Amazon Announced 'Amazon Fulfillment Web Service' (Amazon FWS)

Amazon Fulfillment Web Service (Amazon FWS) allows merchants to access Amazon.com's world-class fulfillment capabilities through a simple web services interface. Merchants can programmatically send order information to Amazon with instructions to physically fulfill customer orders on their behalf.

Registered merchants already use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to send inventory to Amazon's fulfillment centers, and when orders are placed (on Amazon.com or through other merchant sales channels), Amazon will pick, pack and ship the products to the merchant's customers -- anytime and to any place. FBA frees merchants from managing the order fulfillment process while still maintaining control over their inventory. Amazon FWS extends the benefits of FBA by allowing merchants to integrate FBA capabilities directly into their own web sites or other sales channels. This enables merchants to automatically store inventory in Amazon's warehouses and ship orders to customers, creating a nearly virtual business. There is no charge for using Amazon FWS; only fees for the underlying FBA services apply.

Functionality

With Amazon FWS, merchants can directly integrate with the FBA system, allowing them to automatically process shipments to Amazon and then out to customers. This functionality is contained in two key APIs: the inbound service and the outbound service.

Inbound Service
The inbound service allows merchants to create and send inbound shipments of inventory to Amazon's fulfillment centers.

• Create shipments of inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers
  Our tools make it easy for merchants to ship inventory to Amazon with everything from label creation to packing slips. Merchants can also take advantage of Amazon's highly discounted UPS shipping rates. 

Outbound Service
The outbound service allows merchants to use Amazon's fulfillment processing for orders sold on the merchant's website or other non-Amazon channels.

• Submit fulfillment order/shipment requests
  By integrating the outbound service API into merchant software, customer orders are processed in real time, informing Amazon what to ship and where to ship it.
• Track and manage shipment requests
  After orders leave our fulfillment centers, merchants can track shipments and keep their customers aware of arrival times.
• Upload branding information
  Merchants have the option of branding the packing slips on Amazon.com boxes so their customers always know who they are buying from.

Service Highlights

Flexible 
Amazon FWS allows you to manage all aspects of inbound and outbound fulfillment activity. The service provides a variety of inventory management tools and allows you to designate which orders Amazon should fulfill, giving you the flexibility to use as much or as little of the underlying Fulfillment by Amazon service as you want. Amazon FWS also supports multi-channel selling by enabling you to sell products simultaneously on your own sites as well as on Amazon.com - with Amazon fulfilling both channels.

Scalable
Amazon FWS can scale with your customer demand, allowing you to ship from a few items a week to millions of orders per year. By integrating Amazon FWS' API directly into your shopping cart or order management system, there is no lag time while waiting to process or batch orders. Amazon will ship your products anywhere, at any time.

Reliable
Using Amazon FWS, your inventory receives the same care as Amazon.com inventory. Amazon.com processes millions of orders a year via sophisticated online order processing and fulfillment operations. From the advanced web-to-warehouse, high-speed picking and sorting system to complete shipping carrier integration, Amazon's technology results in your customers getting what they ordered, when they ordered it.

Secure
Your inventory is securely stored and managed in Amazon's climate-controlled fulfillment facilities and your customer orders are processed confidentially.

Easier to sell your products on Amazon.com
Registered merchants can streamline the process of selling on Amazon.com by having Amazon fulfill your orders ? so you don't have to. Customer orders are processed seamlessly as Amazon picks, packs, and ships your products. Plus, products that are fulfilled by Amazon qualify for all of Amazon's buyer shipping and customer promotions (such as free Super Saver shipping and Amazon Prime) and Amazon takes care of customer service and returns.

Pricing

There is no charge to use Amazon FWS.

Once you have integrated Amazon FWS with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you are only charged FBA fees, and only when orders are processed or while inventory is stored in Amazon warehouses (learn more about FBA pricing).