Amazon Seller Shipment Tracking in Google Sheets: FBM Orders, FBA Inbound, and Supplier POs
An Amazon business isn't one stream of packages — it's three. Customer orders you fulfill yourself (FBM). Inbound shipments you send to Amazon's fulfillment centers (FBA). And the supplier purchase orders — from Alibaba, wholesalers, your manufacturer — that feed everything upstream.
Seller Central gives you a partial view of the first, a checkpoint view of the second, and nothing at all for the third. Yet your account health, your restock timing, and your cash flow depend on all three arriving on time.
This guide puts all three streams in one Google Sheet with live, auto-updating tracking — one tab each, one formula for everything.
The three package streams of an Amazon business
FBM customer orders. You ship, so delivery problems are your metrics: late shipment rate, valid tracking rate (VTR), on-time delivery, A-to-z claims. A package stuck in transit is an account-health problem you want to see before the buyer opens a case.
FBA inbound. Seller Central shows checkpoint statuses (Shipped → In transit → Delivered → Checked in → Receiving), but between "Shipped" and "Delivered" there can be two silent weeks — and if a carton goes missing, the earlier you know, the earlier you can file with the carrier and adjust your restock math.
Supplier POs. The invisible stream. Samples via DHL Express, bulk via air express (SF Express, UPS from a freight forwarder), parcels from domestic wholesalers. No dashboard anywhere shows these — they live in email threads until they either arrive or don't.
One Google Sheet handles all three, because to a tracking formula they're all the same thing: a tracking number and a carrier. With Your Package Tracker installed, one formula covers UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, SF Express, China Post, and 3,000+ other carriers — with statuses that update themselves via live carrier push notifications.
Tab 1: FBM orders
Get your open orders out of Seller Central: Orders → Order Reports (the Unshipped and All orders reports carry order IDs and buyer info), or export from whatever you buy postage with — Veeqo, ShipStation, Buy Shipping's confirmation flow. Layout:
| Col | Header | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Order ID | 114-3941689-0000000 | Amazon order ID |
| B | Ship date | 2026-08-14 | For late-delivery aging |
| C | Promise date | 2026-08-20 | Amazon's delivery promise |
| D | Tracking # | 9400 1000 0000 ... | Required |
| E | Carrier | USPS | Required |
| F | Status | (formula) | =PKG_STATUS_LIVE(D2, E2, TODAY()) |
| G | Summary | (formula) | =PKG_SUMMARY_LIVE(D2, E2, TODAY()) |
In F2:
=PKG_STATUS_LIVE(D2, E2, TODAY())
Drag-fill down. First lookups show Registering... for a few seconds, then live data — and from then on the cells keep updating as scans post, without any refresh or re-import. The _LIVE formulas batch registrations and respect per-carrier rate limits, so pasting 300 orders at once is fine.
Two columns make this an account-health tool rather than a status list:
=IF(AND(TODAY() > C2, F2 <> "Delivered"), "LATE", "")
flags orders past the promise date and still undelivered — your proactive-refund/reach-out list before it becomes an A-to-z claim. And conditional formatting (Delivered → green, Exception/Return → red) turns the morning check into a ten-second scan. Buyer messages get answered by Ctrl+F on the order ID and pasting the Summary cell: "In Transit — Arrived at USPS Regional Facility, Aug 17."
Tab 2: FBA inbound shipments
Every FBA shipment you create has carrier tracking — small parcel shipments have a tracking number per carton (UPS or FedEx partnered carrier in the US). Put each carton on a row:
| Col | Header | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | FBA shipment | FBA15KXYZ123 | From Seller Central |
| B | Carton | 1 of 6 | |
| C | Destination | ONT8 | Fulfillment center code |
| D | Tracking # | 1Z999AA1... | |
| E | Carrier | UPS | |
| F | Status | (formula) | =PKG_STATUS_LIVE(D2, E2, TODAY()) |
| G | Last event | (formula) | =PKG_LAST_EVENT_LIVE(D2, E2, TODAY()) |
Why bother, when Seller Central has a status page? Granularity and timing. Seller Central tells you the shipment is "In transit"; the sheet tells you carton 4 of 6 hasn't scanned in five days while the rest were delivered — which is a carrier claim you can file now, and a receiving discrepancy you can predict instead of discover. When a shipment shows "Delivered" but hasn't checked in after Amazon's processing window, the per-carton delivery scans in your sheet are exactly the evidence a missing-inventory case needs.
Tab 3: Supplier POs
The stream with no dashboard — and, for our Amazon-seller customers, the tab they say they check most. Restock timing, launch dates, and stockout risk all hinge on shipments that exist only in a supplier's WeChat message or a forwarder's email.
| Col | Header | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | PO | PO-2026-044 | |
| B | Supplier | Golden Widget Mfg. | |
| C | Contents | SKU-A x 1000 | Units on the way |
| D | Need by | 2026-09-10 | The date the restock math says you're dry |
| E | Tracking # | SF123456789012 | |
| F | Carrier | SF Express | Or DHL, China Post, YunExpress, UPS… |
| G | Status | (formula) | Same formula |
| H | Last event | (formula) | Where customs holds surface |
International POs are where PKG_LAST_EVENT_LIVE earns its keep: export scan, customs clearance, handoff to the destination-country carrier. A customs hold you see on day 2 is a stockout you prevent; one you find on day 12 is PPC you're pausing. Mixed carriers per row are the normal case here — see our multi-courier guide for how carrier names, local-language names, and hand-offs resolve.
One sheet, whole pipeline
The three tabs together turn the sheet into a supply-chain cockpit: POs feeding FBA inbound, FBA inbound feeding sellable stock, FBM orders flowing out — every physical movement your business depends on, each row updating itself. A five-minute morning scan across three tabs replaces carrier-site clicking, Seller Central refreshing, and supplier-email archaeology.
Frequently asked questions
Does this connect to my Seller Central account? No. You bring order IDs and tracking numbers in (order reports, Buy Shipping confirmations, supplier emails); the add-on handles tracking from there. No API keys, no account linkage.
Does tracking in a sheet affect my Valid Tracking Rate? VTR is about the tracking numbers you submit to Amazon when confirming shipment. The sheet doesn't change what you submit — but it does show you immediately when a number isn't producing carrier scans (it'll sit with no movement), which is exactly the shipment that would hurt VTR. Catching those early lets you fix the confirmation before the metric moves.
Amazon Buy Shipping labels — which carrier goes in the column? Whatever the label actually is: USPS, UPS, or FedEx. The formula reads the carrier per row, so a mix is fine in one column.
Can I track Alibaba orders shipped by freight forwarder? If it moves as a tracked parcel or express shipment (DHL, UPS, SF Express, China Post, YunExpress…), yes. Ocean freight container legs aren't parcel-tracked, but the forwarder's final-mile parcels to Amazon or your prep center are.
What does it cost? 3 free lookups to try. Plans from $19/month, quota pooled across all carriers and tabs; cached re-reads are free. Full pricing.
The takeaway
Amazon shows you fragments: some of your FBM story, checkpoints of your FBA inbound, none of your supplier POs. The full picture — every package in all three streams, live, in one file — is one Google Sheet and one formula away.
Install Your Package Tracker free from the Google Workspace Marketplace →
Selling on other channels too? See our guides for Shopify sellers and Etsy sellers, or start with how to track package shipments in Google Sheets.