Amazon Integration Issue

Update timeline

1. investigating Feb 05, 2025, 08:37 AM UTC

   We are aware of an issue impacting our Amazon Integration - we are investigating this internally as well as working with our Amazon account manager to look into any external factors which may be the cause of this. We are treating this as extremely urgent and will be in touch with an update as soon as we have one.

2. investigating Feb 05, 2025, 12:39 PM UTC

   We have continued to investigate the cause of the Amazon integration not pulling orders into your dashboard and have performed all checks on our side. There have been no code changes or modifications to this functionality by Visualsoft or within the Visualsoft Amazon Developer account - it appears the issue is happening within Amazon's systems and we are being denied access to data from the Amazon API. We are working with our Amazon account manager and please be rest assured that both Visualsoft and Amazon are treating this as extremely urgent and will be in touch with further updates as soon as we have any.

3. investigating Feb 06, 2025, 11:31 AM UTC

   Further to our previous updates, we are awaiting a resolution from Amazon, which will assist us in moving forward. As soon as we have any further information, we will share it. Please be assured we are treating this with the severity it requires and we're aware of the impact this is having.

4. investigating Feb 06, 2025, 05:56 PM UTC

   We are still awaiting a resolution from Amazon. Our case has now been progressed from a team in Europe to a US team for a more in-depth investigation. In the meantime, we are proactively working on some guidance to assist all our merchants when the flow is restored. We will share this tomorrow when it is completed.

5. investigating Feb 07, 2025, 03:52 PM UTC

   You may have seen our earlier communications this week regarding the Amazon service outage impacting order imports, stock levels, and dispatch notifications. We understand how critical these updates are to your business, and we want to assure you that we're working tirelessly to resolve this. Just to recap, this incident specifically affects the synchronisation of order imports, stock levels, and dispatch notifications between your systems and Amazon. This means you might be experiencing some discrepancies in these areas. We know this can be disruptive, and we appreciate your patience. Our teams have developed some helpful advisories to mitigate potential issues, which you can find here: https://visualsoftplatform.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/HD/pages/1389953055/Amazon+Stock+Feed We encourage you to take a look, as they may offer immediate relief for some challenges you're facing. We've also escalated this directly to Amazon, and while they have responded, the resolution is still in progress so it is looking like the issue will continue over the weekend. We're confident we're working with the right team at Amazon, and we're pushing for a quicker resolution. Unfortunately, Amazon has not been able to give us any timescales on this at this point. We're reaching out to you again today because Amazon may resolve this issue unexpectedly. While this would be fantastic news, we anticipate some potential follow-up, particularly regarding stock reconciliation. We'll be ready to guide you through any necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition and minimise any further disruption. We'll keep you informed every step of the way. We're committed to supporting you throughout this process. Please don't hesitate to contact our Helpdesk if you have any questions or concerns.

6. investigating Feb 10, 2025, 10:01 AM UTC

   Good Morning, We wanted to provide an update on this ongoing issue. Unfortunately, despite receiving some communication from Amazon over the weekend, there has been no progress or development towards a resolution. This means that there has been no change to the status of this incident, and the symptoms of being unable to sync stock to Amazon or receive orders are currently still present. This will also mean that any new products that you would want to upload to Amazon cannot be managed through the admin at this time. We understand this is frustrating and disappointing, and we want to assure you that we are doing everything possible to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We are in regular contact with Amazon and will continue to press them for a solution. In the meantime, I would like to offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to resolve this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

7. investigating Feb 10, 2025, 06:00 PM UTC

   We're still awaiting a response from Amazon. The time difference between the UK and NY/Seattle may be a factor, so we'll continue monitoring for updates this evening. In the meantime, we're proactively identifying additional contacts within Amazon and pursuing all available options to expedite the resolution and restore service for our clients. We appreciate that these updates may be frustrating as we currently have no concrete progress to report and are dependent on Amazon's communication. We understand the severity and impact of this situation and are committed to doing everything we can to help.

