Now that you have created your Amazon Pro Merchant Account, have reviewed Amazon's category requirements and have prepared your inventory according to these requirements, it is time to complete the Amazon Setup Guide. This guide will walk you through the initial setup process within the ChannelAdvisor application and will set the foundation for your account integration with Amazon.

Prerequisites

You should be familiar with the following topics before completing this task: 

• Getting Started with Amazon

Media

• Configuring Amazon Settings - This video is a walkthrough of the Amazon Setup Guide and reviews how to access the guide, assigning labels and templates, and defining quantity allocation. 

Tasks to Complete

Navigate to Marketplaces > Amazon > Settings for the first tiem and you will be entered into the Setup Guide and will need to complete the steps found there. View Image

If you have already completed the setup guide, you'll be taken directly to the Settings view. You can manage and customize the following:

• Authorize ChannelAdvisor as your Amazon Integration Partner
• Amazon Categories
• Amazon Default Label & Template
• Inventory Review (Categorizer)
• Quantity Allocation
• Inventory Reconciliation
• Order Fulfillment Settings
• Externally-Managed Distribution Center

Setup Guide Overview

Once in the Amazon Setup Guide you will be guided through a series of steps. Below is some information about how to navigate through the steps of the Amazon Setup Guide. View Image

1. Navigation: To advance between the sections of the guide simply select the links under Getting Started or select the Next button. 
    
2. Help Tool: Select this icon to view helpful hints about how to complete each field within the guide.
    
3. Required Fields: Fields with this symbol must be completed in order to successfully complete each section of the guide. 
    
4. Save and Return: You may save your progress and return to the guide at any time by navigating to the Amazon > Settings view.

(1) Authorize ChannelAdvisor As Your Integration Partner

The first step of the guide asks you to provide your Amazon Seller Central account information so ChannelAdvisor can be authorized as your integration partner.  ChannelAdvisor is  one of the only 3rd party integrators using Amazon's most up to date Merchant Web Service (MWS) APIs.  Amazon requires sellers to authorize ChannelAdvisor as your integration partner. View Image

1. Authorization Status: Select the link and log into your Amazon Seller Central account. Amazon will direct you through a few pages to authorize ChannelAdvisor and agree to terms and conditions. ChannelAdvisor does not store your login or password - this authorization flow is enough information for ChannelAdvisor to recognize your account.  You will be redirected back to ChannelAdvisor and your account will be associated to ChannelAdvisor.
    
2. Amazon Release Package: From your Amazon Seller Central account navigate to Help > Manage Inventory > Reference > Text-file Templates > Inventory File Templates. Scroll down and locate your Amazon Release Package. Return to the Setup Guide and select your release package from the drop down.
    
3. Amazon Credentials: Provide your Amazon Seller Central Username and Password.

(2) Identify Your Amazon Categories

Next, you will be asked to identify which category or categories of products you plan to sell on Amazon.  If you can choose a category that requires approval from Amazon and have not received approval, you can continue setup but when we send your products they will not be accepted by Amazon. Be sure to receive approval prior to sending products in those categories. 

For a more detailed discussion on Amazon Categories, click here.

(3) Select the Default Amazon Label

ChannelAdvisor uses labels to associate your inventory with a channel.  In this step of the Setup Guide, we will default your inventory label for Amazon to "Amazon Seller Central - US" (or -UK, -DE, -FR, -CA depending on your account).  If you would like to use a different label, you may change that selection here.  In addition, you can create a new label or make adjustments to the selected label from this screen. Please refer to the labels page of the SSC for detailed information about this topic. View Image

(4) Select the Amazon Default Template

ChannelAdvisor uses templates to map your inventory information to the site's specification.  In this step of the setup guide select the Amazon Default Template.  If you would like to use a different template you may change that selection here, but we recommend using the Amazon template provided.  After completing the steps of the Setup Guide you will then have the opportunity to map your inventory according to Amazon's specifications by completing this template. View Image

(5) Allow ChannelAdvisor to Categorize your Inventory According to Amazon's Requirements

When enabled the Categorizer will review your inventory information and compare it to Amazon to help suggest Amazon-specific product detail information, such as Item Type and Used For. This information will be used to categorize your products onto the appropriate Amazon browse node (taxonomy).  After supplying some information from your inventory you will be shown a list of suggestions for you to review.  You will be given a chance to accept, edit or reject the suggestions.  After you accept a suggestion that information is saved in your inventory details page for that product.  Your template mapping for those Amazon fields will adjust to utilize that data if it is available in your inventory. View Image

1. Yes, use the Categorizer: Select where in your inventory you are storing Product Titles and Product IDs by mapping to those fields in your inventory
2. No, do not use the Categorizer: You may choose to decline ChannelAdvisor's assistance if you know the information for your products.  This setting is adjustable at any point in the future for additional products added to your inventory. 

