Planned Replenishment, OB, in season, off season, greenlight, … the Amazon Vendor Central contains lots of different codes and abbreviations for the availability status of your listed products.
In this article, you’ll learn what the codes are, which of the replenishment and availability codes are important to keep track of, and where in the Amazon Vendor Portal you can find and update the codes.
What are padding codes?
Amazon internally assigns different codes for each item listed, which the order system uses to identify whether the product is available for order and should be ordered. If an item has the wrong code, Amazon will no longer order it from you, it will not be available on the Amazon website directly from Amazon, visibility will drop, fewer customers will click on it, this will lead to lower demand -> the downward spiral is in full swing.
What are the Amazon internal replenishment codes and where can you find them?
| Replenishment code | Explanation | Meaning | Where available |
| PR | Planned Replenishment | Automatically reordered, standard code | Cost table, ARA |
| BR | Basic Replenishment | Is only reordered manually | Cost table, ARA |
| LR | Limited replenishment | Will be reordered if necessary | Cost table, ARA |
| OB | Obsolete | No longer available, will not be ordered | Cost table, ARA |
| NR | Non replenishable | Not available for order | Cost table, ARA |
| OF | Off season | Seasonal items out of season | Cost table, ARA |
| IS | In season | Seasonal items within the season | Cost table, ARA |
| NP | New Product | Newly created product | Cost table, ARA |
| NS | Dropship | not in Amazon stock | Cost table, ARA |
| AL | Allocated | is only reordered manually | Cost table, ARA |
| OP | Out of Print | no longer produced, EOL | Case |
| UN | Unknown | Status not known | Cost table, ARA |
| NY | Not Yet Published | not yet published | Case |
| Greenlight | Availability | ASIN currently available from suppliers | Case |
| In stock | permanently in stock | Item will be automatically reordered by Amazon if needed | VC Catalog |
| Temporarily unavailable | is currently out of stock | Is not ordered through Amazon | VC Catalog |
| Permanently unavailable | can no longer be offered | Is not ordered through Amazon | VC Catalog |
What are the most important codes and where can you quickly check and change them?
The fastest and most reliable way to check the current product status is in the Vendor Central catalog. To do this, go to Articles -> Catalog -> Update Availabilities in your Vendor Central.
Choose between three options:
- In stock
- Temporarily unavailable
- Permanently unavailable
Changes at this point immediately affect the ordering process.
The “Catalog” feature is now available in most vendor categories and replaces the time-consuming availability management by case. If this menu item is not available in your VC, request the availability list by case. So that the support employee knows exactly what to do, use this text module:
“Dear Team, Please send us an overview for VendorCode XYZ with the following contents:
- ASIN
- item_name.value
- model_number_value
- ean.value
- availability_lifecycle.value
- replenishment_category.value”
Different systems – different codes
[box type=”info”] Items may well have different, even contradictory padding codes within Amazon. For example, an item may be marked “PR” in the cost list, but in the catalog it is marked “temporarily unavailable”.[/box]
This is how you reliably communicate your current availabilities to Amazon:
1. update via article -> catalog -> update availabilities
Best, fastest and easiest way. Should usually already have an effect on the next orders. Disadvantage: no bulk upload possible.
2. via the order confirmation codes in the current vendor orders.
Simple and without duplicating effort. Availability is updated immediately upon order confirmation. Disadvantage: goes only in one direction (available to unavailable). Not always reliable in the implementation on Amazon’s part.
3. about the confirmed quantities in the orders (including EDI transmissions).
In case of multiple PO rejections or partial deliveries, the Amazon ordering algorithm automatically switches the item to “not available”. Disadvantage: goes only in one direction (available to unavailable). Not always reliable in the implementation on Amazon’s part.
4. per case management
Time-consuming. Only recommended if catalog function is not yet available, or does not work.
YellowSky Service
Do you need support in Vendor Central Management? Feel free to contact us our experts will be happy to help you.
