Question about Amazon's new Amazon Warehousing and Distribution program (AWD) program
Hi, I joined the Amazon Warehousing and Distribution program (AWD, also nicknamed “Amazon Upstream”), and I am currently creating my first shipment from my China supplier to an Amazon upstream warehouse with it.
(For context, AWD was just officially announced at Amazon Accelerate yesterday, but it has been available for a little while in beta to some US sellers who regularly import from China.)
I’m pretty confused on something – could someone who has already used AWD together with Amazon Global Logistics (AGL) help me?
The issue is that, upon having created the AWD shipment in the Send With Amazon workflow, I am prompted to generate the shipping labels for cartons. But the shipping labels look very different from the regular FBA shipping labels – and they don’t have addresses on them! There is no origin address, and no destination address. There is just the SKU, the FNSKU, the words “DC: IUSL” and a bar code – that’s it!
Is this a bug? Or is this intentional, and I should have my supplier use only these address-less shipping labels on the cartons? Or is there some other way I should generate labels with addresses on them?
I have already opened a ticket with Amazon Seller Support about this, went back and forth with them, and they had no idea what I’m talking about.
I’ll also mention @Tiff_Amazon here in case you could help me with this confusing aspect of Amazon’s new program. I bet other sellers interested in the new program would benefit too.
Thanks in advance!
Seller_MIReFwu2qczLd
(Answering my own question for others’ future reference.) I had emailed the Amazon Warehousing and Distribution Team earlier, and I just received a response from them:
“Thanks for reaching out to Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) Team. You just need to apply these labels on the boxes. The same label will be used for receiving boxes in AWD and FBA. You don’t need to apply any other labels.”
So it sounds like I don’t (i.e. my supplier in China doesn’t) need to apply any labels to cartons and pallets other than those address-less labels that I generated in the Send To Amazon workflow. I’m surprised to hear this (and frankly it makes me nervous to think of my freight moving across the world with no written address labels on it), but it certainly simplifies things for me and my supplier.
BTW, I asked another seller on Reddit who has used AWD before, and echoed this same info: “There is an AWD ID specific to the shipments which is used to scan in the cartons. The cartons don’t need addresses because amazon controls the shipment to the Upstream storage facility end to end. Once the shipment delivers and the cartons are scanned the items will appear in your Global Inventory page.”
Hopefully this is useful for other sellers who end up using AWD + AGL.
Tiff_Amazon
Hi SiseEnt - Thank you for mentioning me in this post and I appreciate your patience as I was supporting sellers at the Amazon Accelerate conference last week. I see that you received a response from the Amazon Warehousing & Distribution Team and shared it below. It also looks like you have a related seller support case open on the same topic, so I'll monitor that for updates. I would be happy to reach out internally and see if there are any additional details on the process. Would that be helpful for you or other sellers?
Tiff
Seller_AgKNciQxbpmCx
@Tiff_Amazon Hi Tiff,
I have a large shipment (~4000 units) going to AWD. Based on my UPS tracking information, the shipment was delivered last week, but there has been no update in seller central. (The status for the shipment in SC only shows only as created) Do you have any idea how long it’s taking Amazon to receive AWD shipments? I want to make sure my products are processed and not lost. Thanks
Seller_QayddMUMtkvB7
I didn’t use AGL, only AWD. Does anyone know if my Freight Forwarder needs an appointment for dropping off the shipment to the warehouse? Is the process same as for FCs? Apparently, he cannot create an appointment and my shipment is sitting. As usual, Seller support was useless.
Seller_GqOO0ejWI8KGq
Hi @Tiff_Amazon
So I created my first LTL non-partnered shipment to AWD which has shipment ID STAR-RAYPPPW5Q5UXG
I got all carton labels and pallet is booked with non-partnered carrier UPGF which was available though the drop down menu in step 4 of the workflow. However it does not generate pallet labels. Should there be any pallet labels on a non-partnered LTL shipment? I also do not get an option to enter tracking numbers or PRO umbers. Could you check that for me please. Or do I just go ahead and send the pallet with the BOL on the outside of the pallet and the AWD will see the carton labels on the cartons to scan?
Thanks!
Seller_iwZkag4lK63Cu
Hi @Tiff_Amazon , I have a shipment which has just arrived in New York. I would like to urgently reroute it to AWD, rather than my 3PL because we have decided to shift to AWD.
The Shipping plan allocates KRB7 in California.
Is there any way that I can trigger an AWD closer than that? It will cost too much to truck across the country.
We will also be wanting to ship the rest of the contents of our 3PL to AWD but we won’t be able to do that if it has all got to go to CA.
Seller_grZGRUeWdZKn5
Hi, All
I’ve also created a shipment to AWD, I have a question.
Our partner shipping agent stated that although in seller central creating shipment Amazon only allow LTL shipping, they shipped an AWD shipment with SPD (Small parcel delivery) and still got deliverd.
Does Amazon really put restriction on shipping method for LTL Only?
Seller_mQDWQdPjMq4WV
I learned to keep away from AGL and AWD since most say they are no better than what i am using and it does little but creates loads of headaches.
Seller_ZXwqE8z6eWoYv
Our 40 foot container has arrived to the port of New York to be delivered to the IUSL coded AWD warehouse. Our trucker is trying to get an appointment, but the trucker kept asking me for an FBA ID of the shipment even though I told them that this is AWD and not FBA. I asked them to use the reference ID instead since AWD team told me to use the reference ID to get an appointment and now the earliest appointment time Amazon is giving is 2 months away from now which is ridiculous. When they try to get an instant date from Amazon, it gives an error saying that there are no matching shipments. My hands are tied at this point. This is ridiculous @Tiff_Amazon
Seller_qI3ebJvF6eXfq
Hi what receiving times have people been experiencing once shipments have been delivered to AWD?
