How do I activate or re-list a "stranded" listing via MWS APIs? - amazon-mws

Question

I'd like to know if it's possible to fix/relist a stranded product listing on Amazon via MWS APIs. Having read through their documentation, I don't find any reference on how to achieve this. I have searched here and on seller central forums, but couldn't find direct answers. I found reference to re-activating a listing by submitting 3 types of feeds using the Feeds API section and have tried it. I get successful processing status on all feeds, but that does not change the status of the product listing as it remains "stranded" afterwards.
This doesn't work and doesn't update the listing status. But it's all I could find on this. Here's what I tried:
Submit _POST_PRODUCT_DATA_ feed. example content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AmazonEnvelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="amzn-envelope.xsd">
<Header>
<DocumentVersion>1.01</DocumentVersion>
<MerchantIdentifier>VALUE</MerchantIdentifier>
</Header>
<MessageType>Product</MessageType>
<PurgeAndReplace>false</PurgeAndReplace>
<Message>
<MessageID>1</MessageID>
<OperationType>Update</OperationType>
<Product>
<SKU>VALUE</SKU>
<StandardProductID>
<Type>ASIN</Type>
<Value>VALUE</Value>
</StandardProductID>
<Condition>
<ConditionType>New</ConditionType>
</Condition>
</Product>
</Message>
</AmazonEnvelope>
Submit _POST_PRODUCT_PRICING_DATA_ feed. example content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AmazonEnvelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="amzn-envelope.xsd">
<Header>
<DocumentVersion>1.01</DocumentVersion>
<MerchantIdentifier>VALUE</MerchantIdentifier>
</Header>
<MessageType>Price</MessageType>
<Message>
<MessageID>1</MessageID>
<OperationType>Update</OperationType>
<Price>
<SKU>VALUE</SKU>
<StandardPrice currency="VALUE">VALUE</StandardPrice>
</Price>
</Message>
</AmazonEnvelope>
Submit _POST_INVENTORY_AVAILABILITY_DATA_ feed. example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AmazonEnvelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="amzn-envelope.xsd">
<Header>
<DocumentVersion>1.01</DocumentVersion>
<MerchantIdentifier>VALUE</MerchantIdentifier>
</Header>
<MessageType>Inventory</MessageType>
<PurgeAndReplace>false</PurgeAndReplace>
<Message>
<MessageID>1</MessageID>
<OperationType>Update</OperationType>
<Inventory>
<SKU>VALUE</SKU>
<Quantity>VALUE</Quantity>
</Inventory>
</Message>
</AmazonEnvelope>
The 3 feeds complete successfully but without an effect. Please note that this is done for Amazon fulfilled product and doesn't require FulfillmentLatency element and the listing with full info and images already exists.
I'd appreciate it if anyone who has experience in this issue could provide any pointers. Thanks
EDIT:
To clarify, "stranded" listings are product listings that have become inactive, despite having a positive amount of fulfillable stock in Amazon's fulfillment centres. Occasionally, a few of our listings become in-active and are marked with a "No listing exists for this inventory item" note on SellerCentral Inventory page. The ASIN listing which those products were listed against is still active and matches the product information that we are offering, so the message is confusing to me. We usually go to SellerCentral "Fix Stranded Inventory" page and hit "Relist" button, submit the form and the listing goes active again.
What I'm looking for, is a way to achieve the same via MWS APIs instead of doing this manually. We are able to retrieve the stranded listings report via the API (_GET_STRANDED_INVENTORY_UI_DATA_) and can determine which products are eligible for "relist" action, but don't know if it's possible at all to perform that via the API.

Answer 1

Thanks for your edit. I'm not using FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) myself, so I have no actual experience with this, but from what I've seen so far:
"Stranded Inventory" are items that are in an Amazon warehouse which for one reason or another cannot be sold. Fixing that seems to depend on the actual reason why Amazon thinks it cannot be sold. As you stated, you can obtain a list of these through a _GET_STRANDED_INVENTORY_UI_DATA_ report.
Items might not have proper product data or pricing for the relevant markets. The _POST_PRODUCT_DATA_ and _POST_PRODUCT_PRICING_DATA_ feeds should take care of that. Note that I don't think _POST_INVENTORY_AVAILABILITY_DATA_ is used with FBA inventory. It definately is used for merchant fulfillment, as Amazon has no other way of knowing what inventory is in the merchant's stock.
Items might be damaged or otherwise unfit for sale. You may have to schedule an outbound shipment to take a look at their condition and possibly relist or relist as "used".
Items might be reserved for pending orders (and possibly additional reasons). I don't think you can do anything about that.
So the first step should be to check why your items are stranded. I don't think there is a straight forward MWS call that does what the "Fix Stranded Inventory" button does, nor do I think there could/should be.

Answer 2

The "Fix stranded inventory" page header has a button "Fix stranded inventory in bulk" which takes you to the Inventory Report "Bulk Fix Stranded Inventory"; there you may see a history of previous reports of this type and can request a new download. After you've requested a report and the download has been generated, examining the Download link shows that the Report Type is "_GET_STRANDED_INVENTORY_LOADER_DATA_"; use this knowledge to schedule a periodic report via the MWS Reports API.
To get a report that includes the "stranded" reason and additional related information, you'll need to click the "Download Report" button on the "Fix stranded inventory" page header (which takes you to the Inventory Report "Stranded Inventory"), or request/schedule Report Type "_GET_STRANDED_INVENTORY_UI_DATA_" via the MWS Reports API.
You would need to create a process whereby the data from the two reports would be combined/correlated and have a human review the report data, correct any errors or issues, then trigger a re-upload of an updated "Inventory Loader" file. You can upload manually via the Add Products via Upload page using File Type "Inventory Loader File", but you can also do this programmatically using the MWS Feeds API to upload the file using type "_POST_FLAT_FILE_INVLOADER_DATA_".
This is the most optimized mechanism I've found for handling stranded items programmatically; I admit there is some tedium in the process, but that is entirely due to Amazon's design.
Note: The technique for finding the Report Type to use in the API can be applied to most of the reports in Seller Central (do note that the Financial Reports take a little more effort due to efforts to secure them).