Grow your revenue streams with Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF)

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If you sell products across one or more ecommerce channels, finding ways to optimize order fulfillment can have a big impact on your bottom line. Did you know that you can use Amazon’s scalable storage and reliable logistics for sales across leading ecommerce channels, social media, your own website, and more? Solutions like Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) can improve the customer experience with shipping speeds as fast as one or two days.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• What is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF)?
• How does MCF work?
• 3 ways to create MCF orders
• How to use Buy with Prime to fulfill MCF orders automatically
• How to track MCF orders

What is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF)?

Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) is a fulfillment solution that allows sellers to use Amazon’s network and logistics to reliably store, pack, and deliver products for online orders across many different types of sales channels beyond the Amazon store. By using a single pool of inventory across channels, you can save time and money while streamlining fulfillment. MCF is compatible with direct-to-consumer websites, leading ecommerce channels, social media shops, and much more.

The process for sending inventory into Amazon’s fulfillment network for MCF is the same as for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). FBA is a program that lets you outsource order fulfillment to Amazon. You can use FBA to have us pick, pack, and ship orders that customers place in the Amazon store. We also handle customer service and returns for FBA orders.

MCF and FBA are both part of Supply Chain by Amazon, which is a fully automated set of supply chain services.

What’s the difference between FBA and MCF?

FBA and MCF differ in several key ways:

• Order fulfillment: FBA fulfills orders placed in the Amazon store, while MCF fulfills orders placed through ecommerce channels like social media, direct-to-consumer websites, and other places where customers shop online. As customers purchase products from you in the Amazon store, those orders ship through FBA, if you’ve enrolled the products in the FBA program. If customers purchase products through other sales channels that you’ve connected with MCF, then we’ll fulfill those orders with MCF.
• Customer service: Amazon handles customer service for FBA orders, while sellers are responsible for providing customer service for MCF orders.
• Pricing: FBA and MCF differ in pricing. Learn more about FBA costs and MCF costs.

You can use FBA, MCF, or a combination of both fulfillment solutions in order to meet your business goals.

Compare ecommerce fulfillment options

How does MCF work?

Here are three ways sellers can use MCF:

1. Create an Amazon selling account, list products in Seller Central, and enroll products in FBA. We’ll use the inventory you send to us to fulfill orders in the Amazon store, as well as your other sales channels.
2. Create listings with the Supply Chain Portal, which uses MCF to fulfill orders. If you don’t want products to appear for sale in the Amazon store, this can be a simpler listing process. But it’s important to note that you can’t use Supply Chain Portal inventory for orders that customers place in the Amazon store.
3. Use Buy with Prime to automate fulfillment for MCF orders. You can use Buy with Prime through either a Seller Central account or a Supply Chain Portal account. But we recommend using Seller Central so that you can reach customers shopping in the Amazon store, as well as your other sales channels.

This post covers how MCF works for sellers in Amazon’s US store who have a Seller Central account and products enrolled in FBA.

Once you’ve used Send to Amazon to ship inventory into our fulfillment network, you can create MCF orders for Seller Central product listings. As customers place orders across your sales channels, we’ll pick, pack, and ship MCF orders using the settings and shipping speeds you select. You and your customers can track MCF orders, and our fulfillment network can process customer returns, while you handle customer service.

How fast is MCF shipping?

When you create MCF orders in Seller Central, you can choose from two shipping speeds:

• Standard: Delivers in three business days, with shipping and tracking time of two business days.
• Expedited: Delivers in two business days, with shipping and tracking time of one business day.

With either of these two shipping speeds, customers should receive MCF orders one to two days after the products ship from our network.

If you use Buy with Prime to fulfill MCF orders, then customers can benefit from free, one- to two-day shipping through Prime.

How does Amazon MCF packaging work?

Amazon MCF can be a great choice if you want to ship orders with boxes, tape, and other packaging materials that don’t identify Amazon or another brand. For MCF orders, we’ll default to unbranded packaging unless it causes longer shipping and delivery times. If you want to ensure that MCF orders ship with unbranded packaging, you can select Only ship with blank boxes during the MCF order creation process for eligible products.

What carriers does Amazon MCF use?

