Amazon MWS - OrderFulFillment Message - Multiple Parcels (Tracking Datas)

Question

MWS Feed Message: OrderFulFillment

How to tell amazon that multiple (> 1) parcels were shipped for a customer order ?

I can specify multiple items within one message, but only one tracking (parcel) data (ShipperTrackingNumber).

I think I've to use multiple messages, one for each parcel.

Two cases:

• One order with one order line having qty > 1: do I have to split qty's of order line ?

e.g. order line with quantity 10:

    <MessageID>1</MessageID>
    <OrderFulfillment>
        <AmazonOrderID>123-456-789</AmazonOrderID>
        <FulfillmentDate>2013-07-25T16:40:16+02:00</FulfillmentDate>
        <FulfillmentData>
            <CarrierName>DHL</CarrierName>
            <ShipperTrackingNumber>1234567890</ShipperTrackingNumber>
        </FulfillmentData>
        <Item>
            <AmazonOrderItemCode>1</AmazonOrderItemCode>
            <Quantity>5</Quantity>
        </Item>
    </OrderFulfillment>

    <MessageID>2</MessageID>
    <OrderFulfillment>
        <AmazonOrderID>123-456-789</AmazonOrderID>
        <FulfillmentDate>2013-07-25T16:40:16+02:00</FulfillmentDate>
        <FulfillmentData>
            <CarrierName>DHL</CarrierName>
            <ShipperTrackingNumber>1234567891</ShipperTrackingNumber>
        </FulfillmentData>
        <Item>
            <AmazonOrderItemCode>1</AmazonOrderItemCode>
            <Quantity>5</Quantity>
        </Item>
    </OrderFulfillment>

• One order with multiple order lines

same procedure/behaviour ? splitting items/quantity into several messages ?

I hope someone can help me or give me a hint/explanation/solution how to handle multiple parcel shipping with OrderFulFillment message(s).

Thanks a lot and have a nice weekend.

Answer 1

I was unable to find any actual documentation on how split shipments are supposed to be handled, it is more guesswork from a number of sources.

The "Flat File Shipping Confirmation" Excel template has this to say:

If a customer has ordered more than one item from you, and you are fulfilling the order in more than one shipment, then order-id, order-item-id, quantity and ship-date are all required for each shipment that you are confirming.

It is my understanding that most XML feeds are actually handled by the same routines as flat files after they have passed validation. So I assume the XML feed should be created in accordance with above quoted requirement to achieve the same goal - which is exactly what you posted as possible solution. Please note that every <OrderFulfillment> can have multiple <Item> elements which allows you to specify which quantities of which items are included in which package.

Answer 2

I realize this is an old post, but in case anyone else is looking and can't get the XML to work, I did ultimately find the answer for myself, which was to submit the feed as a flat file (as referenced in another answer above from Hazzit) instead of XML. My solution was in C# - the FeedType has to be set to "POST_FLAT_FILE_FULFILLMENT_DATA"

  request.FeedType = "_POST_FLAT_FILE_FULFILLMENT_DATA_";

instead of "POST_ORDER_FULFILLMENT_DATA" and then you have to submit a tab-delimited text file in the format defined here (from their European site, but I use this in the United States marketplace):

https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/external/help.html?itemID=13491

I tried repeatedly to get the XML to work with a few different variations and simply could not make it work. Amazon's documentation on this is terrible and doesn't describe how to format the XML for multiple tracking numbers. When I switched to the flat file feed, it worked right away. If anyone has had any luck with the XML version, I would be interested in seeing that. I had an open case with Amazon for quite a while trying to get this information from them and they kept insisting that I was asking them to write my code for me when really I just wanted guidance on how to format the XML correctly for their system. I suspect that there is no way to get two tracking numbers to work in and XML feed and that it only works with a flat file.