Creating an inbound shipment containing over 200 items

Amazon recommends that you specify no more than 200 items (as defined by SellerSKU) when calling the CreateInboundShipmentPlan operation. If you need to create an inbound shipment that includes more than 200 items, you can do this by following these guidelines:

1. Divide your items into batches, with each batch containing 200 items (SellerSKU values) or fewer.
2. Call the CreateInboundShipmentPlan operation for the first batch of items. For each inbound shipment plan that is returned, create a separate inbound shipment by calling the CreateInboundShipment operation.
3. Call the CreateInboundShipmentPlan operation for the second batch of items. If an inbound shipment plan is returned that matches an inbound shipment created in Step 2, (i.e. they have the same DestinationFulfillmentCenterId and LabelPrepType values), then add the items from that inbound shipment plan to the matching inbound shipment. Do this by calling the UpdateInboundShipment operation. Otherwise, create a new inbound shipment by calling the CreateInboundShipment operation.
4. Call the CreateInboundShipmentPlan operation for each batch of items. Continue matching the returned inbound shipment plans with existing inbound shipments, adding items to existing inbound shipments (using the UpdateInboundShipment operation) when possible and creating new inbound shipments (using the CreateInboundShipment operation) when necessary.

The following is a hypothetical workflow that illustrates in detail how to create an inbound shipment containing more than 200 items. In the example below, the inbound shipment contains 500 items.

1. Call the CreateInboundShipmentPlan operation for items 1 through 200.

   Suppose the following two inbound shipment plans are returned:

   • Plan 1: 50 items, ShipmentId = FBAEX0001, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId = RNO1 LabelPrepType = NO_LABEL
   • Plan 2: 150 items, ShipmentId = FBAEX0002, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId = PHX3, LabelPrepType = NO_LABEL
2. Call the CreateInboundShipment operation twice to create the following two inbound shipments:
   • Shipment FBAEX0001: 50 items
   • Shipment FBAEX0002: 150 items
3. Call the CreateInboundShipmentPlan operation for items 201 through 400.

   Suppose the following two inbound shipment plans are returned:

   • Plan 3: 180 items, ShipmentId = FBAEX0003, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId = RNO1, LabelPrepType = NO_LABEL
   • Plan 4: 20 items, ShipmentId = FBAEX0004, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId = RNO1, LabelPrepType = SELLER_LABEL
4. Call the UpdateInboundShipment operation to add the 180 items from Plan 3 to shipment FBAEX0001, as Plan 3 and Plan 1 have identical DestinationFulfillmentCenterId and LabelPrepType values.
5. Call the CreateInboundShipment operation to create a new shipment FBAEX0004 for the 20 items in Plan 4, as the DestinationFulfillmentCenterId and LabelPrepType values of Plan 4 do not match those of any existing inbound shipments.
6. Call the CreateInboundShipmentPlan operation for items 401 through 500.

   Suppose the following inbound shipment plan is returned:

   • Plan 5: 100 items, ShipmentId: FBAEX0005, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId: PHX3, LabelPrepType: NO_LABEL
7. Call the UpdateInboundShipment operation to add the 100 items from Plan 5 to shipment FBAEX0002, as Plan 5 and Plan 2 have identical DestinationFulfillmentCenterId and LabelPrepType values.

The following three inbound shipments have been created:

• Shipment FBAEX0001: 50 + 180 items, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId = RNO1, LabelPrepType = NO_LABEL
• Shipment FBAEX0002: 150 + 100 items, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId = PHX3, LabelPrepType = NO_LABEL
• Shipment FBAEX0004: 20 items, DestinationFulfillmentCenterId = RNO1, LabelPrepType = SELLER_LABEL

For more information, see Fulfillment Inbound Shipment API.