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Amazon FBA Pending Orders Causes and Solutions

Amazon FBA Pending Orders: Causes and Solutions

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Are you wondering why you have FBA pending orders? It’s important for Amazon sellers to understand why orders are pending so they can ensure smooth operations and customer satisfaction. This article delves into the reasons behind pending orders on Amazon, their impact, and actionable strategies for FBA sellers.

Key Takeaways:

  • Pending orders on Amazon FBA may occur due to payment verification, inventory shortages, or logistical delays.
  • Amazon sellers should monitor pending orders closely, communicate with buyers, and maintain adequate inventory levels.
  • It’s important to quickly resolve pending orders to lessen potential impacts on seller performance and customer satisfaction.

Amazon is the largest marketplace in the world,  delivering everything from A to Z. Those products come from a variety of Amazon sellers, from big businesses to small individual vendors across the globe.

If you’re reading this article, you’re likely an Amazon FBA seller yourself. However, there may be times when you log into your Amazon Seller Central account to find that some of your orders have a “pending” status. If you have ever seen these updates on your Amazon, don’t worry.

There are numerous reasons why Amazon FBA pending orders happen. Let’s take a minute to look at all the reasons why Amazon flags your order as “pending.”

What Does Amazon FBA Pending Orders Mean?

With the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, sellers can store their products in Amazon’s warehouse and have them shipped directly to customers when orders are placed. But, there may be times when an order is classified as “pending” on the seller’s end, even though it was placed by the customer.

This typically means that Amazon is reviewing the order and making sure all necessary criteria are met before shipping it out. Once the order is reviewed and approved, it should be processed and shipped accordingly.

Why is My Amazon Order Pending?

Pending orders are common on Amazon. In fact, all orders are marked “pending” for 30 minutes after the customer initiates payment.

amazon order status

Amazon uses this time to authorize the payment and verify it for fraud. You can keep an eye on pending orders on your Amazon Seller Central account by going to “Manage Orders” and clicking “Pending Orders.”If your order is in the “pending” status for more than half an hour, it’s most likely because the customer’s Amazon payment is pending.

But there are other common reasons why your orders may be pending for longer than usual:

  • There may be an issue authorizing the customer’s credit card.
  • The buyer may have selected convenience store payment and not completed it.
  • The buyer may have ordered multiple products at once and Amazon has not yet gathered all of the orders in one place.
  • Your inventory may be out of stock.

If pending orders are related to customer payments, you, as a vendor, can contact the buyer and resolve the issue via Amazon’s customer service.

It’s important to understand that you cannot ship your order until the status moves from “pending” to “unshipped.”

How Much Time Does Amazon Usually Take For Pending Verification?

Every Amazon FBA order is generally marked as “pending” for 30 minutes. But if there is an issue with an order or it’s pending verification, it can take up to 21 days. Thankfully, that’s a rare occurrence, as Amazon typically handles pending orders fairly quickly, up to a few days at most.

Amazon’s delivery process is not simple—it involves a multitude of organizations micromanaged by the company to operate smoothly. Because finding, packing, shipping, and processing a product is tedious and strenuous, sometimes orders can stay “pending” for a long time. 

What Should You Do With FBA Pending Orders?

The best method to resolve pending orders is to wait. , Honestly, there’s not much else you can do, as Amazon technology doesn’t allow you to do much with the “pending” notification, anyway.

how to solve pending order status

However, you must stay vigilant about your inventory if you have lots of pending orders. Typically, Amazon will release your orders for processing in 30 minutes. However, if scores of orders are kept pending and then suddenly released for processing and delivery, you may have a sudden dip in inventory. Therefore, it pays to keep your stock constantly in check.

If you find out that you have pending orders piling up, n expect that they will be moved ahead for delivery soon. At this vital time, you can increase the stockpile of your product or keep it ready for dispatch in the bay, at least. 

You can also try contacting buyers and asking them to cancel the order if that is a conscious decision from your side. But keep in mind that routinely canceling orders is an immediate red flag for Amazon. So, if you are facing issues with too many pending orders, it would be best to speak to an Amazon representative and get the problem checked out.

Amazon’s shipping process involves moving your product from one fulfillment center to another for logistical reasons, an order can be marked pending for that time. But, again, you have to wait till Amazon notifies you about an update.

Can I Cancel an Amazon Pending Transaction?

No, Amazon does not allow FBA sellers to cancel pending orders. 

If you, the seller, have decided not to fulfill the order because it’s stuck in the pending status, you can contact the buyer directly and ask them to cancel the order from their side. If they don’t not want to cancel the order, you can politely ask them to contact Amazon’s customer service for further inquiries, or enlist in the help of an Amazon Virtual Assistant to take care of it for you. 

Will Pending Orders Affect Your Amazon Listing?

The ‘pending orders’ notification from Amazon is arguably one of the most annoying things a seller can face in the online marketplace.

The notification typically “greys out” your order on Amazon Seller Central, meaning it is frozen, and you can’t do anything about it. You can’t  ship items for a pending order, nor can you cancel it.

Instead, the order has to go through Amazon’s rigorous checks before its fate is decided, and you, the seller, can act on it. 

Sometimes, the order might be stuck in the lengthy warehousing process since Amazon has a vast network of fulfillment centers that it controls. In that case, the waiting onus is on the customer since the final shipment is causing the delay. 

Now, what would happen if your business got a lot of pending orders?

First, if the customer has not paid through the proper channels, your business loses its credit funds. Moreover, you may have to deal with angry buyers who would want to contact sellers directly. 

The effect of pending FBA orders on your Amazon listing is difficult to gauge because there are few variables like what product you are selling, how much you are selling, market ups and downs, etc.

It’s not wise to have too many pending orders, but Amazon can’t delete your listing for that. The tricky bit in this case is the 30 minutes it takes for the initial processing of the order. 

Because of that gap where the order is frozen, other vendors might see available stock when in reality, it has already been sold. Ultimately, you could lose out on a potential customer. 

Remember that most financial transactions that happen via Amazon for orders happen within minutes. Some exceptional cases stay pending for longer than usual. However, you, the seller, are rarely liable for these aspects of the trade.

FBA Pending Orders: A Final Word

Running an FBA business on Amazon isn’t a laid-back task. It involves business owners using all their trading fundamentals in collaboration with an e-commerce mogul to facilitate the smooth delivery of anything under the sun that someone orders from Amazon.

Sometimes, the delivery mechanism encounters an unknown entity—like slow financial transactions or financial fraud—and the wheel stops spinning for a while. 

You can only wait for your FBA pending orders to become “unshipped orders” and, eventually, “delivered.”

The moral of the situation: Be prepared. wise to restock your product inventory while dealing with many pending orders.

You can ask buyers to contact Amazon’s customer service to enquire about the pending order. That way, you can find out if the customer’s payment channel has failed or if the product is stuck in warehousing adventures. And your customer knows that the delay is not the fault of your company.

If the problem of pending orders keeps recurring, you should contact Amazon as soon as possible.

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