Submit an invoice
Learn how to use the Vendor Direct Fulfillment Payments API to submit an invoice.
Learn how to use the Vendor Direct Fulfillment Payments API to submit an invoice. The submitInvoice operation allows vendors to submit vendor invoices to request payment from Amazon for items shipped. Using this API, vendors can submit multiple invoices in a single API call.
Items should be invoiced only after they are confirmed and shipped. Otherwise, the invoice is rejected. An invoice with correct information is processed by Amazon without any human interaction, which means that the vendor receives payment more quickly. Invoices with incorrect information are rejected in Amazon's payee system. To learn how to create invoices with correct information, refer to the business requirements section.
Account configuration
To use the Vendor Direct Fulfillment Payments API, Amazon must configure the vendor account. Go to Vendor Central and from the Support page, select the Contact Us button to request account configuration.
Parallel testing of invoice submission
After you complete the API invoice integration, our Accounts Payable (AP) department requires you to send one successful API invoice in production before considering you as live. If there are any issues with your initial production invoice, our AP team will contact you. After the API invoice is integrated into production, you must send invoices via API only. If you want to return to using just the Vendor Central option, contact us to update your account. Before finalizing your API invoice integration, submit all invoices with a "Non-submitted" status in your account under the Payments tab in the Direct Fulfillment invoices section. Existing invoices with the "Non-submitted" status might be rejected and not paid if sent via API.
Verification of successfully submitted Invoices
The Transaction Status API doesn't show the actual status of invoice processing, it only shows the status of the semantic validations of the submitted invoices. Vendors can verify the actual status of the original/updated version of the invoices via Vendor Central > Payments > Direct Fulfillment Invoices. For more information on how to use the Transaction Status API, refer to the business use case documentation for Transaction Status. Allow the system to take up to 15 minutes to show the original/updated version after submission. If Vendor Central is not showing the correct values for the updated invoice, open a Contact Us case in Vendor Central.
The following diagram shows the integration workflow for submitting invoices for direct fulfillment confirmed and shipped orders:
Business requirements
Invoice numbers must be unique, and they should never be reused (even after one year).
If an invoice sent using the API has failed due to incorrect data, but a paper invoice has the correct data, then the vendor should update the invoice through the API with the correct data using the same Invoice ID.
If an invoice has incorrect data (both paper and API) then the invoice is canceled and a new invoice should be sent with a new Invoice ID.
An invoice with a total amount = 0 should not be sent, as this would cause the invoice to fail.
Amazon requires the full address details in the address segments for tax compliance reasons. This is especially important for the bill-to party. For this segment the Amazon Payee system requires an exact match. For a complete list of Amazon bill-to party addresses and JSON code examples, refer to SP-API Bill-to Party Addresses. If you do not know the Amazon Tax ID for a bill-to location, go to Vendor Central and from the Support page, select the Contact Us button to create a case.
Payment terms sent in an invoice should match the payment terms agreed upon with the Amazon buyer.
Item product identifier must match the order item product identifier that was sent to the vendor in the matching purchase order.
The invoice total amount should be equal to the total sum of the items, charges, and allowances.
The total of the tax amount for each line level must be equal to the total of the tax amount at the header level.
The invoice total quantity should match the sum of the quantity of all items.
Every different charge and allowance must be itemized on the header level (for example, freight charge, package charge, small ordering charge).
Country-specific business requirements
Invoices for Direct Fulfillment are not supported in India via the API.
