Vendor Retail (RTV)
Path: Home, Vendor Central, Vendor Retail. Vendor Retail is the classic 1P model: Amazon sends the vendor a Purchase Order, the vendor ships cases or pallets to an Amazon Fulfilment Centre, the vendor invoices Amazon, and Amazon retails the product to the end customer. The vendor never sees the consumer. The page is a CSV-style data table with extensive PO and SKU metadata. Top-bar actions:Export New Purchase Orders, Import PO Acknowledgments, Export Import Log, Reject PO Items, Packing List, Active Shipments, Closed Shipments, Print Picking List.
Workflow
- Amazon sends a PO. Visible in Customer Services (Pinned in Menu) under Order Stages with marketplace =
Amazon Vendor, and in this Vendor Retail surface with full PO and SKU detail. - Acknowledge the PO. Confirm the lines, quantities, and prices. Use Import PO Acknowledgments for bulk acknowledgement.
- Pack the cases. Use Packing List to generate carton-level pack lists with SSCC barcodes.
- Ship to the assigned FC. Amazon assigns the destination Fulfilment Centre; the shipment goes to that FC.
- Update Active Shipments. Track each shipment until it lands at the FC.
- Close Shipments. Once Amazon confirms receipt, move to Closed Shipments.
- Invoice Amazon. The wholesale invoice is generated from the accepted PO and routed via your finance system.
Key data points
The Vendor Retail surface holds extensive metadata per PO and per SKU: account name, order date, order ID, ASIN, SKU, multiple item details, dispatch confirmations, internal user audit. The data shape is built for the SLA-heavy Vendor PO process where every action is timestamped and audited.Use cases
- High-volume seasonal vendor. A vendor expecting a Q4 surge uses the Vendor Retail surface to manage thousands of PO lines, with the Active Shipments view as the operational dashboard for what has shipped and what has not.
- Multi-FC routing. Amazon assigns POs to specific FCs based on inventory placement. The vendor uses the destination FC field to plan internal cross-dock or hub routing.
- Chargeback defence. When Amazon raises a chargeback (PO compliance, shipping window miss, label miss), the audit trail in the Vendor Retail surface is the evidence pack.
Common gotcha
Late acknowledgement is the single most common chargeback cause on Vendor Retail. Amazon expects acknowledgement within a tight SLA (typically 24 hours of PO issue). Configure email alerts via Report Notifications to route new POs to the vendor team immediately.Vendor Direct Fulfillment (DF)
Path: Home, Orders, Amazon Vendor Central. Vendor Direct Fulfillment is the newer 1P model: Amazon sends the vendor a Purchase Order, but instead of shipping cases to an FC, the vendor ships individual units directly to the end consumer on Amazon’s behalf. Amazon still retails the listing; the vendor handles fulfilment. The page header changes: it lives under Orders, Amazon Vendor Central rather than under Vendor Central. This is intentional, because operationally Vendor DF is closer to a 3P direct-to-consumer order than to a wholesale shipment. Top-bar actions:Export New Purchase Orders, Import PO Acknowledgments, Export Import Log, Reject PO Items, Packing List, Active Shipments, Closed Shipments, Print Picking List.
Delivery Windows filter
Top-left dropdown for delivery-window filtering. Each Amazon Vendor DF PO carries a delivery window (e.g. “Next Day”, “Two Day”); the filter scopes the grid to a window.Workflow
- Amazon sends a PO with a delivery window. Each line has a target delivery date.
- Acknowledge. Same as Vendor Retail.
- Pick and pack the individual units. Unlike Vendor Retail, each unit ships separately.
- Print Picking List in the configured layout (uses the Picking List Templates from Templates and Documents).
- Ship via the carrier configured in Shipping & Carrier Configuration. Amazon Vendor DF supports specific carriers (typically Royal Mail, Yodel, DPD in the UK).
- Update tracking. Tracking pushed back to Amazon so Amazon can communicate it to the buyer.
- Close on delivery confirmation.
Vendor DF chargeback model
Vendor DF chargebacks are tighter than Vendor Retail. Reasons include:- Late ship. Order not dispatched within the delivery window.
- Mis-pick. Wrong SKU shipped.
- Wrong label. Label format must match Amazon’s spec exactly.
- Missing tracking. Tracking number not uploaded back to Amazon within SLA.
Use cases
- High-margin SKUs. Vendor DF margin is typically better than Vendor Retail because the vendor avoids the FC handling fee, but only if the vendor’s own fulfilment SLA is reliable.
- Niche SKUs Amazon will not stock. Some SKUs Amazon will not bring into FC inventory but will retail via Vendor DF, where the vendor holds the stock.
- Geographic flexibility. Vendor DF lets the vendor ship from any warehouse rather than the FC Amazon would have routed to.
Choosing between Retail and Direct Fulfillment
| Factor | Vendor Retail (RTV) | Vendor Direct Fulfillment (DF) |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds stock | Amazon FC (after vendor ships in) | Vendor warehouse |
| Fulfilment | Amazon | Vendor |
| Carrier | Vendor → FC, then Amazon → consumer | Vendor → consumer |
| SLA tightness | Multi-day | Same-day or next-day window |
| Chargeback risk | Mostly PO acknowledgement and shipping window | Late ship, mis-pick, wrong label, missing tracking |
| Margin | Lower (FC handling) | Higher (no FC handling) |
| Best for | High-volume, predictable demand SKUs | Niche, irregular, or premium SKUs |
Cross-link to the rest of the AI OS
| Need | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Live Vendor KPI (PO acknowledgement rate, chargeback rate, fulfillment rate) | Nerve Centre, the Amazon Vendor connector card |
| ”Why is our Vendor DF late-ship rate up this week?” | Vortex Mind, dispatch operational diagnostics |
| ”Show me all open Vendor DF POs with delivery window today” | Ask Viq, plain-English query |
| ”Open a fix for the recurring SSCC label issue on Vendor Retail shipments” | Actions Kanban |
Common questions
Can a single SKU be on both Vendor Retail and Vendor DF? Yes, depending on Amazon’s category rules. The vendor can ship the same SKU into FC inventory (Vendor Retail) and also stock it themselves for Vendor DF orders. CloudHub treats the two PO streams separately even when they reference the same SKU. What happens if I reject a PO? Use the Reject PO Items action. The reject decrements the SKU’s fulfillment rate score on Amazon’s side; persistent rejects damage the vendor relationship. Reserve rejects for genuine cannot-fulfil situations. Where do I see Vendor chargebacks inside CloudHub? The chargeback view is in the Amazon Vendor connector card in the Nerve Centre. Vendor Central holds the PO and shipment data; the chargeback line is the post-fact financial impact and lives on the Nerve Centre and the Vortex Mind diagnostics surface. Why does Vendor DF live under Orders rather than under Vendor Central? Operationally it is a direct-to-consumer order with all the picking and packing concerns of any other order. The platform navigation surfaces it where the team would expect to find it (Orders), even though the underlying source is the Vendor PO API.Next steps
- See Inventory, Import, Export for the vendor-side inventory management.
- Return to the Vendor Central overview for the 1P workflow context.
- Configure carriers under Permissions and Shipping.