Delivery rejections: What they are and next steps

Ensuring smooth inbounds is extremely important as delivery rejections can significantly impact your business, leading to:

• Higher transportation cost

• Loss of sales 

• High administrative burden

• Negative environmental impact

In this article, we will cover the next steps after a rejection.

For more information on best practices and how you can avoid delivery rejections, please see the article below on how to avoid delivery rejections.

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  How to avoid delivery rejections

The main reasons why a palletised delivery is rejected when being delivered to a Zalando warehouse are:

• The dispatch quantities are missing

• There are incorrect quantities registered in Mercareon

• The delivery is attempted at the wrong delivery time / slot

• The delivery is attempted on the wrong date 

• The pallets / boxes are incorrectly labeled / loaded

• The wrong pallet type is used

• The delivery vehicle is the incorrect vehicle type

Ensure that you provided us with the dispatch file. The final list of articles being sent in the delivery, must be submitted via zDirect by midnight at the latest on the business day before delivery. 

• Upload the CSV file of your dispatch items list of EANs and quantities following the same EAN and quantity column format that you used when creating your Shipping notice request.

• If your announced quantities are the same as your dispatched quantities, you may select Use announced file. Please only select this option if the announced file exactly matches the articles and quantities.

• Click Done in the lower right corner to submit the dispatch file. 

• A confirmation message will appear on screen.

• If your Shipping notice status displays Dispatch quantities needed, as in the image below, simply hover your cursor over the Shipping notice ID. The Confirm quantity button will then appear for you.

Your carrier can update the number of pallets and boxes directly in Mercareon before and on the day of the delivery, as displayed in the image below:

After you have been informed of the reason for rejection, if you also have to update the booked time slot in your shipping notice, please follow these steps:

• Open the shipping notice that you would like to rebook by clicking on the Shipping Notice ID.

• Navigate to the Rebook Notice button within the Shipping Notice details on the right side of your screen. You can also find this button on the main overview page next to the Shipping Notice status.

• Choose the option: Request a new time slot for today.

• Fill out the following shipment information, so that we can quickly support you in finding available slots:

  • Carrier’s account name in Mercareon 

  • Pallet exchange

  • Unloading area

  • Preferred time slot 

  • Final quantities of pallets and boxes

• Click on Done to confirm. Please note that the request can no longer be edited or canceled after clicking Done. 

• Upon confirmation, the new Mercareon booking confirmation with the updated time slot will be sent to your email address. Please forward this booking confirmation to your carrier as soon as you receive this. 

Please also update the Shipping notice in Mercareon if the quantities have changed from the previous booking. Any mismatch between the delivered quantities and the ones stated in the Mercareon booking can lead to a delivery rejection. 

Delivery time slots can only be rebooked if the confirmed delivery date is on or earlier than today’s date. 

• Open the shipping notice that you would like to rebook by clicking on the Shipping Notice ID.

• Navigate to the Rebook Notice button within the Shipping Notice details on the right side of your screen. You can also find this button on the main overview page next to the Shipping Notice status.

• Choose the option: Request a new time slot for today.

• Fill out the following shipment information, so that we can quickly support you in finding available slots:

  • Carrier’s account name in Mercareon 

  • Pallet exchange

  • Unloading area

  • Preferred time slot 

  • Final quantities of pallets and boxes

• Click on Done to confirm. Please note that the request can no longer be edited or canceled after clicking Done. 

• Upon confirmation, the new Mercareon booking confirmation with the updated time slot will be sent to your email address. Please forward this booking confirmation to your carrier as soon as you receive this. 

Provided shipping notice doesn’t have the status Close, it is possible to rebook the delivery.

• Open the shipping notice that you would like to rebook by clicking on the Shipping Notice ID.

• Navigate to the Rebook Notice button within the Shipping Notice details on the right side of your screen. You can also find this button on the main overview page next to the Shipping Notice status.

• Fill out the following shipment information, so that we can quickly support you in finding available slots:

  • Carrier’s account name in Mercareon 

  • Pallet exchange

  • Unloading area

  • Preferred time slot 

• Click on Done to confirm. Please note that the request can no longer be edited or canceled after clicking Done. 

• Upon confirmation, the new Mercareon booking confirmation with the updated time slot will be sent to your email address. Please forward this booking confirmation to your carrier as soon as you receive this. 

• Please ask your carrier to book a new Mercareon time slot for the new date. 

• Relabel your shipment with the correct information. 

  • Make sure that the ZFS Shipping notice ID is clearly visible.

  • The delivery note needs to be attached to the pallet that is located closest to the truck door or can alternatively be handed over by the driver

  • The pallet label always needs to be aligned with the door, on the short side of the pallet

  • All pallets that belong to one ZFS Shipping notice ID should be arranged together.

For more information, please see our Delivery Terms.

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  ZFS delivery terms

• To make a rebooking in the Shipping notice tool, navigate to the Rebook notice button within the Shipping notice details on the right side of your screen. You can also find this button on the main overview page next to the Shipping notice status.

• Choose the Request new delivery date option.

• Select the new delivery date from the calendar.

• Click on Done to confirm. Please note that the request can no longer be edited or canceled after clicking Done. 

• Your shipping notice will change back to To Be Confirmed status while the rebooking request is being processed.

