Unexpected Items Found in Box

Amazon has started passing back some inbound performance errors with a message of Unexpected items found in box.

This has happened both with sellers who use InventoryLab and those who do not. We have done some pretty extensive research over here regarding the causes. Below are our findings and ways to have the best chance at preventing the errors.

 

Cause #1 - Amazon Receiving Errors

Cause #2 - Not Correcting Feed Errors

Cause #3 - Not Finishing the Full Workflow

 

 

Cause #1 - Amazon Receiving Errors

In some cases, the problem lies fully on the Amazon receiving end. The box content information could be entered, sent, shown as successful in Amazon's API (what 3rd parties use to communicate with Amazon), and you are still hit with this error. This will require you to open a case with Seller Support for help.

 

The good news is, there are a couple of different ways to obtain proof of what was in your shipments so Amazon can get this corrected for you and remove your performance error.

If you provide your box-level information using InventoryLab, you can save or print your packing lists. These lists have all of the items sent over with your box content, so you can see what information was sent over with the shipment and compare it to what Amazon shows. You can send them over to Amazon so they can see what was sent and make the needed corrections.

More information on this topic can be found here- Box Content - Print a Packing List

 

You can also save or print them retroactively from the Accounting>Inbound Shipping by clicking on the Shipment ID.

Note: If Box Content was turned Off for a shipment, you will not be able to access a packing list for it from InventoryLab.

 

An alternative is to go to your Shipping Queue in Seller Central, where you can download the SKU list for each shipment to show what was in each shipment, specifically. You can send this to Amazon as proof, as well.

This is available by clicking the arrow under the Next Steps column.

 

 

Cause #2 - Not Correcting Feed Errors

Errors coming back from Amazon that we display in InventoryLab are not always being recognized or action is not being taken to correct them. 

This results in having a failed feed, meaning that Amazon did not get your box content data for any items in that feed. 

 

Note: In every case researched with this issue, the error was regarding an item or items that were missing required expiration dates.

Since Amazon doesn't give us any specifics on what requires an expiration date at this time through their API system, we do recommend that if you are selling in categories where an item may need one to be hyper-aware of the Amazon Guidelines. We work hard to show you the errors as soon as they get kicked back to us. 

 

While we cannot prevent you from hopping into Seller Central and completing your shipments prematurely, we have implemented a green Success notification that will pop up letting you know that your box content information has been successfully accepted by Amazon.

If you do not receive this message for a shipment, your box content information has not yet been accepted by Amazon.

 

If InventoryLab presents an error to you instead of the Success message, it is crucial that you correct the error and transmit the updated box content information while your shipment is still in "Working" status so that your data can be accepted and successfully received by Amazon.

 

The errors will appear usually within 60 seconds from the time you click the Transmit Boxes or Transmit All Boxes to Seller Central button on the Box Content page of your workflow and will pop up on your screen.

 

You can also view it by clicking on the List tab and selecting Amazon Listing Errors from the dropdown box.

 

The find the related error and click the i under the Action column for additional information

Note: The Amazon List Errors page saves your errors for the last 30 days unless the x button to the far right of the error is clicked or the Reset button in the top right is clicked.

 

Once you have found the MSKU(s) that are causing the trouble, navigate to the List>List & Prep page.  Under Working Shipments, click the 3 horizontal lines to the right of the shipment you need to edit and select Work on Shipment.

 

For details on editing expiration dates for items through box content information, please see- Expiration Date Error

Steps to help with other common box content errors can also be found here in our Troubleshooting Guide.

 

Once all of the needed changes have been made to the shipment, click the Purchase Shipping Labels button to resend the feeds and pay for shipping.

 

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Note: Waiting once more for that update to go through and verifying that no additional errors come back is highly recommended. 

 

 

Cause #3 - Not Finishing the Full Workflow

If you create your batch with InventoryLab's Box Content feature turned On, you must finish the entire batch workflow while your shipments are still in "Working" status. Even if you only end up having a single box in your shipment, you had already indicated to Amazon at the start of your batch that you plan to send box content info - so now, they are expecting it.

After you have finished creating your shipments  or have clicked the Review & Complete Batch page, you will be on the Box Content Information page. This shows a list of your shipments for that batch and allows you to complete assigning your items to boxes. 

You must assign all of your items to a box and click the Refresh icon to re-send your feeds. 

Note: It is important to keep in mind that if you use Refresh icon and not the Send All Feeds and Choose Carrier button. If an error occurs for any of the shipments in that feed, you must go back and individually submit the feeds for all of the shipments. For this reason, unless you are 100% positive none of your items can possibly require an expiration date, we recommend using the Refresh icon to send each shipment's data individually.

 

Once the feed has started the send process for all of your shipments listed, your batch will automatically close and you will be on the List>Closed Batches page.

If you do not finish the workflow, and complete your shipments prematurely inside of Seller Central, you will come back to a blank Box Content Information page (after a screen refresh) and it will be too late to enter them.

 

From here, there isn't much more you can do except manually close the batch to clear it from your List & Prep page and learn the complete workflow steps for next time.

For steps to complete box content information using InventoryLab's Box Content tools, please check out the Box Content portion of our User Guide.

If you typically have shipments with a single box or prefer completing your box content information outside of InventoryLab, you can set the default the Box Content setting to Off for your batches in your Settings.