I’m writing on behalf of  your vendor manager for
Amazon Grocery products. I want to communicate a change to your payment terms with Amazon.com that will start at the end of this month. Effective February 1, 2013, Amazon's payment terms for your products will be 2% 30, 60 NET against all new purchase orders. This change is necessary to establish more consistent payment terms for similar Grocery vendors. Your current payment terms are: 1%
10, 30 NET.
I order to better serve our customers we continuously strive to
provide them with excellent selection, pricing, and convenience. This
  strategy has resulted in unprecedented growth for both our company and ourvendor partners. Your continued support will help us improve our customer experience, allow us to continue to grow our business together, and drive increased sales of your products. 
If you have any questions, please provide us with your feedback
by January 22, 2013.
 Best Regards,
Brendan Fortuner
| Amazon Grocery
e:
fortuner@amazon.com



Amazon.com
| AmazonServices.com

Limitations on A+
  Reviews and Flash Content 
As of January 1, 2013,
our Health and Beauty, Grocery, and Baby categories will no longer accept A+ content in HTML from external content providers; however, we encourage you to continue to submit assets, including copy and images, that our internal A+ Services team can code and publish.
Our in-house A+ Services team is available to create and publish A+ content at a price that is competitive with external content providers. Our services include creating
authoritative copy, designing layout, coding, and publishing. By bringing this service in-house, we ensure that your content is optimized for our Web pages, follows internal best practices, incorporates SEO optimization, and is HTML-compliant. Additionally, the A+ team offers a 10-14 day turnaround time from submission to publication. To work with our A+ Services team or to inquire about pricing, please click Contact Us at the bottom of any page in Vendor Central, then Promotions and Merchandising (CoOp, Vine, SPA, etc.) > Videos and other digital content for Detail Pages.
 December 31, 2012 is the last day to submit any HTML content created by external agencies already in development, but please refrain from launching any new projects with external agencies.

Central Freight
vs. Central Transport 
Recently, we've seen a number of escalations regarding shipments tendered to Central Freight but physically shipped via Central Transport.
While the confusion is understandable, it is extremely important that your
distribution teams use the contracted/preferred carrier, Central Freight, rather than Central Transport, which is not a contracted/preferred Amazon LTL provider carrier.

If you use Central
Transport, the following happens:

• Chargebacks due to incorrect shipping
  


• Reduced
  visibility to the status of your shipments for you and Amazon
  


• Increased transit time, which results in
  prioritization delays at our fulfillment centers


• Added
  risk to mitigating freight claims related to in-transit damages or losses
  because of the absence of a contractual agreement


• A change
  in freight terms to vendor-paid, which changes the risk of ownership and
  additional costs to the vendor

 
To mitigate these
issues, please use Central Freight; however, if you choose to use Central
Transport, to ensure that your shipments move with as little delay as possible,
contact Central Transport to arrange one of the following:

• Pay for
  the cost of shipping     from your origin to our fulfillment center
  


• Pay for
  the cost of returns     to your shipping site so you can resend shipments via
  Central Freight

Contact
information:

• Central
  Transport     - Contact Sharon Kusch at 586-939-7000 ext. 2410, or
  skusch@centraltransport.com.    


• Central
  Freight     - Use the contact information in the routing confirmation
  email you     receive from Vendor Central.

Thank you for your
attention to this issue.

Amazon Vendor Questionnaire - Help us help you 
Amazon strives to build
close relationships with our vendors. To do that, we need to hear from
you!
For 2013, we've
identified two exciting opportunities that will allow us to work more closely
with you to better communicate and optimize the way we do business:

• Order
  Frequency Optimization     involves customizing the frequency of the orders that
  we place with you     (and the frequency that you ship to us) to benefit both of
  us.


• Need-based PO Cancellations,     a program that was
  rolled out to certain vendor groups in September 2012,     involves sending PO
  cancellation requests as needed for line items that     are no longer wanted by
  Amazon at a particular time after a PO has been     sent.

