How sends reach each network
The Send Planner works out how much to send, but it doesn't ship anything itself. When you click Draft shipments, it hands each send to the network's own inbound flow as a shipment draft, and you finish the shipment there. This page explains what that draft is in each fulfillment network, what happens to the stock you allocated for it, and how the network's screens tell you a line came from the planner.
One draft per network and warehouse
Each shipment draft covers one destination and one of your ship-from warehouses. A plan that sends to Amazon FBA US from both Miami Plant and a 3PL creates two FBA drafts, one from each warehouse. Each draft is created, allocated and followed up on its own, so a problem with one never holds up the others.
A draft is only a draft. Nothing is sent to Amazon, Walmart or TikTok until you submit it in that network. The one exception is AWD: SKU.io creates a draft inbound order in your Amazon account, which stays a draft until you confirm it in Seller Central.
Units that a supplier ships straight to a network aren't part of any shipment draft. They go on draft purchase orders instead; see Order from suppliers that ship straight to a network.
What the draft is in each network
The Opens in column of the Draft shipments to the networks dialog names the draft each network gets.
| Network | Opens in | What SKU.io creates | What you do next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon FBA | FBA draft inbound plan | A draft inbound plan in the FBA inbound wizard, opened at SKU selection. You can name a new plan or add the items to an open draft plan from the same warehouse to the same marketplace. | Finish the plan in the wizard and verify it. See Send stock to FBA with an inbound plan. |
| Amazon AWD | AWD (Seller Central) | A draft AWD inbound order in your Amazon account, with one case package group per line (plus one for a partial last case). | Confirm the order in Seller Central. Once Amazon creates the shipment, it shows under Amazon → AWD → Shipments. See Track AWD inventory. |
| Walmart WFS | WFS inbound shipment draft | A draft that pre-fills the Create WFS Inbound Shipment page. | Open the draft, check the items and create the inbound. See Send stock to WFS. |
| TikTok FBT | FBT inbound plan | A draft FBT inbound plan in SKU.io. Nothing is sent to TikTok yet. | Open the plan and submit it. See Send stock to FBT. |
| Your own warehouses and 3PLs | Draft warehouse transfer | A draft warehouse transfer from the source to the destination, with an expected arrival date from the typical transit time of your past transfers to that warehouse, or 5 days with no history. | Open the transfer and ship it. See Ship a transfer. |
Some networks take only part of a draft. TikTok FBT, for example, leaves out any SKU with fewer than 10 units. The rest of the draft is still created, and the SKUs left out stay in the plan with the reason shown. If a network leaves out every line, the whole draft fails. Follow up on shipment drafts covers what to do then.
When AWD can't take a draft
AWD drafts go through Amazon's API, which needs more detail than the other networks. When a group can't go through, SKU.io hands it to you to enter in Seller Central instead, and the draft shows Enter manually. That happens when:
- a product in the group has no Amazon listing (no merchant SKU) for AWD,
- a product is missing its case pack, case dimensions or case weight,
- the source warehouse has no complete address, or
- Amazon rejects the draft. The row then shows "Amazon AWD rejected the draft:" followed by Amazon's reason.
For these sends you download a SKU list to type into Seller Central and can draft a warehouse transfer to keep your stock records in step. See Follow up on shipment drafts.
Once AWD has the stock, Amazon moves it on to FBA according to your auto-replenishment setting. The planner treats AWD as a buffer behind FBA for that reason.
When an FBT draft fails
An FBT draft fails as a whole, with the reason on its row, when:
- "Fulfillment by TikTok is switched off for this TikTok Shop connection."
- "This FBT warehouse is not linked to a TikTok Shop connection."
- "That warehouse cannot be an FBT inbound source — SKU.io does not hold its stock ledger." This happens when the ship-from warehouse is one whose stock SKU.io doesn't track itself, so pick another ship-from warehouse for FBT under Network rules.
- "The TikTok FBT destination warehouse no longer exists."
Fix the cause, then retry the draft.
