Overview

Confirming shipments is one of the most fundamental responsibilities for Amazon sellers who fulfill their own orders. This Seller Central reference page outlines exactly how and when to confirm shipments, what information is required, and the serious consequences of doing it incorrectly. Getting this process right is essential for maintaining good account health and avoiding order cancellations.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Confirm only after handoff — Amazon requires that sellers confirm shipments only after packages have been physically handed to carriers. Confirming before actual handoff is considered pre-confirm ship abuse and can jeopardize your account.
• Buy Shipping automates confirmation — If you purchase shipping labels through Amazon's Buy Shipping service, shipment confirmation happens automatically when you buy the label. However, you should still arrange carrier pickup or drop-off shortly after purchasing labels.
• Seven-day cancellation rule — Orders that are not confirmed as shipped within seven business days of the shipping availability date will be automatically cancelled by Amazon, and the buyer will not be charged — even if you already shipped the order.
• Tracking numbers are validated — Amazon validates the tracking number you provide during confirmation. It cannot be blank or duplicated, so sellers must ensure they enter accurate, unique tracking information for every shipment.
• Ship-from address affects tax collection — The ship-from address you enter during confirmation can determine how taxes are collected and remitted, particularly for international deliveries. This makes accuracy especially important.

Required Information for Shipment Confirmation

When confirming a shipment manually in Seller Central, sellers need to provide several pieces of information. These include the ship date, the carrier service or shipping method used, and a valid tracking number supplied by the carrier. Additionally, sellers must specify the actual ship-from address — the physical location from which the order was dispatched. Amazon uses a drop-down menu for selecting this address, and if no selection is made, the system defaults to the shipping address on file in your Shipping Settings at the time the order was placed. If no default shipping address existed at that time, Amazon falls back to your general address settings.