Frequently Asked Questions
Topics
- General
- FBA Shipment Workflow: Create, Edit, Ship
- FBA Packing Workflow and Functionality
- AWD Workflow and Functionality
- VendorCentral Workflow and Functionality
- Printing
- Mobile Devices
- Pricing
- Misc
General
Q: Is the platform web based or an installed application?
A: The entire platform is web based and can be used from any computer or mobile device with a modern browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE10+). We recommend using Firefox because of it supports silent printing (bypassing print dialog boxes). Chrome is also fully supported.
Q: Can I see how these tool work?
A: There are a few video walkthroughs that we have available. Shipment creation and closeout workflow and some carton label options. There are many more features that are not covered in the videos, please contact us for a personal walk through and demo.
Q: Does this software connect to my Amazon account and can I connect more than one?
A: A connection is not required, but that severely limits the functionality available to you. You can manually upload shipment plans, group pack files and your product catalog into our platform. Connection to your Amazon account is required if you want to use AWD, or our shipment creation, and closeout and transportation workflow to avoid using Send To Amazon.
You can connect more than one account. The total number of Amazon accounts connected to a Wizard-Industries login is dependent on your subscription plan.
FBA Shipment Workflow: Create, Edit, Ship
Can I create FBA shipments directly inside your platform?
Yes! You can skip Seller Central entirely. Create shipments much faster than you could in Seller Central. You can create shipments using our interface, scanning items with a scangun or via a bulk upload file. You can also clone and past shipments.
We support shipment creation in US, North America, and European FBA warehouses.
Can I import FBA shipments created outside your platform to pack and ship out?
Yes! You import shipments created by other 3rd party platforms and use our FNSKU labeling, carton packing, labeling and shipment functionality the same way as if the shipments were natively created with us.
Are expiration dates supported?
Yes! We automatically check for expiration date requirements on Amazon and tag any items that require an expiration dates. You can also tag items requiring expiration dates manually. When creating box labels or FNSKU labels, we will prompt for an expiration date to comply with all Amazon requirements.
Can I edit my FBA shipment content after a shipment has been created?
For an approved shipment plan, Amazon FBA will only allow the quantity of each Amazon SKU to be edited up to 5%, or up to 6 units. If you need to add or remove more units, you will need to duplicate the shipment or create a new shipment.
Can you force all items into one shipment and destination?
Our Amazon integration and workflow is 100% compliant with all Amazon policies, regulations and guidance. While other platforms may offer to "combine all splits into one shipment" the way it's done is against Amazon's very clear policy. Users of other platform's "combine shipments" functionality have reported receiving the following warnings from Amazon:
We are reaching out to you because we have identified your shipments created in the past week using Marketplace Web Services (MWS) which are non-compliant with FBA Shipment Policy. It is a violation of FBA Shipment Policy when you ignore, delete, or abandon shipments in any shipping plan. Inventory is required to be shipped to all fulfillment centers specified when you create a shipment using MWS.To us, it's not worth the risk of jeopardizing your account health for a short term workaround.
Shipments that comply with FBA policy can be received at fulfillment centers more quickly, and your inventory can be made available for sale sooner. When multiple shipments in a shipment plan are created, you must approve all shipments in the plan, then ship inventory according to each shipping plan. You cannot ignore, delete, or abandon shipments in any shipping plan. If you delete parts of a shipping plan, or if we don’t receive every shipment in your multi-destination plan within 30 days after the first shipment arrives at Amazon, you will be notified by email. (The exception is if one or more of your shipments is delayed solely because of an action or omission by an Amazon partnered carrier.) ....
Can I close out the shipment?
Yes, we support the complete end-to-end life cycle of shipment creation. Once everything is packed, you can
- Select Small Parcel or LTL
- Select Amazon Partner Carrier or your own carrier
- Enter the dims / weights / ready date
- Accept the shipping rate
- Get the UPS package labels, or FTP/LTL pallet labels and Bill of Lading
What types of transport options are supported for my shipments?
We support all shipment types from SPD (individual boxes) to LTL/FTL (pallets). We are also integrated with Amazon Partnered shipping. You can purchase partnered shipping and download all the labels directly inside the software. For Amazon LTL shipping, you can set your own freight class or use Amazon suggested class.
FBA Packing Workflow and Functionality
Q: I sell on Amazon via FBA. What can 2D barcodes do for me?
