory.
For more information on Amazon Stranded Inventory.
Amazon suppressed listings
Customers enjoy an enriched shopping experience when product listings display full and complete product information, making it easier to search for, find, compare, and purchase their favorite products. Suppressing a product from shopping results hides the listing from search and personalization, yet the product remains buyable in Amazon’s store.
Amazon may suppress a listing from shopping results when the listing risks impairing the customer shopping experience for reasons such as missing or incorrect information, preventing that listing from being found in search. Suppressing a product from shopping results is different from removing the listing from Amazon’s store, although Amazon uses both processes to protect the experience of its customers and prevent fraud and abuse in its store.
Amazon may remove or “de-list” a product from its store where the product is illegal, prohibited by Amazon’s policies, or otherwise presents a risk of fraud and abuse. Once removed from Amazon’s store, such products cannot be purchased by Amazon’s customers.
Fixing suppressed listings
Listings may be unsuppressed and reappear in shopping results after any data flaws are corrected.
You can run suppression reports and correct or manage suppressed listings through the “Manage Inventory” tab in Seller Central.
If the errors are corrected, the listings become unsuppressed in 24-48 hours (Amazon dependent).
For further assistance, please reach out to marketplace-connect@shopify.com