FBA shipments
The FBA Shipments module is where you plan and track every inbound shipment from your warehouses to Amazon’s fulfillment centers. It pulls suggested quantities from your forecast and stock data, validates against Amazon’s rules, and creates the shipment in SP-API on your behalf.
In this guide:
- Open FBA Shipments
- Plan a new shipment
- Validate and submit to Amazon
- Track inbound progress
- Close out a received shipment
Prerequisites
- Amazon Seller account connected with FBA enabled.
- At least one warehouse with stock to send.
fba.createpermission.
Step 1: Open FBA Shipments
Go to Inventory → FBA Shipments in the sidebar.
The list groups shipments by status. New shipments live in Draft; once submitted to Amazon they move through Submitted → In transit → Receiving → Closed.
Step 2: Plan a new shipment
Click New FBA shipment. The builder is a multi-step flow:
- Source warehouse — where the stock is shipping from. Determines the address Amazon will print on the inbound label.
- Destination region — NA / EU / FE; Amazon picks specific FCs.
- Lines — pick SKUs and quantities. The Suggest button uses your forecast and current FBA stock to recommend quantities.
- Validation — Hilal checks every line against Amazon’s rules (no duplicate SKUs across all paginated pages, no over-cap quantities, hazmat correctly flagged).
- Pack plan — case packs, pallets, dimensions, weight.
Save as Draft at any time and come back.
Step 3: Validate and submit to Amazon
Click Submit to Amazon. Hilal calls SP-API to create the shipment and Amazon returns:
- Shipment ID(s) — Amazon may split your shipment across multiple FCs.
- FBA labels — printable PDFs.
- Box content rules — what to include on each box.
Print labels, label your boxes, schedule a pickup with your carrier (Hilal supports a few carrier integrations; otherwise enter tracking manually).
Step 4: Track inbound progress
While the shipment is on the move, the FBA Shipments list shows live status pulled from Amazon. Click into a shipment for:
- Per-line shipped vs received counts.
- Tracking numbers and carrier status.
- Amazon’s expected receive date.
- Discrepancies (e.g., Amazon received fewer units than you shipped).
Step 5: Close out a received shipment
When Amazon finishes receiving, the shipment auto-flips to Closed. If there were discrepancies (overage, damage, lost units), Hilal surfaces them with a Reconcile button — open it to adjust your warehouse stock and (optionally) file a reimbursement claim.
Troubleshooting
- “Duplicate SKU detected” but the SKU only appears once on this page. Validation now covers all paginated pages — check earlier pages of the line list.
- “Cannot submit: hazmat unflagged.” Amazon requires hazmat declarations for batteries, liquids, etc. Open the SKU → Edit → tick Hazmat with the correct class.
- Amazon says they received less than I shipped. Wait 30 days for Amazon to reconcile internally; if discrepancy persists, file a reimbursement via Seller Central.
- The “Suggest” button shows zero for everything. Either you have plenty of FBA stock already (no recommended sends) or the forecast hasn’t built enough history yet.