8. investigating Feb 11, 2025, 04:57 PM UTC

   We understand the frustration and disruption caused by the ongoing Amazon service outage. We want to assure you that we are doing everything in our power to resolve the issues you are experiencing and we’re still classing this as a critical issue. When this outage first began, we, like many, did not anticipate the service being unavailable for this length of time. As each day passes, we are increasingly aware of the remedial problems you may face on top of this already disruptive time, and we understand how concerning and stressful this must be for you. Despite our continued efforts, we are still waiting to hear back from Amazon regarding the case we raised with them. We have explored every available avenue to escalate this issue, but unfortunately, their response time has been incredibly and unacceptably slow, but we remain reliant on Amazon's assistance to resolve the situation. At this point, we'd like to capture some information from you. Specifically, we would appreciate it if you could let us know if you have put your Amazon accounts into holiday mode or not. Today, our team met to discuss how we can best support you both during and after this outage. As you know, we sent out some guidance last week, which we hope has been helpful. However, we recognise that everyone's needs, setups, and scenarios are unique. Therefore, our Client Success team will be in touch with you over the next couple of days to gain a deeper understanding of the impact this outage has had on your business and the specific requirements you may have. We will use this information to support you as best we can. Thank you for your continued patience. We are committed to supporting you through this challenging period.

9. investigating Feb 12, 2025, 04:37 PM UTC

   We understand the ongoing frustration and disruption caused by the continued Amazon service outage. We want to keep you updated on the situation, even though progress remains slow. We have had minimal contact from Amazon since our last update. They have, however, confirmed that the issue appears to be that there is an error presenting in our developer account, but they have been unable to pinpoint the source of the problem. This unfortunately means they are unable to provide an estimate for resolution at this time. We continue to press them for more information and a concrete timeline. Our Client Success teams have been actively reaching out to affected clients and will continue to do so over the next couple of days. Because we are currently dependent on Amazon to resolve this underlying issue, we want to gain a comprehensive understanding of the specific challenges each of you is facing now, as well as your concerns about the period after the service is restored. This will allow us to prepare to support you in remediation and reconciliation wherever possible. We are here to help and are very much aware of the huge disruption this outage is causing for many businesses. We are already acting on the insights we’ve gathered so far and planning our support strategy accordingly. We appreciate that these daily updates often contain little in the way of concrete news. This is, unfortunately, a reflection of the lack of tangible information we are receiving from Amazon. They have yet to fully identify the root cause of the issue, which prevents them from giving us – and therefore you – a clear picture of when the service will be fully restored. We will, of course, continue to provide updates as soon as we receive anything of substance. Thank you for your continued patience.

10. investigating Feb 13, 2025, 11:56 AM UTC

    We had some contact from Amazon overnight, with several exchanges between our teams and theirs. During these interactions, Amazon has clarified that the issue definitively lies within their permissions system and is not related to our team’s technical implementation. They are continuing to investigate the root cause on their end. They have also asked us to test some changes they've implemented, which we have promptly done. However, despite these efforts, the issue is, unfortunately, still ongoing. While the problem is not yet resolved, we are hopeful that this increased communication and clarification from Amazon signals the start of better traction. The fact that they have isolated the problem to their permissions system is a positive step. We will, of course, continue to keep you updated as we receive further information. We understand the continued disruption this is causing and appreciate your patience. We are working tirelessly to support you through this and will provide another update as soon as we have something concrete to share.

11. investigating Feb 13, 2025, 04:31 PM UTC

    This is a brief update on the Amazon service outage. As mentioned in our previous communication, we had some back and forth with Amazon overnight, and they have confirmed the issue resides within their permissions system. Our teams have continued to work with Amazon's engineers, and we are hopeful that we will have further progress to report tomorrow once their US team has had a chance to investigate further and respond to our latest queries. We understand the continued frustration this outage causes, and we appreciate your patience. We will provide another update tomorrow with the latest information we have.

12. investigating Feb 14, 2025, 04:21 PM UTC

    Communication from Amazon has decreased over the last 24 hours, but we anticipate it will resume this evening and over the weekend. Our teams remain on high alert, as they have been since the outage began, and will continue this vigilance throughout the weekend. We understand from your feedback that stock management and uploading stock values into Amazon to prevent overselling are significant challenges. We recognise this is a laborious process, so to simplify uploading stock from your admin panel to Seller Central, we've added a new tool. Once you've verified the stock levels in your VS admin, simply click to export the file, save it to your computer, and it's ready for upload into Seller Central. A full guide is available here: https://visualsoftplatform.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/HD/pages/1406238756/Uploading+Updating+Stock+from+Visualsoft+to+Amazon This new tool eliminates the need for exporting, copying, pasting, and remembering to save in the .txt format. It's available for you to use as often as needed, whenever it suits you. We're also aware of concerns regarding stock and order reconciliation once the service is restored. We're assessing each client's individual circumstances to provide the best possible support, with the clear objective of making the process as easy and worry-free as possible. We will share further details on this soon, but please be assured that we have heard your concerns and will be here to assist you in returning to normal operations.

