Doudlah's existing inventory tracking relied on a macro-driven spreadsheet maintained by Gilbert that pulls from Amazon reports. This process was found to produce unreliable numbers — conflicting with both Seller Central and Sellerize — creating a false sense of security and real stockout risk for top-selling SKUs.
This article documents the diagnosed root causes and the agreed-upon replacement process using Sellerize as the primary source of truth, supplemented by manual AWD tracking and a shipment log.
Three distinct gaps were identified that cause the inventory picture to be incomplete or misleading:
Sellerize tracks only inventory stored in or being shipped to Amazon FBA fulfillment centers. Inventory held at Amazon Warehousing & Distribution (AWD) is not visible in Sellerize. During the holiday season, FBA capacity limits forced some shipments to AWD instead of FBA, leaving significant stock (e.g., 972 units of 5lb Yellow Cornmeal) invisible to the primary tracking tool.
Amazon does not mark FBA shipments as "inbound" until they are physically close to or arrived at the fulfillment center. When shipping via LTL (less-than-truckload), pallets may sit at a carrier's regional hub for two to three weeks before reaching Amazon. During this window, the inventory is:
- Not available for sale
- Not counted as inbound by Amazon or Sellerize
- Effectively invisible unless manually tracked
This creates a scenario where the team may believe they are nearly out of stock when multiple pallets are actually en route.
Two active SKUs existed for 5lb Yellow Cornmeal — one being phased out. Because the legacy SKU was excluded from the tracking spreadsheet, inventory fulfilling from it was not visible, causing the available count to appear lower than reality. Both SKUs share the same ASIN, so orders fulfill from either, but only one was being monitored.
The goal is a single, reliable source of truth that accounts for all inventory regardless of where it sits in the supply chain.
Use the Sellerize inventory export as the base data layer. It provides:
- Available stock and total stock per SKU
- Average daily units sold (30-day and 90-day)
- Days of supply remaining
- Stranded inventory flags
- Storage fee data
Sellerize is preferred over Gilbert's macro-driven spreadsheet because it is directly connected to Amazon's API and requires no intermediate import/export steps that can introduce errors.
Add a column to the inventory sheet for AWD stock on hand, populated manually by checking the Amazon Distribution Center shipments view in Seller Central (Inventory → Auto Replenishment). This must be updated whenever a new AWD shipment is received or replenished to FBA.
Note: AWD shipment contents are not visible in the standard Contents tab — this is a known Amazon limitation. Stock levels must be verified via the AWD shipment reports.
Add a column for stock shipped but not yet recognized as inbound by Amazon. This is populated from the shipment log (see below) and cleared once the shipment appears in Sellerize as inbound.
Maintain a dedicated tab in the inventory spreadsheet to log every outbound shipment. Minimum fields:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Shipment Date | Date picked up by carrier |
| Shipment # | Amazon shipment ID |
| Destination | FBA or AWD |
| ASINs / SKUs | All items in the shipment |
| Units per SKU | Quantity shipped |
| Status | In Transit / Inbound / Received |
This log enables reconciliation when inventory numbers look wrong — the team can check whether a missing quantity is simply in transit and not yet recognized.