Setting up Amazon FBM orders

What is FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant)?

FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) is a fulfillment method where Hive helps you ship Amazon B2C orders directly from the inventory store in Hive’s fulfillment centers.

How does Amazon measure success of FBM?

To maintain healthy account performance on Amazon, you’ll need to comply with two main metrics:

1. Late Shipment Rate (LSR): The percentage of orders shipped after the expected ship date. Sellers should aim to keep this rate below 4%. Please note the shipped date is based on the carrier’s first hub scan and not when an order is marked as “Shipped” on the Hive App.
2. Valid Tracking Rate (VTR): The percentage of orders with a valid tracking number within a 30-day period. This should be maintained at or above 95%.

How can Hive help you fulfill FBM orders?

At Hive, we prioritize processing FBM orders over the rest of your B2C shipments to maintain a high level of fulfillment punctuality — targeting 96% over a 30-day period. While we are not obligated to meet this target, we strive to achieve it whenever possible.

Please be aware that punctuality may vary during periods of high volume or due to external factors beyond our control.

To ensure optimal performance, we advise you to monitor results in Amazon Seller Central and adjust handling times and shipping templates as needed.

How do I set up FBM with Hive?

Setting up FBM with Hive involves several steps:

• Notify your Growth Manager: please let your growth manager know your expected weekly FBM order volume before the launch. We will need the following preparation time depending on the expected FBM volumes:

  1. Two weeks in advance if the volume is below 300 weekly FBM orders
  2. One month in advance if the expected volume exceeds 300 weekly FBM orders

• Ensure you are syncing FBM orders to Hive:

  1. Hive identifies FBM orders based on the order's email address domain. To set up FBM for your marketplace, you’ll need to provide the domain of the email addresses used for FBM orders to your Growth Manager.
  2. Most of our brands send FBM orders to Hive through Orderdesk, Shopify’s Marketplace Connect (formerly Codisto), or Lengow.

Configure Seller Central Settings:

Please note that you must monitor the performance in Seller Central and adjust handling times and shipping templates as needed. Take the following information into consideration: 

• You need to apply the following settings to each market active in your Seller Central account; otherwise, the "Late Shipment" and "Valid Tracking rates" might be impacted.
• If you fulfill from different Hive Fulfillment Centers, please note that you will need to adjust the Order Cut-off Time and Shipping settings according to the Fulfillment Center from which you ship the orders for each market. For example, if you fulfill FBM France orders from Paris, the order cut-off is 2 PM, but if you fulfill them from Germany, it is 1 PM.

These are the settings that we recommend you adjust in your Seller Central:

• 1. Handling time: 1 day. If you see your account health being damaged, please extend this to 2 days. During peak seasons, we recommend monitoring the account health daily in Seller Central, and if your performance is affected, adjust handling times to 2 days.

  2. Operating days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

  3. Order Cut-off Time: this must be the same as the general cut-off time of the fulfillment center you are fulfilling the orders from. 

     FC	Cut off time
     BER2	1:00 PM
     BER3	1:00 PM
     POZ1	1:00 PM
     PAR1	2:00 PM
     MIL1	2:00 PM
     MAD1	3:00 PM
     MAD3	4:00 PM
     NOT1	4:00 PM

  4. Shipping templates: we recommend you use the following:

     1. BER2 and BER3
     2. POZ1

     3. PAR1

     4. MAD1

     5. MAD3
     6. MIL1

        

     7. NOT1

• Use the recommended carriers: Based on the carrier performance data, Hive recommends using certain carriers to minimize delays and impact on your account health. If you want to optimize your carrier options for FBM orders, please consult your Growth Manager to discuss potential changes.

Can Hive process by FBM returns?

Hive can receive and process FBM returns if you have set up Hive’s address as the return address in Amazon’s Seller Central.

If you would like Hive to process your FBM returns, please ensure Hive’s fulfillment center is stated as the “Default returns address” in all the Amazon marketplaces you ship from.