Amazon Vendor Central retail PO lifecycle: PO to acknowledgment to ASN to invoice

Step 1

The PO arrives with a window, a destination, and a cost

Amazon creates retail purchase orders through Vendor Central and exposes them through the Vendor Orders API (getPurchaseOrders and getPurchaseOrder) or as EDI 850. Each PO names the buying and ship-to party (the fulfillment center code), your selling party (vendor code), a ship window and sometimes a delivery window, a payment method, a PO type, and line items with SKU, ASIN, ordered quantity, and net cost. That cost is the number everything downstream must match.

Step 2

Acknowledge within 24 hours, every line, honestly

Amazon expects a complete acknowledgment within 24 hours through submitAcknowledgement or EDI 855: every line item, each with a code, a confirmed quantity, and where relevant a scheduled ship or delivery date. Lines you leave out are treated as rejected. The acknowledgment is a promise: Amazon measures what you ship against what you confirmed, so it has to reflect real quantities and dates, not optimism.

Two rules trip integrations. You cannot confirm more than Amazon ordered. And the cost in the acknowledgment must equal the cost on the invoice, and cannot exceed the PO cost, so if Amazon's cost is wrong the place to fix it is the acknowledgment, not the invoice. Confirming less than requested is normal and expected; confirming everything and shipping less is the expensive path. Rule-based confirmation per SKU, covering inventory floors, fixed quantities, and cost and price floors, is how vendors clear the 24-hour window without a person reading every line; the Vendor Central Retail integration describes the four rule types.

Between steps

Revisions: Amazon changes the PO, you acknowledge again

Retail POs are not static. Amazon revises quantities, dates, and occasionally line items after issuing the PO, and each revision carries a new state-changed timestamp and expects an acknowledgment of its own. A vendor who confirmed revision 1 and never saw revision 2 ships against the wrong numbers and eats the shortage or overage. Keep every revision, re-run the same confirmation logic on each, and decide deliberately whether your internal order holds the original request or the final agreed quantity. Finance teams differ on which they want; the requirement is that the history is kept and the acknowledgment on file always matches the current PO.

Step 3

Ship to Amazon’s rules: routing, labels, window

Shipping a retail PO means shipping to Amazon's fulfillment center on Amazon's terms. Collect vendors request routing (EDI 753 or the Vendor Shipments API) and receive carrier and appointment details back (754 or the shipment response) with an Amazon Reference Number; prepaid vendors book their own carrier against the delivery window. Cartons carry Amazon's labels and content requirements, pallets follow the routing guide, and freight has to be ready inside the PO ship window or the PO On-Time Accuracy chargeback follows. The moving parts here are real: appointment scheduling, carton content labels, prep rules, LTL versus small parcel. The chargebacks guide lists what each miss costs; the operational answer is a warehouse or 3PL that has shipped to Amazon before and an OMS that hands it the PO, the confirmed quantities, and the window.

Step 4

ASN before arrival, matching what is on the truck

The advance shipment notice (submitShipmentConfirmations on the Vendor Shipments API, or EDI 856) tells Amazon what is coming: PO number, carton and pallet contents, quantities per SKU, carrier, and the PRO or BOL reference. It must be on file before the shipment reaches the FC, and it must match the physical shipment and the carrier appointment. A missing ASN, an ASN that arrives after the freight, or an ASN whose PRO does not match the appointment each has its own chargeback, and receive-side shortages get charged against the ASN quantity.

Step 5

Invoice per PO at the acknowledged cost

Invoices post through the Vendor Invoices API (submitInvoices) or EDI 810, per PO, at the cost you acknowledged, referencing the PO number and the shipped quantities. Cost mismatches against the acknowledgment or the PO produce shortage claims and payment holds; paper invoices carry their own fee. Vendors are paid on negotiated vendor terms, so invoice timing is cash timing. Posting the invoice from the ERP, at the agreed values, the moment the PO ships is the whole game.

Automation

How InfiPlex runs the retail PO

InfiPlex connects Vendor Central Retail through the Vendor Retail Procurement SP-API, pulls each PO, runs your per-SKU confirmation rules and sends the acknowledgment inside the window, stores every revision and re-runs the rules on each, hands confirmed orders to your warehouse or 3PL with the window and destination, and posts the invoice per PO at the agreed cost, automatically from NetSuite or manually. Set-up is on the retail SP-API set-up article; the program page is the Vendor Central Retail integration.

Frequently asked

Questions, answered

The questions vendors ask when the first retail POs land.

Resources

Related pages and references

Confirming Vendor Central POs by hand every morning?

We connect Vendor Central Retail accounts every week. Bring your PO volume and your ERP and we will map which SKUs can confirm themselves. Contact us, email info@infiplex.com, or call 888‑770‑0857.