Please take a few
moments to take a short questionnaire that will help us design these programs to
be most beneficial for you: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VendorQuestionnaire.


Thank
you!

Amazon Coupons -
New Features and Pricing for 2012 Holiday Season 
 Amazon Coupons, the
simple and efficient way for you to reach Amazon.com customers and drive
incremental sales, is announcing new features and pricing for this holiday
season. Since Amazon Coupons first launched, millions of customers have used
coupons on Amazon.com, and we're only getting started. Today, with the Vendor
Powered Coupon (VPC) platform, you can upload a coupon and have it
programmatically merchandised across Amazon.com, on the product detail page, in
search results, on Amazon.com/Coupons, through our dedicated affiliate network,
and more.
New
Amazon.com features that will automatically become available to vendors
who upload a coupon:

• A
  dedicated coupon widget on Amazon Goldbox


• A coupon
  expiration email sent to customers who have clipped a coupon but have not
  redeemed it


• A better
  coupon customer experience in all coupon widgets

 
Holiday Pricing 
Coupons
uploaded between October 8 and December 22 will be able to receive all the
features listed above at the rate of 19 cents per coupon clip and 8 cents per redemption. 
Amazon.com
Merchandising
In addition, we are happy to announce additional merchandising opportunities available to support your coupons on Amazon.com/Coupons. Contact us for more information and the rate
card.
Chargebacks
The following
chargebacks are live this month:

• Not
  Routing - Truckload/Less     Than Truckload


• Wrong
  Carrier Used -     Truckload/Less Than Truckload

Amazon's transportation
policy requires vendors who have collect freight terms to provide routing
requests for all shipments. "We Pay" vendors are prohibited from selecting their
own carriers outside of the Vendor Central routing process.


Using Amazon-preferred
carriers helps to increase inbound visibility, reduce lost shipments in transit,
and provide a level of service acceptable to Amazon Fulfillment Services.
Shipping with preferred carriers also provides us with greater control of
collect shipments, which enables us to properly manage carrier performance from
pickup to delivery.


For more information,
see the following documents in the Vendor Central Resource
Center:

• North
  American Vendor     Shipment Prep and Transportation Manual


• Infraction Management Policy     and
  Tutorials

For questions about
your charges, go to the bottom of any page in Vendor Central, and click
Contact Us > Infractions > Disputes - No
Routing/Wrong Carrier Infraction. Our transportation team will research
and provide feedback regarding your questions. Based on the feedback, you might
be directed to submit a dispute through Payments> Dispute
Chargebacks.


New Print BOL
Feature
We are pleased to introduce a new feature in Vendor Central that allows you to download a bill of lading (BOL) for submitted routing requests.


To print a BOL:

1. In
   Vendor Central, go to Orders     > Shipments to open the
   Shipment Management     page.


2. Click
   View Recent     Shipments.


3. Select
   the Routing Request ID     for which you want to print a BOL, then click
   Print BOL.

Please note that this
new feature is not available for small parcel shipments.

New Chargebacks for Fill Rate Infractions
We will begin chargebacks for low fill rates on POs issued after September 15, 2012. Amazon policy requires vendors to ship, in full, the same unit quantity that was confirmed for every ASIN on a PO. A 100% fill rate is important because it allows us to provide great customer service on your items and improve instock positioning, which allows customers to better find and purchase your products.
We will notify you regarding infractions starting September 15, 2012, but you will have until October 15, 2012 to make corrections before the chargebacks go live.
The fill rate chargeback will be calculated as follows:

• The chargeback amount will be 5% of the cost of goods, to Amazon, that was confirmed but not shipped.
• We will allow a 5% tolerance on the fill rate metric per ASIN before we generate a chargeback.
• For rejected quantities, no chargeback will be generated.