How the allocated stock follows the draft
When you create drafts with Allocate the source stock now ticked, or allocate stock beforehand with Allocate stock, the planner allocates the units at each source warehouse. Those units stop being available to your sales orders and other allocations. What happens to the allocation next depends on the network, because each network allocates stock in its own flow at a different moment.
| Network | Where the allocation sits after drafting | When the planner's allocation ends |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon FBA | On the items of the FBA draft inbound plan. | When you verify the plan: FBA's own allocation replaces it in the same step. Lowering an item's quantity in the wizard shrinks the allocation to match. Raising it leaves the allocation as it is, and FBA allocates the rest at verification. Changing an item to another product, or removing it, releases its allocation. |
| Amazon AWD | On the plan, because AWD allocates nothing in SKU.io. | After the time set in Release unused allocations after (hours), or when you release it, or when a transfer draft for the send takes it over. |
| Walmart WFS | On the lines of the WFS draft. | When you create the inbound: the inbound allocates the stock in the same step. Discard draft on the Create WFS Inbound Shipment page releases it. A draft nobody touches is discarded automatically once the allocation time runs out. |
| TikTok FBT | On the lines of the FBT inbound plan. | When you submit the plan, or when the plan is deleted. |
| Warehouse transfer | On the lines of the draft transfer. | When you open the transfer (the transfer then allocates the stock), or when you delete a line. |
Apart from an untouched WFS draft, allocations that have moved onto a draft don't run on the planner's timer: the draft keeps the stock until you finish it or throw it away. If a draft is deleted, discarded or cancelled in the network's own screens, its allocation is released, its row in the planner shows Deleted in network, and its units can be drafted again.
For allocating, releasing and finding these allocations under Inventory → Allocations, see Allocate stock for a send.
How a network screen shows what the planner planned
Items that came from the planner carry a Planned by Send Planner chip in the FBA inbound wizard (SKU selection and verification), on the Create WFS Inbound Shipment page, and on the FBT inbound plan page. Hover over the chip to see:
- how many units the planner planned, and in which send plan,
- a one-line reason, such as the network's daily sales times its target days,
- Changed here to N units if you edited the quantity in the network's screen, and
- Open this line in Send Planner, which opens the current plan on the Send Planner with that product's details. That may be a newer plan than the one the item came from.
On the FBT cart, an item for which only the plan line is known shows a plain From Send Planner chip instead.
The WFS page also shows a Planned by Send Planner banner above the items, with the send plan number, an Open Send Planner link and Discard draft.
Suggested for FBT
When you build an FBT inbound plan yourself, the Suggested for FBT panel on the FBT create page uses the same rules the Send Planner uses for FBT: Sells / day, units At FBT, and Cover. A product with no FBT sales yet gets the first-send quantity from the FBT rules in the Send Planner. Stock kept for your self-fulfilled orders is never suggested. The panel is hidden when the plan ships from a supplier. Changing the FBT settings under Network rules changes these suggestions too; see Set network rules.
What the planner can create
| Record | Created when | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Allocations at your warehouses | You allocate stock, or draft with allocation ticked | Inventory → Allocations |
| FBA draft inbound plans | You draft FBA | The draft inbound plans of your Amazon FBA integration |
| AWD draft inbound orders | You draft AWD | Seller Central; once Amazon creates the shipment, Amazon → AWD → Shipments |
| WFS inbound shipment drafts | You draft WFS | The Create WFS Inbound Shipment page, opened from the draft's link |
| FBT inbound plans | You draft FBT | The FBT inbound plans of your TikTok Shop integration |
| Draft warehouse transfers | You draft a warehouse destination, or a transfer for a send you enter manually | Inventory → Transfers |
| Draft purchase orders | You draft supplier POs | Orders → Purchase Orders |
| Demand on the Master Production Schedule | You plan production for a short product | The Master Production Schedule in Manufacturing |
Every draft the planner creates is also listed under Shipments on the plan, with a link to it. See Follow up on shipment drafts.
The planner also opens the New Purchase Order form and the assembly page pre-filled, but you create those records yourself. See Cover a shortfall.