Amazon Vendor Central — Selling Partner API

Amazon Vendor Central — Selling Partner API

Amazon released a new Vendor Central API within the Selling Partner API (SP-API).

Sellers have had API access under the MWS umbrella for years. Amazon released a new version of the Amazon Marketplace Web Service (MWS) called the Selling Partner API (SP-API). However, vendors have had a more complex journey for programmatic access to Amazon.

Unlike the old MWS system, the new API now supports Amazon Vendors, the same as Sellers!😊

API: Vendor Central vs. Seller Central

Vendors and Sellers are two distinct models within the Amazon ecosystem. Seller Central accounts are generally open to all merchants to use the platform to sell directly to customers. Those participating in this market are referred to as 3rd party sellers or “3P”.

Unlike Amazon sellers (3P), access to Amazon Vendor Central is an invite only program. Without an invitation from Amazon, you can not participate in Vendor Central.

Amazon Vendors have a different relationship with Amazon than most merchants. If you become a vendor, it means a merchant will sell their products directly to Amazon, who becomes a full-time distributor of those products.

When Amazon becomes the distributor and seller, it is similar if you sold into traditional retail channels like Target or Walmart. Amazon is responsible for buying and storing the inventory and fulfilling orders, pricing, customer service, and returns. You can spot these cases on product pages where merchandise marked as “sold by Amazon.

If you are a vendor, having simplified, automated integration with Amazon systems enables you to improve and maintain performance at scale and grow your business. Unfortunately, vendors have been stuck with complex Amazon Vendor Central EDI documentation/integration or manual data processing workflows.

Amazon recognized the operational, technical, and cost challenges vendors faced with that approach.

As a result, Amazon has moved towards a modern, well-established approach for programmatic access to both seller AND vendor data called the Amazon Selling Partner API.

Benefits of Vendor Central API

The Selling Partner API enables vendors to manage retail business operations programmatically through web service integration. Unlike the former EDI integration approach, the new Selling Partner API is a REST-based API.

Vendors can use these APIs to build applications to increase operational efficiency, reduce effort, reduce errors, and improve performance.

The API currently supports a subset of business operations available via the current UI and EDI:

One of the most requested features by vendors is access to the sales and sales analytic reports. Currently, these are unavailable via the API. 😢

Over time, it is expected Amazon will achieve parity with the other approaches detailed above given the API was recently released. If you do not see something supported by the critical API, let the Amazon team know via GitHub: https://github.com/amzn/selling-partner-api-docs. For example, submit a feature request for sales analytics reports. The more interest expressed by users, the greater priority Amazon will make an update.

Vendor Central API Reference

Currently, there are a collection of valid operations in the API limited to orders, shipping, payments, and transactions:

  1. Orders — Get bulk PO numbers and PO status
  2. Orders — Get bulk PO details (New PO and PO Changes)
  3. Orders — Get PO details by PO number
  4. Orders — Confirm/Reject POs
  5. Shipping — Submit Shipment Confirmations
  6. Payments — Submit Invoices
  7. Transactions — Check Order Confirmation transaction status
  8. Transactions — Check Shipment Confirmation transaction status

Using the Orders API, vendors can receive purchase orders and send order acknowledgments.

The Shipment API to exchange shipment related documents with Amazon.

The Payments APIs to exchange payment related documents with Amazon. We support the Submit Invoices API, allowing vendors to send vendor invoices to Amazon for confirmed and shipped orders.

Vendors can use this transaction API to check the status for operations like Order Acknowledgment or Shipment.

Direct Fulfillment Program

Vendors in the direct fulfillment (DF) program can access the Selling Partner API for Direct Fulfillment. Access to the API provides vendors a path to manage direct fulfillment business operations programmatically.

Below are a collection of supported operations;

DirectFulfillment Orders API

  1. Get Purchase Orders
  2. Get Purchase Order
  3. Acknowledge Order

DirectFulfillment Shipment API

  1. Get Shipping Labels
  2. Get Shipping Label
  3. Submit Shipment Confirmations
  4. Submit Shipment Status Updates
  5. Get Packing Slips
  6. Get Packing Slip
  7. Get Customer Invoices
  8. Get Customer Invoice

DirectFulfillment Payment API

  1. Submit Invoices

DirectFulfillment Inventory API

  1. Submit Inventory Update

DirectFulfillment Transaction Status API

  1. Get Transaction Status

Supported Vendor Central Marketplaces

It is important to note that while the Selling Partner API supports North America, Europe, and the Far East selling regions, the Vendor API supports the following marketplaces:

North America Marketplace

  1. Canada https://vendorcentral.amazon.ca
  2. US https://vendorcentral.amazon.com
  3. Mexico https://vendorcentral.amazon.com.mx

Europe Marketplace

  1. Spain https://vendorcentral.amazon.es
  2. UK https://vendorcentral.amazon.co.uk
  3. France https://vendorcentral.amazon.fr
  4. Germany https://vendorcentral.amazon.de
  5. Italy https://vendorcentral.amazon.it
  6. India https://www.vendorcentral.in

Getting Started with Vendor Central API

Openbridge offers direct, code-free data integration with SP-API. The connector provides a reliable, integrated data automation solutions for Amazon vendors.

Our Amazon API connector will allow you to;

Your team will quickly get data critical to optimizing performance and accelerating growth.

Finally, vendors can turbocharge their reporting, business intelligence, and insights software by tapping into the Vendor Central API.

Are you interested in beta testing the Amazon Vendor API connector? We are looking for testers! Contact us to enroll.

References

Want to discuss selling on Amazon? Need to fuse sales data with performance data from Amazon Marketing Services? Need a platform and team of experts to kickstart your data and analytics efforts? We can help!

Getting traction adopting new technologies, especially if your team is working in different and unfamiliar ways, can be a roadblock for success. This is especially true in a self-service only world. If you want to discuss a proof-of-concept, pilot, project, or any other effort, the Openbridge platform and team of data experts are ready to help.

Reach out to us at hello@openbridge.com. Prefer to talk to someone about Amazon Vendor Central? Set up a call with our team of data experts.

Amazon Vendor Central — Selling Partner API was originally published in Openbridge on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.



source https://blog.openbridge.com/amazon-vendor-central-selling-partner-api-34faadb19668?source=rss----4c5221789b3---4

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