FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Purchasing and Restock recommendations? 

Purchasing recommendations will provide you with a suggested purchase order on what to order from your suppliers based on their lead times, ordering cycle, and additional safety stock. These recommendations are most often used when shipping products from a supplier to your warehouse. Restock recommendations will provide you with suggested Amazon restock shipments based on how much inventory is needed to stay in stock at FBA for a set period plus lead time. These recommendations are for shipping products into Amazon FBA from either your local warehouse supply or directly from a supplier. For more information on the difference between Purchasing and Restock recommendations, click here.

 

What is the difference between the Forecast Recommended Qty and the Daily Sales Rate Recommendation?

The Forecast Recommended Qty displays the number of units you should order based on upcoming sales predicted by forecasting models alone. The Daily Sales Rate Recommendation also displays the number of units you should order, but upcoming sales are calculated by blending recent sales trends and the predicted forecast, using weighted averages. 

To learn more about Daily Sales Rate Recommendations and how they differ from the Forecast Recommended Qty, select Amazon or QuickBooks.  Note: Daily Sales Rate Recommendation is not available for CSV companies. 

 

What is the difference between My Suggested POs and Custom under Purchasing?

My Suggested POs separates your purchasing recommendations by supplier and only displays items with a positive reorder quantity. Custom will display all of your items, regardless of supplier and recommended purchase quantity. You will see items with negative reorder recommendations, meaning the items are well-stocked or overstocked, as well as items requiring reorder with positive recommended quantities. 

 

Do I need to upload and update purchase orders in ForecastRx?

If you are a QuickBooks-integrated user, your purchase orders will sync and update based on the data in your QuickBooks file. If you need to make adjustments to your purchase orders you will need to do so in QuickBooks and run a sync to update the information in ForecastRx after.

If you are a CSV or Amazon-integrated user, you will need to upload and update purchase orders if you would like them factored into your Purchasing recommendations or your RestockAMZ Supplier Restock Recommendation. Both of these recommendations will subtract quantities you have already on purchase orders so you do not over-order. If you are not using either of these recommendations or would like to manually subtract out inventory already on order, you do not need to upload your current purchase orders. 

To learn more about how to update purchase orders, click here. 

 

Do I need to upload and update inventory in ForecastRx?

If you are a QuickBooks-integrated user, inventory in your QuickBooks file syncs with ForecastRx and stays up to date depending on the frequency you set the sync to run. For Amazon-integrated users, all inventory within Seller Central will update automatically with each daily sync.

If you have inventory stored outside of Amazon or QuickBooks, such as warehouse inventory, you will need to upload these quantities to Warehouse Inventory in Manage Company > Items for them to be counted in your recommendations. This is recommended if you are using the Purchasing recommendations so you know how much inventory you have in total. This is not necessary if you ship products directly to Amazon, or if you are shipping products from a local warehouse to Amazon and do not need to check how much inventory is available to send. 

CSV users will need to upload and update inventory in ForecastRx for accurate purchasing recommendations since there is no linked data source. 

To learn more about updating warehouse inventory for Amazon companies, click here. 

 

How do I add users to my account?

Users can be added through the Manage Company > Company Details page. For more information, click here. 

 

When do I need to run a sync and forecast?

If your data is integrated through Amazon Seller Central, your account will sync with Seller Central each night and then run a forecast immediately after to recalculate the new data. If your data is integrated through QuickBooks, you have to set up a sync manually through the Webconnector. A sync can be set within the Webconnector to auto-run on any interval. A forecast will run automatically each night. 

You can check in the top navigation of ForecastRx to see when a sync and forecast had run last by hovering over their icons. If you would like your data updated for sales and inventory changes after that time, you can initiate a sync and then a forecast.

If you make changes to any of your settings in ForecastRx or add new information, you will need to run a forecast for the data to recalculate based on the new settings and information. 

 

Do I need to enter suppliers? 

Suppliers are necessary if you have more than one supplier and would like your recommendations tailored to each one based on different lead times, MOQs, order intervals, and more. You will need to set up your suppliers in Manage Company > Suppliers and then connect your items to their respective suppliers in Manage Company > Items. If you only have one supplier, looking at forecasts only, or restocking Amazon from one warehouse, you can use the company-level settings to set your account parameters or at the item level. For more information on setting up suppliers, click here.

 

Why do I see inactive SKUs and parent SKUs in my Items?

All SKUs are synced from your data source (QuickBooks or Amazon Seller Central) and if an item is not marked as inactive, it will sync to ForecastRx. You can hide these SKUs within ForecastRx so they do not appear in your recommendations. To learn how to hide items, click here. 

 

Do I need to enter product and shipping costs?

If you are a QuickBooks-integrated user, your Supplier Price will sync automatically from QuickBooks and is used in calculating the total cost per item on your recommended POs. If you are a CSV or Amazon-integrated user and would like your total cost displayed on your purchase orders, you will need to upload Supplier Price through Manage Company > Items.

Amazon-integrated accounts also have additional cost fields available if you would like to use the Estimated Margin Calculator in RestockAMZ. It is recommended to enter this information in Manage Company > Items, but it is not necessary if you do not plan to use the Estimated Margin Calculator. 

 

If I haven't set the PO’s expected arrival date, will it be included in the forecast?

The forecast includes all purchase orders with future expected arrival dates. However, for purchase orders with past expected arrival dates, their inclusion in the forecast depends on the "Include all Open POs regardless of Receive Date" toggle setting: if it's "ON," they'll be included, while if it's "OFF," they'll be excluded. See your "Include all Open POs regardless of Receive Date" toggle setting in Manage Company > Company Details.

 

For QuickBooks-integrated users, which demand values ForecaseRx use?

For QuickBooks-integrated users, ForacastRx offers three distinct Demand Source options for forecasting purposes. "Sales Orders" limits the data sync to only Sales Orders, in both historical sales and future demand. Otherwise, choosing "Invoices" focuses on Invoices for historical sales and future demand. By selecting both "Sales Orders" and "Invoices," you enable a comprehensive sync of both data types, providing a more complete picture of your sales history and future demand. You can change the setting through Manage Company > Company Details.

Have a question that's not listed above? Please contact ForecastRx Support. 

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