For example, if you confirm 100 units of an ASIN on a PO and we receive 95 units, no chargeback will be generated; but if you confirm 100 units of an ASIN and we only receive 90 units, we will generate a chargeback for 5% of the cost of 5 units.

Please note that you are in full control of the confirmed quantity, and you can modify that confirmed quantity until you create the Routing Request/ASN. Chargebacks will only be generated if the quantity submitted on the PO is confirmed and not received.

For more information about our PO confirmation and shipment policies, search for "infraction" in the Vendor Central Help, or go to Resource Center > Infraction Management Policy and Tutorials.

 

Transportation Chargebacks to Begin October 1, 2012

Transportation chargebacks will begin October 1, 2012 for the following:

• Not Routing - This chargeback will be for collect shipments that are delivered without a corresponding routing request.
• Routing - Non-preferred Carrier - This chargeback will be for collect shipments that have a routing request, but are delivered by a carrier other than the one specified by Amazon; shipments that are tendered to a non-preferred carrier.

Notifications of the infractions will begin September 17, 2012, but you will have until October 1, 2012 to make corrections before the chargebacks go live.

The charges for Truckload (TL) and Less Than Truckload (LTL) shipments:

• Not Routing - $150/infraction
• Routing - Non-preferred Carrier: $150/infraction

For small parcel shipments, you will receive infraction notices beginning September 17, 2012, but the go-live date for small parcel infractions is still to be determined. The charges for small parcel shipments will be:

• Not Routing - $5/infraction
• Routing - Non-preferred Carrier: $5/infraction

For more information, see the following documents in the Vendor Central Resource Center:

• North American Vendor Shipment Prep and Transportation Manual
• Infraction Management Policy and Tutorials

 

New PO Cancellation Emails and Required Response

In mid-September, we will start sending a new type of PO cancellation email that requires your response in Vendor Central. When you receive this new cancellation email, you will be instructed to confirm whether the order has shipped.

• If you have already delivered the order to the carrier, you will indicate that the order shipped prior to the delivery of the PO cancellation email.
• If the item shipped prior to delivery of the cancellation email, please be prepared to provide us, upon request, with the relevant copy of the bill of lading that shows the date the order was delivered to the carrier.
• If you deliver an order after delivery of the PO cancellation email, we may issue a chargeback or pursue other remedies under our Vendor Terms and Conditions.

Note: Amazon also supports EDI PO Change messaging for vendors who already support EDI X12 860/865 messaging. To set-up EDI PO Change messages in Vendor Central, go to EDI > Self Service Setup > General Survey. In the General Survey, go to the Amazon EDI Transactions page, and select the options for 860 and 865 EDI messages.

Dear Amazon.com Vendor,
Please review the information below and circulate within your organization as appropriate:


Prep Chargebacks and Packaging for E-Commerce

Beginning September 30, 2012, Amazon will require that you prepare your products for e-commerce prior to shipping them to our fulfillment centers. If products are not properly prepared, we will charge for prep activities, which include bagging, bubble-wrapping, barcode stickering, overboxing, stuffing, and taping, that we do on your behalf.

The fulfillment model for e-commerce differs markedly from the traditional retail model. In a traditional shopping experience, customers take products off the shelf and transport their packages home, taking responsibility for damage that might occur after checkout. In the e-commerce channel, packages must be delivered to customer doorsteps safely and without damage.

Many products received by Amazon are not packaged adequately for e-commerce fulfillment. As a result, it has been necessary for Amazon to perform prep work on these products, at our expense, to ensure that they reach customers without damage. Our prep work includes repackaging for the following reasons:

• Protect fragile products (e.g., bubble wrap for glass items)
• Contain potential spillage (e.g., bagging bottles of liquids)
• Shield from dust (e.g., bagging plush toys)
• Safeguard customers and our warehouse associates (e.g., bubble wrapping and/or boxing sharp products, like knives)

For more information, see the "Amazon Product Restrictions and Special Packing Instructions" in the Operations section of the Vendor Central Resource Center.

