It’s Monday morning, you’ve got your steaming cup of joe and you sit down to check your Amazon FBA sales from the weekend.
You login to Seller Central to check your orders and right there in front of, next to your orders, you see the dreaded word “PENDING”. Sure it’s not as bad as seeing the word “canceled” but it can still be a bit of a head scratcher if you’re not sure what an Amazon order pending status means.
I’m going to assume that you’re here because you’re a fellow Amazon FBA seller and you want an answer to this pending order mystery, right?
Well lucky for you, this article is going to explain the following:
- What it Means to Have an Amazon Order Pending in Seller Central
- Why Amazon Orders Are Marked as Pending
- What to Do When Your Amazon Order is Pending
What Does Amazon Order Pending Mean?
After a successful purchase, Amazon always keeps orders on hold for at least 30 minutes as a measure of buyer protection. This is a time buffer that allows buyers to cancel but don’t worry, a pending order is not a canceled order. If an order is canceled you will see them greyed-out in your Seller Central.
Amazon states that they may even need up to 21 days to verify an order, which is a really long time for an order to be pending in my opinion. To have an Amazon order pending for 21 days is quite rare in my experience.
A pending order might also indicate various unresolved issues to do with verifying your buyer’s payment method. Let’s cover them in more detail now.
Why My Amazon Orders Are Marked as Pending?
One concerning issue might be regarding the buyer's credit card authorization. If Amazon has not been able to obtain authorization for the purchase, the order will show as Pending.
If your buyer has selected to make a convenience store payment then this will also cause the order to be pending until payment has been completed.
If you’re an FBA seller then there are a couple of scenarios that cause an Amazon order pending status.
The first reason is that some items might be out of stock, if your buyer has purchased multiple items. Regardless of whether Amazon decides to split the order and send only the items that are in stock, the order will still show as Pending for the time being.
Second, your buyer may have qualified for free shipping and you simply need to wait for all items in the order to be gathered together.
So to recap, the most common reasons for an Amazon Order Pending Status is as follows:
- Amazon could not get credit card authorization for the buyer’s card
- Amazon (FBA) is still gathering items for an order that qualifies for free shipping
- Some FBA items are out of stock
- A convenience store payment was selected but the buyer has not completed it yet - it's important to note that this method appears to only be available in Japan, even though the US Seller Central pending orders help article makes note of it. It's probably for the best though, it sounds like it would be a pain for sellers!
How Long Does Amazon Pending Verification Take?
Amazon Orders that are pending verification can take up to 21 days. Fortunately that is not the case for most orders.
Usually orders pending verification will only take a few days unless there is an issue with a credit card or other payment method. Sometimes your inventory may even need to be sent to another Amazon facility before it is shipped. This could also lengthen the verification time as well.
Most of the time you should see the Amazon pending verification time be pretty quick. Don't hesitate to reach out to Amazon seller support if you ever have a question about a pending order.
My Amazon Order is Pending, What Should I Do?
Well first, don't panic! Now you know the reasons why this happens so you can work on a solution, if needed.
The best thing to do in the event of Amazon Orders pending is to simply wait it out. Most of the time they are resolved quite fast and as the seller you don’t have to do anything.
If by chance you are not an FBA seller then by no means should you ever send out an order to a customer that still has a Pending order status, if the customer were to contact you directly and ask. You should wait until the issue is resolved first and the order status is showing as “Unshipped”.
If your order is low on stock and you have inventory tied up due to lengthy pending order delays, you may want to initiate contact with the buyer to try and resolve the issue or to cancel the order so you don’t lose out on other sales. Don’t be too hasty to cancel orders though because too many cancellations is not good for your Amazon account health.
The Final Word on Amazon Orders Pending
This online game was never meant to be easy, it seems. But thankfully we live in an age of information where answers to your Amazon questions are only ever a Google search away.
That’s why I try to put out as much helpful Amazon FBA content as possible so my loyal crew of followers know where to come if they come across issues that need resolving!
Whether it's things like the ever frustrating Amazon Order Pending status, questions about the best Amazon software or perhaps even advice on how to start an online arbitrage business, I like to think that we have as many answers as possible here at Clear The Shelf!
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Thanks for reading!