Please refer to the ChannelAdvisor Categorizer page of the SSC for detailed information about this topic.

(6) Setup Your Quantity Allocation Strategy

Next, we provide you a step to setup your quantity allocation strategy.  There are three aspects to a quantity allocation strategy:

1. Quantity to send
2. Quantity to withhold or reserve for another channel
3. Choice to allocate, or commit quantity to the site, or not allocate

Please refer to the quantity allocation strategy page of the SSC for detailed information about this topic

(7) Inventory Reconciliation

In the event that your inventory information has been updated directly on Amazon, unanticipated results may occur, including the possibility of overselling. For this reason, ChannelAdvisor strongly recommends you never update your inventory information directly on Amazon. To help safeguard this, ChannelAdvisor provides the Inventory Reconciliation feature. When enabled, this feature will automatically detect any differences between your Amazon inventory and your ChannelAdvisor inventory and reconcile the differences according to the behavior you specify on the Inventory Reconciliation settings page outlined below. The page has the following settings:

1. Product Listings - I only list Amazon products through ChannelAdvisor: If ChannelAdvisor detects products listed on Amazon that are not assigned to an active ChannelAdvisor Amazon feed, the Reconciler will withdraw those products from Amazon. This option is recommended to ensure the catalog parity between the two platforms.
2. Product Prices - I only set my Amazon prices directly within ChannelAdvisor: If ChannelAdvisor detects a price difference to an Amazon product that is currently managed by ChannelAdvisor, it will correct that price difference with the value configured in the ChannelAdvisor platform. This option only applies to price updates made outside of the ChannelAdvisor software - price updates made directly within ChannelAdvisor will update on Amazon regardless if this setting is on or off. This option only applies to products assigned to an active ChannelAdvisor Amazon feed.

For additional information and example on how this feature works please refer to the Using the Marketplaces Inventory Reconciler page.

Activation Date - Once enabled, the feature will become active upon the first successful feed sent to Amazon. If you are in the process of migration to ChannelAdvisor and already have active listing managed outside of ChannelAdvisor, please note that reconciliation will begin to occur once your first successful feed is sent to Amazon from ChannelAdvisor. If you are testing the integration, you may want to temporarily disable the setting to ensure that your existing live listings remain on Amazon. When you are ready to fully transition to ChannelAdvisor, we strongly recommend that the setting be enabled.

(8) Choose How Order Fulfillment is Communicated to Amazon

You have the option to directly pull your orders from Amazon or utilize the integration ChannelAdvisor has already put in place for this process. View Image

1. Date Orders to Download to ChannelAdvisor: Select the date you plan on launching to Amazon. Orders will begin downloading to ChannelAdvisor on this day. 

• Please Note: Typically you will not know the exact date you plan to go live. We suggest entering a date about 1 month in the future. When you are ready to officially launch on Amazon you can than return to this view and select the actual date you would like to begin downloading orders to ChannelAdvisor.

2. Yes: Use ChannelAdvisor to collect orders from Amazon and send shipping/cancellation notifications to Amazon on my behalf.
3. No: I will collect order information and send shipping/cancellation notifications to Amazon on my own external to ChannelAdvisor.

For more information on how ChannelAdvisor assists you in fulfilling your sales refer to the Fulfill and Cancel Orders tab of the Amazon Getting Started Guide. 

Please Note: Never download orders directly on Amazon Seller Central. This will prevent these orders from being imported into ChannelAdvisor and can lead to various discrepancies between your ChannelAdvisor and Amazon accounts.

(9) Amazon Shipping Mappings

In this section of the guide you will need to map the shipping carriers configured in your ChannelAdvisor account to the applicable Amazon shipping carriers. This will tell ChannelAdvisor what Amazon carrier (UPS, USPS, DHL, etc) to send with shipping confirmations.

Note: The Externally-Managed Distribution Center settings for Amazon FBA are no longer in the Setup Guide. They can be located after completing the setup guide in the Amazon Settings.  See this page on configuring Auto-Flip Settings.

Revising Your Amazon Settings

You have now completed the process to set up your account through ChannelAdvisor.  Navigate to the Amazon > Settings view to adjust your Setup Guide selections. 

1. Editing the Settings: Select the edit icon to change any of the settings you have selected within the Setup Guide.