Product suppliers need to address the specific needs of e-commerce fulfillment and package their products accordingly. To help you make your products ready for e-commerce, the following options are available:

1. Amazon's Frustration-Free Packaging (FFP) - This program works with you to develop e-commerce packaging that is right-sized, transit-ready, and capable of maintaining brand integrity. Our FFP team offers resources for package design and provides design feedback for vendors who participate in the program. We will also perform transit testing, merchandise certified products in the FFP store, and if a packaging change is made, the product qualifies for a VINE review, all FREE of charge. You can use this packaging for all of your e-commerce sales as a great option for customer-friendly packaging. We believe that this is the best option for you. To begin the FFP process, log in to your Vendor Central account, and click Items > Frustration-Free Packaging > Learn more.
2. Do It Yourself Prep - Follow the prep guidelines in the "Amazon Product Restrictions and Special Packing Instructions" to prep your own products. This option allows you to control the quality and cost of prepping your products. Vendor-prepped items will not be FFP certified, and they will be placed inside another Amazon box for shipping to customers. This option requires additional wasteful packaging, which may reduce brand visibility on packaging during delivery to customers. If you need prep materials, a web search on keywords such as "industrial supply bubble wrap" will return a list of materials suppliers across North America.
3. Amazon Prep Chargeback Service - Currently, we are not charging for the prep work that we provide; however, effective September 30, 2012, we will begin charging vendors who have not addressed their product packaging via the options listed above. With this option, Amazon will prepare your products for e-commerce as before, but issue prep chargebacks (viewable in Vendor Central) for the service. For more information, see the chargeback fees table and prep chargebacks FAQs in "Amazon Product Restrictions and Special Packing Instructions."

We began providing advanced notice of the chargeback service in July 2012. Since that date, we have provided a list of chargebacks (waived for now) in Payments > Infractions so you could anticipate which of your products will require prep and so you can address those packaging issues prior to September 30, 2012. You can also view and download your product information, including prep instructions, from Reports > Amazon Retail Analytics Basics > Vendor Catalog Listing. After September 30, we will issue chargebacks for the products in your Vendor Central Listing that require Amazon prep.

New Cutoff Time for Routing Requests

To better serve our vendors and improve the flow of inventory into our fulfillment centers, beginning July 16, 2012, we will extend the cutoff time from 10 am PST to 5 pm PST for routing shipments with a freight-ready date of the next day.

This change will provide you with a more time time to prepare the shipment and route without impacting the pickup date. As always, please ensure that you are stating the freight-ready date adequately to avoid unnecessary delays and cost.
New Chargebacks for Inbound Shipment Defects

Amazon's transportation policy requires you to include the purchase order (PO) number on the outside of every incoming carton. This helps reduce item loss and ensures that you are correctly getting credit for shipments. To further reduce problems, we also require that you package boxes with approved packing materials; therefore, we will begin chargebacks for 'No PO on carton' and 'Unapproved dunnage' (Styrofoam or peanuts) on shipments arriving after July 15, 2012.

The chargeback amount will be as follows: $10 charge per carton when a PO is missing on the outside of the box $25 charge per carton that includes unapproved dunnage (Styrofoam or peanuts).
Bulk Item Template Validation

To improve your experience with the Bulk Item Creation templates, we first transitioned all users to the .xls/.xlsx format. As of June 20, 2012, the latest update automatically checks your input and suggests improvements before you upload your file to Vendor Central.

This change should not impact any other aspect of the New Item Setup process in Vendor Central. You can find instructions to use this feature in the Vendor Central Resource Center under the Miscellaneous section.
Missing Images and Product Data Quality merged for ARA Basic

We are pleased to announce that you can now use the Vendor Catalog Listing report to directly access products that have missing images or data quality issues, activities that previously required separate processes in Amazon Retail Analytics (ARA) Basic.

