A prep center or 3PL is a service that will receive your inventory, inspect it, prepare it for Amazon FBA, and ship to Amazon's fulfillment network.

ScanPower supports 3PLs by helping them onboard clients with a seamless, branded interface and navigate easily between their customers with a single sign-on. 


This article explains the onboarding process for new ScanPower customers or the transition for existing customers to a Prep Center account. 


Throughout this article, the following terminology will be used: 

  • Prep Center: the Prep Center is the ScanPower account holder who will receive/pack/prep/ship the inventory for the customer.
  • Prep Center Customer: the Prep Center Customer (client) signs up through the Prep Center (in most cases.) 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

How to Register for a Prep Center Account

New Customers

  • If you do not have an existing account with ScanPower, register for a 3PL Enterprise account using this here: https://unity.scanpower.com/signup

  • Please note, the "Business Name" field is the name your customers will see on the link you provide for them to sign up for your prepping services. 

Existing Customers

  • If you have a current account with ScanPower (Amazon Seller or Enterprise Pro)  account required for prep center access),then ScanPower must grant you the Prep Center permissions -- inquire at support@scanpower.com 
  • Your Prep Center customers will not be billed and when they sign up for your Prep service, they will see your business name in the sign up:up form.The set up is as follows:
  1. Navigate to your Account page
  2. Select "Account Details"
  3. Enter your Business Name (as you want your Prep Center customers to know you) in the "Business" field:
  4. Save! When your customers sign-up, they will see your business name on the form. 


Onboarding Your Prep Center Customers

New Customers (those who do not have an existing ScanPower account)

With your Prep Center account, you can generate a custom, signup URL branded with your business name to give to your customers to register. 

  1. Navigate to your Account page and scroll down to the "Customers" section
  2. Select "Generate Signup URL" (if present). That will change the selection to "Signup URL"
  3. Select "Signup URL" and a tab will open that allows you to preview the registration form your customer will receive.

  4. Copy the URL and share it with your customers. You can use this URL for all of your customers.
     
    Customer Signup Video (right click to copy shareable link)

    If you need the URL again, just come back to the account page and select Signup URL. Your Business Name will appear in the red box here:


  5. The customer will complete an easy 2-step process to authorize ScanPower and you to access their inventory and shipments. The account is Free for your customer. They will not get charged by us.
  6. After completing the process, your Prep Center Customer's name will appear in your account and you will be able to proxy in. 

Existing ScanPower Customers (customers who already have (or had) a ScanPower Account

If your Prep Center Customer has ever had a ScanPower account or is currently actively using ScanPower, the onboarding process is somewhat different, but no more difficult. 

  1. Have the Prep Center Customer navigate to his/her Account page. 
  2. Scroll to the "Prep Centers" section.
  3. Select "Add Customer" as illustrated here:
  4. The Prep Center Customer should enter the Prep Center's email address (associated with ScanPower) in this field:
  5. Select "Grant Access" 
  6. The Prep Center needs to log out and back in to the Prep Center account, but the customer should now be added under the dropdown. 

Revoking Access / Disconnecting an Account

If at any time, the Prep Center / Prep Center Customer relationship needs to be severed, it can be done by either party. 

  • The Prep Center can navigate to the Account page, scroll down to "Customers" and delete the customer by selecting the "X" by the customer's name.
  • The Prep Center Customer can sever the relationship by scrolling to the "Prep Centers" section of his/her Account page and selecting "Revoke Access" next to the Prep Center. 

Prep Center Sub-Users

Many Prep Centers have at least one sub-user who needs access to the Prep Center Customer accounts. That process is explained in this article. Giving Prep Center Sub-User Access to Prep Customers

The Proxy Process

The Prep Center accesses the Prep Center Customer account by proxy and no additional login credentials are needed. Prep Center Users login to the Prep Center Account (or their sub-user account) as usual and will proxy in to the Prep Center Customer Account as follows: 

  1. Login in to ScanPower Prep Center Account as usual. 
  2. Select the drop-down next to the account name in the upper right-hand corner.
  3. The customers to which that user has access will appear
  4. Select the customer for which the Prep Center user wants to pack.



  5. The user will be proxied in to that account and can access shipments from the Prep Center location, prep, pack, ship, etc. 
  6. A Prep Center user can always tell if s/he is proxied in to an account because there will be an orange-shaded overlay box in the upper left-hand corner of the screen displaying the customer name and email.



Switching customers from a Prep Center Account

Simply select the customer from the drop-down on the orange proxy bar to switch to a new customer:



De-proxy | Return to Prep Center Account

To de-proxy and return to the Prep Center Account is to click on the "x" in the orange-shaded overlay box in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This logs out from the customer account and returns to the Prep Center account.