13. investigating Feb 17, 2025, 12:09 PM UTC

    We're writing to update you on the Amazon service outage. We had a call with Amazon this morning, during which they confirmed they are investigating two further avenues as potential causes of the ongoing issue. Importantly, they have escalated the case we have open with them to a Severity 1 (Sev 1) incident, indicating a higher level of urgency and focus. They have also scheduled a further call with us for Thursday of this week to discuss their findings and next steps. In the meantime, the Amazon teams working on this case will continue their investigations. Unfortunately, despite this escalation and increased focus, we still do not have an estimated time for resolution from Amazon. They have not yet been able to provide us with one. We understand this is frustrating, and we share that frustration. We will, of course, continue to press them for a timeline as soon as they have one to share. We will endeavour to keep you updated as best we can. Thank you for your continued patience.

14. investigating Feb 17, 2025, 03:01 PM UTC

    We've created a new guide which we hope will help if you're worried about your VTR rates being impacted during this period. This guide will cover how to bulk import shipping information (including carrier names and tracking numbers) directly in Amazon to mark your orders as dispatched and can be viewed here: https://visualsoftplatform.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/HD/pages/1409286148/Bulk+Managing+Shipping+in+Amazon+-+Dispatching+Tracking+References

15. investigating Feb 18, 2025, 05:48 PM UTC

    We have a further update on the Amazon service outage. While we weren't expecting to hear from Amazon until Thursday, we’ve pressed them further and they joined a call late today which has just concluded. During the call, a developer from the Amazon team walked through the symptoms with us and conducted some testing. Crucially, this testing has confirmed that they are seeing the same results we are, and they have explicitly stated that the issue is not caused by our code or tokenisation. This is a significant step forward in Amazon understanding the problem. We reiterated to Amazon the severe impact this outage is having on our clients and on our business, emphasising once again the substantial revenue loss and disruption it is causing. They have reaffirmed that they are treating this as a Severity 1 (Sev 1) issue. We pushed hard for timescales for a resolution. The engineer working on the issue has confirmed that he will be dedicating himself to this problem and will update the open case by the end of his workday. Due to time differences, we anticipate this update in the early hours of the morning UK time. As soon as we receive this update from Amazon, we will contact you all again with the latest information. While a resolution is not yet in hand, the confirmation that the issue is on their side and the dedicated attention they are now giving it are positive signs.

16. monitoring Feb 19, 2025, 09:38 AM UTC

    Good Morning, Great news! Amazon have been in touch overnight to advise that they have resolved this issue at their side. Our teams have worked through the night to prevent any discrepancies with stock reconciliation. We have temporarily paused stock updates and order imports until we receive your confirmation to proceed. If you have any orders that are marked as FBA, you may see these in your admin already. Please be assured that these do not impact your stock values as they do not deduct. This is just a very brief update which we hope will give you some relief and ease any immediate concerns around reconciliation. We will be in touch further this morning with more information on the next steps and how we can support you when we have been given a full briefing from the team who have been on hand overnight.

17. monitoring Feb 19, 2025, 10:15 AM UTC

    Our teams are in the process of calling all clients directly to discuss your requirements and needs to get back on track with minimal further disruption. If you haven't had a phone call already, please expect to receive one as soon as possible.

18. investigating Feb 21, 2025, 09:31 AM UTC

    We're aware of another issue with Amazon. There is only one error flagging up. Rest assured, we’re already on it and in active talks with Amazon, who have been very responsive this morning. Since the last issue, we've achieved Gold Partnership status with Amazon, which we hope will help us resolve this in a much quicker timescale We'll continue to push as much as we can to get this fixed and will keep you updated accordingly.

19. investigating Feb 21, 2025, 10:20 AM UTC

    Following our previous update, we've identified that while stock levels are being sent up to Amazon, order information is not being received in our admin system. This means stock levels are not automatically reduced when orders are placed on Amazon. We will continue to provide status and ticket updates throughout the day as we work to resolve this and minimise disruption.

20. monitoring Feb 21, 2025, 12:31 PM UTC

    We’ve implemented a workaround while Amazon works on resolving the issue. As a result, orders will now start coming through to the VS admin. Please note that any orders placed between 10:30 PM Thursday 20th and 7:00 AM Friday 21st will need to be manually managed within Amazon Seller Central. If you need any assistance or have further questions, please feel free to reach out to your Client Success representative or provide more details on your open ticket. We’ll respond as quickly as possible.

21. resolved Feb 26, 2025, 02:02 PM UTC

    This issue is now resolved.