Amazon Vendor Bill of Lading Documentation
Shipments to Amazon Vendor require a Bill of Lading (BOL) document to be sent in the shipment detail. But - generating this detail can be quite a headache for Vendors when creating the shipment manifest.
As a refresher, here are the requirements for BOL documents from the Amazon shipping manual. There are two vendor manuals - for North America and for EU.
For North American vendors, full detail in document under Help->Shipping->Vendor Manual (link here) section 4.1
For European vendors, full detail in document "5_Pan_EU_Vendor_Manual_Shipment_Prep_and_Transportation_EN"
North American Vendor Manual:
A Bill of Lading (BOL) is required for all FTL and LTL shipments. A BOL serves three purposes:
- It acts as a receipt for the goods given to the carrier for shipment.
- It defines the contracted agreement for the carrier to transport the goods from the point of origin to the destination.
- It provides evidence of title (ownership) of the goods, under certain conditions, such as if the ownership of the goods is challenged
Pan EU Vendor manual:
The following information is required on all BOL’s. Information must be printed, NOT handwritten:
- Ship From: Your Company’s Name and postal address
- Ship To: Amazon FC node with postal address
- ALL Amazon Purchase Orders and invoice numbers (if you have invoice number at the time of shipping) contained in the shipment
- Unique shipment or delivery reference (ASN for non-EDI enabled vendors)
- Amazon Reference Number(s) for Collect shipments only. See section 5.1 for more information on Collect.
- Carrier’s reference number PRO # (if available)
- Handling unit quantity (pallet, carton, each) information. All 3 units of measure are required (not just pallet).
These documents can help with the proof of delivery, as well as providing a carrier signature for the shipment.
If you are generating these documents by hand - we are here to help. We can help you produce a BOL automatically when the ASN is made in KhooCommerce, meaning its just one click for your teams to print the required documentation for shipment.
If you're struggling with a slow BOL process or would like a quicker way of making the Bill of Lading document with all the required information - please send us a message!