• Upon confirmation, the new delivery date will be sent to your email address and will be confirmed in the original shipping notice ID.

• You can also check back on zDirect to view the latest status of your Rebooking request.

• After receiving the confirmation of your rebooked delivery date, your new delivery date will be activated in Mercareon and a time slot can be booked accordingly.

• Please ask your carrier to book a Mercareon time slot to the new date

For a same day delivery, please submit a rebooking and choose the option: Request a new time slot for today.

• Reload your shipment using Euro-pallets. Please note that pallets must not be stacked above each other.

• To make a rebooking in the Shipping Notice tool, navigate to the Rebook Notice button within the Shipping Notice details on the right side of your screen. You can also find this button on the main overview page next to the Shipping Notice status.

• Choose the Request new delivery date option.

• Select the new delivery date from the calendar.

For a same day delivery, please submit a rebooking and choose the option: Request a new time slot for today.

The vehicles need to be able to be unloaded from a loading ramp. This requires a minimum width of 2.00m, minimum height of 1.00m from the ground, and doors that can be opened by at least 270°.

Please note: Deliveries from vans cannot take place in Mönchengladbach.

• Reload your shipment into a vehicle type that follows the requirements outlined above.

• To make a rebooking in the Shipping Notice tool, navigate to the Rebook Notice button within the Shipping Notice details on the right side of your screen. You can also find this button on the main overview page next to the Shipping Notice status.

• Choose the Request new delivery date option.

• Select the new delivery date from the calendar.

For a same day delivery, please submit a rebooking and choose the option: Request a new time slot for today.

The main reasons why a parcel delivery is rejected when being delivered to a Zalando warehouse are:

• There are incorrect quantities i.e. a difference in the amount provided in the shipping notice and the physical delivery

• The delivery window is not respected

• The boxes are incorrectly labeled

• Over-delivery of quantities is not accepted

• Loose delivery of more than ten boxes is not possible

The number of boxes should match the data provided by you in the shipping notice.

• Submit a new shipping notice request.

• Relabel the parcels with the newly assigned shipping notice ID.

• Ship your parcels within the new delivery window.

You should deliver your loose delivery within +/- five working days of the confirmed delivery date. 

Please note: Working days refer to Monday-Friday, excluding bank holidays.

• Submit a new shipping notice request. Log in to zDirect and navigate to the Fulfillment module in the top navigation bar.

• Select Shipping Notices from the menu. 

• Click on the Create Notice button at the upper right of the screen.

• Announce the articles that you are planning to ship by uploading a CSV file that contains two columns: EAN and Quantity. 

• Select the delivery type and choose one of the following options:

  • Parcel

  • Pallet

  • Hanging Goods

• Enter the carrier name and the relevant number of boxes or articles in hanging goods rails.

• Select your requested delivery date. We require at least five working days before the earliest possible delivery date.

• After entering the date, select the warehouse where you will be sending your articles to. Some delivery dates have pre-allocated warehouses so your inventory placement is optimized and customer shipments are on target. 

• Once you submit your request, a confirmation will appear immediately if the delivery date request and warehouse have been confirmed.

• Relabel the parcels with the newly assigned shipping notice ID.

• Ship your parcels respecting the new delivery window.

The delivery needs to be correctly labeled. Please make sure that the ZFS Shipping Notice ID is clearly visible on the boxes.

Mixed labels are not allowed, so please ensure there is only one Shipping Notice ID per box.

For more information, please see our Delivery Terms.

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  ZFS delivery terms

If the original delivery window is still valid i.e. if you are re-attempting the delivery within +/- five working days from the confirmed delivery date:

• Relabel your shipment

• Reship your parcels to our warehouse

If the original delivery window is no longer valid i.e. if the available rebooking is outside +/- five working days from the original confirmed delivery date:

• Submit a new Shipping notice request. Log in to zDirect and navigate to the Fulfillment module in the top navigation bar.

• Select Shipping notices from the menu. 

• Click on the Create Notice button at the upper right of the screen.

• Announce the articles that you are planning to ship by uploading a CSV file that contains two columns: EAN and Quantity. 

• Select the delivery type and choose one of the following options:

  • Parcel

  • Pallet

  • Hanging Goods

• Enter the carrier name and the relevant number of boxes or articles in hanging goods rails.

• Select your requested delivery date. We require at least five working days before the earliest possible delivery date.

• After entering the date, select the warehouse where you will be sending your articles to. Some delivery dates have pre-allocated warehouses so your inventory placement is optimized and customer shipments are on target. 

• Once you submit your request, a confirmation will appear immediately if the delivery date request and warehouse have been confirmed.

• Relabel the parcels with the newly assigned shipping notice ID.

• Ship your parcels respecting the new delivery window.

You can keep track of your shipment via zDirect. When the tool flags that your shipment is rejected, please contact your carrier to understand the rejection reason, as our warehouse staff will inform the driver about the rejection reason.

In the meantime our team will prepare more details and will share it with you via email providing additional information. Please wait for our contact as this process can take up to 24 hours.

When you receive the rejection reason, you can fix the issue(s) and depending on your delivery type (i.e. palletized or parcel deliveries) you can rebook it or submit a new Shipping notice request via zDirect.