Zentail's Shipments feature allows you to communicate with Amazon when you have inventory that is not yet in stock but expected to be in stock on a specific date. This allows you to take orders in the meantime and set appropriate availability expectations with your customers.
To access the Shipments feature, hover over the Inventory option in the top navigation bar and then select Shipments under "Planning". Note: This feature is currently in Closed Access. For more information about closed access features, check out this article.
This Article will cover how to:
Creating a Shipment
There are two ways to create a new Shipment in Zentail. The first is by manually creating the shipment, and the second is by marking a PO in Zentail as "Accepted". Learn more about POs here!
Creating a Manual Shipment
While we recommend filling out all fields when possible, the minimum required fields are:
Vendor
Warehouse
Shipment ID
At least one SKU
The Estimated Receipt Date can be blank or you can fill in your actual estimated receipt date. Please read the section on Leaving past due inbound shipments open to fully understand the impact of leaving this field blank.
On the first page you need to enter in the Vendor, Receiving Warehouse, and Shipment ID.
On the second page you can add SKUs to your shipment either by uploading a csv or by clicking the + icon and searching your catalog.
Editing a Shipment
Clicking on a shipment allows you to edit any field within the shipment. This includes Estimated Receipt Date, SKUs, and Quantity. This applies to shipments created manually and through a PO.
Amazon's Restock Date
Amazon accepts either available quantity or inbound quantity through their inventory feeds. Sending a quantity with a restock date to Amazon makes this product available for purchase before you have it in stock. Amazon will display this to the shopper with a later expected delivery date than if you actually had it in stock.
If you have an open shipment (it has not been marked as Received or Cancelled) then Zentail can send the quantity within the shipment and the expected receipt date to Amazon as the inbound quantity and restock date.
Please note that Amazon accepts on available quantity OR restock date. So if your product has 2 units in stock with 100 units inbound, the feed to Amazon will only include the 2 units in stock. Once that sells out, a new feed will be sent with 100 units on a specific restock date.
Leaving Past Due Shipments Open
What happens when you don’t close out an inbound shipment?
If SKUs on inbound shipment are out of stock: Zentail sends a restock date based on lead time
What happens when there is no “Estimated Receipt Date”?
If SKUs on inbound shipment are out of stock: Zentail sends a restock date based on lead time
Why would you manage inbound shipments this way?
SKUs are always available within X number of days
- “X number of days” based on lead time
When SKUs go out of stock, automatically send future restock date to Amazon
Where to Enter and Manage Shipment Lead Time
Zentail will send the future restock date based on the Estimated Receipt Date. If you feel this date is no longer accurate, you can always go into the inbound shipment and edit this date. If the Estimated Receipt Date is blank or is in the past, the restock date is based on: Current Date + Lead Time
Zentail will calculate the Lead Time based on the following priority:
Lead Time entered for that Vendor (from the inbound shipment) on Vendor Management page
If Lead Time on Vendor Management Page is blank, use Lead Time entered on that SKU on the Catalog page
If Lead Time is blank for that SKU, use Lead Time entered for Vendor Based on that SKU on the Vendor Management page
If above fields are blank, use the account-wide Lead Time entered on the Company Settings page
If all fields are blank, a default 2 day lead time will be used
How to Download a Shipment
The columns of the CSV will be:
PO Number
External Shipment Number
SKU
Order Quantity
Received Quantity
Order Status
Vendor
Destination Address
Created At Timestamp
Shipped At Timestamp
Estimated Delivery Date
Actual Delivery Date
Frequently Asked Questions
Can shipments be added via .csv import?
Not yet, but we’d like to add this functionality. We’ll add this in our next iteration.
Can Zentail read shipments from other integrations, like FBA or SkuVault?
Yes! You can also Create FBA Inbound Shipments from within Zentail.
How does cost get calculated after a shipment is received?
We’ll average the “cost” for your SKU based on:
((QuantityOnhand X CurrentCost)+(InboundQuantity X InboundUnitCost)) divided by (QuantityOnhand + InboundQuantity)
Use above formula if QuantityonHand and CurrentCost is greater than 0. Otherwise, use InboundUnitCost
- This only occurs once the inbound shipment is marked as “received”
- If Unit Cost on the inbound shipment is blank, current cost on SKU is not affected at all.
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