MCF uses a variety of carriers, including Amazon Logistics, to deliver products to customers. With MCF, you have the option to block Amazon Logistics for a 5% surcharge. When you block Amazon Logistics, other carriers will deliver the order.

Does Amazon MCF handle returns?

Our fulfillment network can process customer returns for MCF orders, or you can handle customer returns yourself, if you prefer. If you want the customer to ship the items back to Amazon, you can initiate a return in Seller Central. We can add the returned items back into your inventory, but you’re responsible for providing refunds and coordinating with customers to ship the items to us.

Learn more about how MCF works

3 ways to create MCF orders

1. Create MCF orders one by one
2. Create MCF orders in bulk
3. Automate MCF orders with integrations or APIs

1. Create MCF orders one by one

You can create MCF orders individually in Seller Central. Here’s how:

1. In the main menu of Seller Central, hover over Orders, then select Create MCF Order.
2. Fill in the fields with the customer’s information.
3. Add items to the order. Search by a product’s title, ASIN, or FNSKU, then select the number of units of each product we should ship to the customer.
4. Choose the desired shipping speed and estimated time of arrival, as well as shipment cost.
5. Double check each section of the order form, then select Create order.

Create an MCF order in Seller Central

2. Create MCF orders in bulk

You can upload multiple MCF orders simultaneously using a spreadsheet. This method can be ideal for large-volume orders.

1. From the Create MCF Order page in Seller Central, select Create a bulk order.
2. From the Multi-Channel Fulfillment bulk orders page, select the Create order tab, then select Download create order template.
3. Open the file. The spreadsheet contains a tab with instructions that you can reference, plus another tab with an example to help you get started.
4. Fill out the spreadsheet with the order details.
5. Upload the completed spreadsheet on the Multi-Channel Fulfillment bulk orders page by selecting Upload template.

Create a bulk order with MCF

3. Automate MCF orders with integrations or APIs

Pre-built applications and APIs can help you save time and reduce the potential for errors when creating MCF orders. We offer over 100 integrations to connect your sales channels with MCF and automate order fulfillment. For example, there are apps to connect you to Shopify, TikTok integrations, and more.

To browse integrations and choose the right ones for your business, try the MCF Integration Selection tool in Seller Central. You can also build your own custom integration with help from our developer resources.

Learn more about MCF integrations

How to use Buy with Prime to fulfill MCF orders automatically

As part of Supply Chain by Amazon, Buy with Prime has been shown to increase conversion by an average of 25%. It lets sellers display the Prime logo and delivery estimate for eligible products on their own websites. This gives customers the option to use the Amazon checkout experience and benefit from free, one- to two-day Prime shipping. Buy with Prime orders are automatically fulfilled through MCF.

Here’s how FBA sellers can automate MCF order fulfillment using Buy with Prime in Seller Central:

1. Import your inventory using Import from Amazon, or list products. If you don’t want the products to appear for sale in the Amazon store, you can set the offer start date to a future date.
2. Set up Buy with Prime on your site with the Buy-now widget, or use the MCF and Buy with Prime app for Shopify.
3. Provide customer support. We’ll handle the order fulfillment, refunds, and returns.

Learn more about how to set up Buy with Prime

How to track MCF orders

You can track MCF orders and check the status of an order anytime in Seller Central. In the main menu, hover over Orders, then select Manage Orders. Select View FBA orders, then search by order ID, or select the checkbox next to “Non-Amazon US” under “Sales channel” to browse a filtered list of orders.

After you select an order, you can reference the order’s details, including shipment information, the order status of each item, whether the order has shipped, and the tracking number associated with the shipment. The page will also have a link to the Swiship website, which provides carrier tracking information. To search an order, follow the link to Swiship, and enter the tracking number. If the order hasn’t shipped yet, Swiship will display an estimated shipping and delivery date.

Track MCF orders in Seller Central

Grow sales with Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment

Simplify and scale order management for your websites and other ecommerce channels using Amazon MCF. Our fulfillment solutions can help you deliver orders with the speed, reliability, and precision that the Amazon customer experience is known for. In 2023, Amazon was ranked the most trusted brand by US customers.

To get started with MCF in Seller Central, register as a seller.

*A Professional selling account is $39.99/month + selling fees. Learn more
¹2024 Amazon Small Business Empowerment Report