A: All FBA sellers are required to provide box content
information for each box to Amazon. If you do not provide box contents information, Amazon
will apply a fees per box shipped. The fee varies for Amazon US and EU warehouse destinations.
If you provide box content information, you will not be charged this fee.
You can get more details about the Amazon box contents requirements in SellerCentral help: for Amazon US and Amazon EU.
Important: If you do not see using 2D barcodes as an option in SellerCentral, enable the 2D barcode option in Seller Central Inbound Settings page.
Q: Are the 2D barcodes compatible with Amazon US, Canada and Amazon EU warehouses?
A: We support all Amazon FBA warehouses globally that require box contents information. The 2D barcode that Amazon requires for box contents are universal for all FBA destinations.
Q: Can I use this tool to skip providing box contents for Amazon FBA in SellerCentral?
A: You can use this tool to avoid using the manual web form or uploading an Excel/CSV file into SellerCentral.
The 2D barcode label method is particularly recommended for:
- Sellers shipping inventory from third-party suppliers. Your supplier can provide box-level detail without coordinating with you regarding FBA shipment creation details. FBA shipping labels still need to be applied to boxes, but FBA shipping labels can be applied independently of the 2D barcode labels specifying the box’s contents. Alternatively, you can use our combined labels to generate a combined 2D box content and inbound FBA label together.
- Sellers using the Marketplace Web Service to create shipments or who otherwise have high-volume operations. The benefit to 2D barcode labels is that the solution is easily scalable.
- FBA prep centers. Simplest way to provide box contents information without additional files or customer account access.
Q: What about expiration date labels?
A: Products that expire must be prepped to ensure that the expiration date is accessible for Amazon associates during the receiving process. We automatically check for expiration date requirements on Amazon and tag any items that require an expiration dates. You can also tag items requiring expiration dates manually. When creating box labels or FNSKU labels, we will prompt for an expiration date to comply with all Amazon requirements.
Failure to include the expiration date may cause the items to be relabeled at your cost.
Please review the Amazon instructions for handling items with expiration dates.
You can print FNSKU and expiration date labels and track expiring inventory at FBA as part of your box packing workflow.
Q: What if my entire shipment fits into one box?
A: Per Amazon,
for shipments with only one box, you do not need to provide box level information unless the shipment contains expiration-dated products.
Q: We work on multiple shipments at one time. Can I pack multiple shipments at the same time or switch between shipments as I'm packing?
A: You can work on multiple shipments at the same time. You can either pack different shipments at different pack stations or you can pack a few items from Shipment A, switch to packing Shipment B and then when ready go back to finish Shipment A. Everything is stored and you can pick up where you left off.
Q: Can this tool be used for the same shipment on the multiple computers at the same time?
A: Yes. If you have a shipment consisting of multiple boxes, you could have multiple boxes being packed at the same time.
HOWEVER, you cannot have multiple computers packing one box. For example, if you have a shipment of 10 boxes and
2 workstations, each workstation can pack a box at a time for the same shipment. If you have a 1 box and 2 workstations, this will not work.
Q: Can this tool keep track of the items I scan?
A: Yes. With the premium or enterprise plan, the platform keeps track of the items you pack.
You are able to look up the item and box information by Shipment, FNSKU / UPC, and by expiration dates. The information is retained for at least year from creation date. This is the perfect way to reconcile the items you packed to Amazon shipment plan using our shipment validation functionality. You can upload the Amazon shipment plan to verify that the packed items match the plan.
Q: I ship LTL, what features are available to help me?
A: With the premium or enterprise plan, you can record dimensions, weight, and pallet IDs for each box during packing. The reporting system monitors pallet weights and box allocation on each pallet. Following Amazon guidelines the pallet's total weight must not exceed 1,500 lbs. Additionally, you can directly print pallet labels from the app upon completing pallets. In the shipment closeout process, you can either arrange Amazon-partnered LTL transportation or provide details for your own trucks.
All transportation cost information will be tracked and presented in the Transportation Cost Report. This report includes historical transportation price trends, costs per shipment, per unit cost, and more.
Q: How come the UI looks a little plain?
A: Our UI is optimized for high volume operations. It's not pretty because it's optimized for warehouse environments where speed and accuracy are the key factors.
AWD (Amazon Warehousing and Distribution) Workflow and Functionality
What can I do for my AWD workflow?