| Functionality | India | Europe | North America |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice type | Not supported. | Invoice type should always be Invoice. | Invoice type should always be Invoice. |
| Date | Not supported. | Must be "now" or before. | Must be "now" or before. |
| Tax point date | Not supported. | The date on which the tax becomes chargeable, if different from the invoice date. Sent using the taxPointDate field. When absent, the invoice date applies. | Not used. |
| Delivery date | Not supported. | The date the goods were delivered or the service was completed. Sent using the deliveryDate field. | Not used. |
| HSN number | Not supported. | Not used. | Not used. |
| Tax type at line and header level | Not supported. | Tax type to be sent. | Not used. |
| Tax registration number | Not supported. | VAT number. | VAT number. |
| Tax details at line and header level | Not supported. | If multiple taxes are applicable for an item, the Tax details section must be sent multiple times with the appropriate tax type for that item. The same applies to the total amount of the invoice. There is also an additional tax type called "DomesticVAT", which can be used to submit the tax amount in the local currency. In order to process the Domestic VAT you must use the same TaxRate used on tax Type "VAT". | If multiple taxes are applicable for an item, the Tax details section must be sent multiple times with the appropriate tax type for that item. The same applies to the total amount of the invoice. |
| Remit-to party | Not supported. | Tax and address details of the party (vendor) who will be receiving payment for the shipped items. This is required. | Tax and address details of the party (vendor) who will be receiving payment for the shipped items. This is required. |
| Ship-from party | Not supported. | Vendor code or warehouse code and address of the party from where items will be shipped. | Vendor code or warehouse code and address of the party from where items will be shipped. |
| Bill-to party | Not supported. | Tax and Address details of the party (Amazon) who will be billed for shipped items. This field is required. | Tax and Address details of the party (Amazon) who will be billed for shipped items. This field is required. |
| Bill-from party | Not supported. | Name, address, and tax details of the party that issued this invoice. Sent using the billFromParty field. | Not used. |
| VAT group party | Not supported. | Name, address, and tax registration details of the VAT group's representative member. Provided when the supplier reports VAT as part of a VAT group. Sent using the vatGroupParty field. | Not used. |
| Tax representative party | Not supported. | Name, address, and tax registration details of the supplier's fiscal or tax representative, when one is required. Sent using the taxRepresentativeParty field. | Not used. |
| Ship-to party | Not supported. | Name, address, and tax details of the party receiving a shipment of products. Provided when the full ship-to address is required in addition to shipToCountryCode. | Ship To Party is the DF warehouse code. |
| Additional party identifications | Not supported. | Additional corporate or fiscal registration identifiers for the party that are not VAT or GST registrations (for example, FR_SIREN or DE_WIDNR). Sent using the additionalPartyIdentifications field. | Not used. |
| Amazon Product Identifier and External Product Identifier | Not supported. | At least one of those values is required. The identifier must be the same as what is received in the order. | At least one of those values is required. The identifier must be the same as what is received in the order. |
| Item description | Not supported. | Product or service description for the invoiced line item. Sent using the itemDescription field. | Not used. |
| Net cost | Not supported. | This field is required. | This field is required. |
| Invoice base amount | Not supported. | The sum of all invoice line net amounts, excluding tax, charges, and allowances. Provided for EU e-invoice interoperability. Sent using the invoiceBaseAmount field. | Not used. |
| Exchange rate | Not supported. | The currency exchange rate applied on the invoice, where amounts are shown in a foreign currency. Sent using the exchangeRate field. | Not used. |
| Purchase order number | Not supported. | One invoice can have information for multiple orders. The PO number should be sent accordingly for different line items. Required. | One invoice can have information for multiple orders. The PO number should be sent accordingly for different line items. Required. |
| Additional details | Not supported. | This field is used when the selling party has to submit additional details for special purposes. For example, in the case of Polish split payment invoices, the selling party must send in the detail "mechanizm podzielonej płatności" of type "SUR" and languageCode "PL". Additional detail types TaxExemptReason, LegalTerms, and RegulatoryNote can also be sent at the line-item level. | Not used. |
| Allowance details | Not supported. | Allowance amount and tax details can be sent at the header level using the allowanceDetails field, or at the line-item level using the same field on an item. Supported allowance types are Discount, DiscountIncentive, Defective, Promotional, UnsaleableMerchandise, and Special. | Not used. |
referenceNumber | Not supported. | Not used. | Not used. |
Prerequisites
To complete this tutorial, you need:
- Authorization from the selling partner for whom you are making calls. For more information, refer to Authorizing Selling Partner API applications.
- The Direct-to-Consumer Shipping (Restricted) role assigned to your developer profile.
- The Direct-to-Consumer Shipping (Restricted) role selected in the app registration page for your application.
Submit an invoice
To submit one or more invoices, call the submitInvoice operation.
Updated 4 days ago