This new feature gives you better visibility into issues in your catalog. The merged Vendor Catalog Listing report will allow you to upload images and fix defects from the single report.

We have also added two new filters to your Vendor Catalog Listing report:

• Items not in SITB - Use this filter to view the Book ASINs in your catalog that do not have SITB (Search Inside The Book) enabled. This filter will be visible only if your catalog has Book ASINs.
• Out of stock items - Use this filter to access the out-of-stock items in your catalog.

New Cutoff Time for Routing Requests

To better serve our vendors and improve the flow of inventory into our fulfillment centers, beginning July 16, 2012, we will extend the cutoff time from 10 am PST to 5 pm PST for routing shipments with a freight-ready date of the next day.

This change will provide you with a more time time to prepare the shipment and route without impacting the pickup date. As always, please ensure that you are stating the freight-ready date adequately to avoid unnecessary delays and cost.

If you have questions or suggestions, please let us know via the Contact Us link on the bottom of every page in Vendor Central.

Prep Notification-only Chargebacks Pilot and Ecommerce Ready Packaging

Beginning the week of July 2nd, Amazon will pilot notification-only vendor chargebacks for costs related to product prep in our fulfillment centers. This will provide you with visibility into the prep costs associated with Amazon prepping non-ecommerce-ready products to ensure that they reach the end customer safely and intact.

The fulfillment model for ecommerce differs markedly from the traditional retail model. In a traditional shopping experience, the customer takes products off the shelf and drives their package home. The customer also takes responsibility for damage that occurs past checkout. The ecommerce channel, on the other hand, must get the package safely to the customer's doorstep.

Many products sold on the Amazon platform are not packaged adequately for ecommerce fulfillment, so it has been necessary to perform prep work on these products to convert the packaging so that the product safely reaches the customer. Prep activities include repackaging to protect fragile products (e.g., bubble wrap for glass items), to contain potential spillage (e.g., bagging bottles of liquids), to shield from dust (e.g., bagging plush toys), and to safeguard customers and associates (e.g., bubble wrapping and/or boxing sharp products like knives). For full details, please reference the Amazon Product Prep Matrix in the Operations section of the Vendor Central Resource Center.

Product suppliers need to address the specific needs of the ecommerce fulfillment channel and package products accordingly. Providing ecommerce-ready products is a competitive advantage in the high-growth ecommerce market segment.

We would like to help you make your products ecommerce ready. Here are the options:

1. Frustration Free Packaging - This program assists you in developing ecommerce-ready packaging that is right-sized, transit-ready, and enables you to maintain brand integrity. Information about Frustration Free Packaging (FFP) is located in Vendor Central. To access, log into your account, click on the Items tab, select Frustration Free Packaging and then click 'Learn more' to read about the FFP program. Amazon's FFP team offers resources for packaging design and provides design feedback. We will also perform transit testing, merchandise certified products in the FFP store, and if a packaging change is made, the product qualifies for a VINE review, all FREE of charge. You may leverage this packaging for all e-commerce sales as the best in class packaging standard. We believe that this is the best option.

2. Do It Yourself Prep - Follow the prep guidelines in the Amazon North America Special Packaging Instructions to prep your own products. This option allows you to control the quality and cost of prepping your product. Vendor prepped items will not be certified as ecommerce-ready (i.e., FFP-certified) and will be placed inside another Amazon box for shipping to customers. This option is less green and reduces the brand visibility on packaging during delivery to the customer. A web search on keywords such as industrial supply bubble wrap will return a list of materials suppliers across North America.

3. Amazon Prep Chargeback Service - Currently we are not charging for this service, but in the future will begin charging those who have not addressed their product packaging via the options listed above. Amazon will perform the prep work to make your products ecommerce ready, then issue prep chargebacks that are viewable in Vendor Central. The chargeback fees will be in accordance with our prep rate card.