A: Our software seamlessly integrates with Amazon AWD, allowing you to create, pack and label AWD inbound shipments with ease. You can learn more about our AWD capabilites on our AWD page.
VendorCentral Workflow and Functionality
Q: How can I generate SSCC Carton labels for my VendorCentral shipments?
A: We allow a simple way to generate SSCC labels for all your cartons by uploading a CSV file with shipment information. For each carton in the CSV file, we will generate the 4x6 formatted labels for you to print. The CSV file template is available here.
Q: How can I generate 2D BPS Carton labels for my VendorCentral shipments?
A: We allow a simple way to generate BPS labels for all your cartons by uploading a CSV file with shipment information. For each carton in the CSV file, we will generate the 4x6 formatted labels for you to print. The CSV file template is available here.
Printing
Q: What label sizes are supported for the FBA and VendorCentral labels?
A: The generated FBA and VendorCentral labels are designed to fit a 4x6 label that are used with thermal (label) printers. If you're using a regular printer, it will neatly print in the left top corner of a regular sized page.
Q: Can you recommend a label printer that works well with this?
A: The following printers are known to work well for printing the 4x6 labels:
- Dymo 4XL
- Zebra LP2844
- Zebra GC420
- Zebra GK420, GK420d
- Zebra ZE450
- Brother HL-2275DW
However, the platform should work with any label printer that supports a 4x6 label. This is just a list gathered from happy customers.
The Dymo 450 will NOT work as the labels are too small.
Q: What label sizes are supported for expiration date and FNSKU item labels?
A: Today, we support 2.00in x 1.00in, 2.5in x 1.00in, 2.61in x 1.00in and 3.00in x 1.00in labels among many others.
If you find yourself using a different label size and want to use the tools, please contact us and we'll add a template for your preferred labels. Please note, we only support thermal label printers for FNSKU labels. We do not support 30 labels per sheet layouts.
Q: Can I setup silent printing of the labels, without the Print Dialog box?
A: You can setup silent printing in Firefox. Follow the silent printing instructions to learn more.
Mobile Devices
Q: Does this work on tablets/phones?
A: Yes. However, there are two main topics that come up with mobile devices: barcode scanning and printing. Try using the demo functionality to verify that it works in your environment.
- Printing. Since the tool uses the built-in browser on your device, if you set up your mobile device to print to a printer in your environment, you should be able to print the 2d barcode without any problems.
- Barcode Scanning. Because this tool is web-based (runs in a browser) and not a native app it does not have access to the phone's camera for barcode scanning. We recommend using a Bluetooth scanner paired with your mobile device for the barcode scanning. This will let you scan barcodes much faster than with the device's camera, and works with our tools.
Q: Can you recommend a barcode scanner?
A: Any barcode scanner that works with your device / computer will work with the app.
We use a basic USB scanner to test the platform and it seems great.
For tablets and phones, a Bluetooth or any other wireless scanner would work much the same way. The computer sees all scanners as just a keyboard, so there is no difference in wireless or wired.
If you want something for the long run, the recommended brands are Symbol/Motorola or Zebra because they are built to withstand a good amount of abuse.
Price
Q: How much does this service cost?
A: There are tiered pricing plans, which are outlined here. You can try all of the packing and barcode generating functionality by using the demo. Once you sign up, there is a 1 day grace period before your credit card is charged.
Q: Can I use multiple workstations or is that an extra fee?
A: There are no extra fees if you want to share your login on 2 workstations at the same time. If you're running a warehouse with 3 or more packing workstations, you need to be on the premium or enterprise plan. If you want individual logins for each workstation to track performance per workstation, you're able to buy multi-use add-on package.
Q: Are there any additional costs?
A: No. You only pay the monthly subscription fee for the chosen plan unless you want to have multiple logins. It's $50 per month for a pack of 3 additional users.
Misc
Q: Is my data safe?
A: All billing is done securely via Stripe. We never store (or even see) your credit card information.
Q: Do you use or collect any of the information I provide?
A: Only if you ask. If you want to keep a history of packages and contents, signup for the premium or enterprise plan. In this case, the information will be stored, but that data will be accessible only to you. It will not be shared with anyone.
If you do not use the premium plan, then no information about your shipments will be stored.
Q: Are there any limits on the monthly plan?
A: Yes. To prevent abuse and account sharing, the plans are limited by amount of shipments per month.
Additionally, if you have more than 3 workstations used for packing at the same time, please select the enterprise plan.