Frequently Asked Questions about PEPPM's Piggybackable Contract with Amazon Business
Q: I’m already a PEPPM customer. Do I have to re-register to use the Amazon Business contract?
A: No, but you must register to use the Amazon Business contract. Since you are already a PEPPM customer, you do not have to re-register with PEPPM, but you will need to tell us you want to use our Marketplace Solution contract and set up an Amazon Business account with PEPPM bid protection. Use the form here.
Q: I have both an Amazon Business Account, and I’m registered with PEPPM already. How do I make sure I am using PEPPM’s Marketplace Solution for bid protection?
A: Fill out this form to inform both PEPPM and Amazon Business that you would like to connect your existing Amazon Business Account to PEPPM’s “Marketplace Solution” contract that offers bid protection. After completing the form, within three business days, an Amazon Business Customer Advisor will reach out to you via phone or email with a few more questions and to complete the activation process.
Q: I’m new to PEPPM. I only want to use the Amazon Business contract. Why do I have to register with PEPPM?
A: Bid terms and conditions require users to register with PEPPM to access the benefits of the piggybackable purchasing contract with Amazon Business. For audit purposes, your registration proves you are connected to the “Marketplace Solution” contract for bid protection. In addition, your registration allows us to communicate with you about any contract changes.
Q: What will an Amazon Business Customer Advisor talk to me about?
A: Amazon Business assigns a Customer Advisor to education and public sector organizations. The Amazon Business Customer Advisor will serve as your primary point of contact for your Amazon Business account, help provide information on this contract and other compliance tools to reflect your entity’s internal purchasing policies, share best practices from entities similar to yours, and will serve as a support structure throughout structuring your Amazon Business account, launching this contract to your organization, and ongoing needs.
Q: Who do I call if I have a problem using the Amazon Business site or a problem with an order?
- Amazon Business Customer Service – Contact Us for the ability to call, email, or live chat with a customer service team dedicated to business customers only. Their phone number is (888) 281-3847. Please use this team for anything relating to an order, transaction, shipment, and general Amazon related inquiries.
- Amazon Business Pay By Invoice (Accounts Receivable) – You can contact Accounts Receivable at ar-businessinvoicing@amazon.com.You can also contact Accounts Receivable at 888-283-2209 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Monday to Friday
- Tax Queries - If you have any queries regarding tax charges please email tax-exempt@amazon.com – this includes questions regarding tax rate and refunds.
- Punch-out Issues: For any punchout order or technical issues, please check the Punch-out Help Page, email corporate-punchout@amazon.com, or call (888) 281-3847 for additional support
- Your Customer Advisor – for anything related to your Business Account structure and tools/features within your account, large/complex purchases, PEPPM questions, and any Amazon shopping inquiries that don’t fall into the above categories.
Q: I registered with PEPPM but did not get a follow-up email with my password to get into the PEPPM site. What do I do?
A: Registration is not instantaneous. The PEPPM team vets your application to make sure you are a qualified buyer. When you are approved, you will get an email from our eCommerce provider: service@epylon.com. The word “PEPPM” will appear in the subject line. If you cannot locate this email, please check your email junk folder. If you still cannot find your notice of approval, contact service@epylon.com.
Q: We are already using Amazon Business and use PEPPM for other contracts, so is there anything we need to do in order to connect our account to this contract?
A: Yes, please complete the contract enrollment form here so we can verify your organization and inform Amazon Business that you want to use the PEPPM Marketplace Solution contract.
Q: How is the PEPPM “Marketplace Solution” different than other marketplace contracts?
A: PEPPM’s award satisfies the conservative bidding rules of most education and public agencies. PEPPM’s Marketplace Solution contract is based on a “Request for Bids,” not a “Request for Proposals.” There were no subjective award criteria and no negotiations. The bidding process required the awarding agency (the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit) to meet the legal standards for advertising notices, sealed competitive bids, reasonable specifications and standards, a public opening, a public reading, and an award to the single lowest, responsive, responsible bidder.
Q: How can I be assured of a true bid price when prices change in a dynamic marketplace?
First, for assurance of fair comparison prices among bidders, PEPPM required bidders to submit their bid pricing formulas based on the commercially available prices they published on a “Snapshot Day” common to bidders.
Second, as is common with public-sector bids, the procedure or allowance for any price changes was defined in the pricing specifications of the Request for Bids. For the PEPPM Marketplace Solution RFB, a bid price can change, but PEPPM monitors the prices against a factor tied to the national Consumer Price Index. If a product price exceeds the cap, PEPPM substitutes that product with another product within the acceptable bid range.
Q: How do I shop for items? On the Amazon Business website? Or on the PEPPM website?
PEPPM recommends using the Amazon Business website (business.amazon.com) to start and complete an order. The Amazon Business website has tools, controls, and guided buying useful for efficient buying.
Q: What items are covered by PEPPM’s contract with Amazon Business? And how do I identify these items?
The PEPPM contract with Amazon Business has more than one million items that are bid protected. They fall into the categories of Breakroom Supplies; First Aid & Safety (PPE); Instructional, Art, and Craft Supplies; Maintenance, Repair, and Operations; Office Supplies; and other additional products commonly purchased by education and public-sector buyers. To ensure specific products are bid-protected under the PEPPM contract, you will want to verify the product is listed on the PEPPM website before purchasing from Amazon:
- -- To search for an item: Go to www.peppm.org > Contracts > Click on the link for “Marketplace Solutions” under Contract Name. Within the list of items, you can conduct a keyword search or filter by a category.
- -- To browse items by category: Go to: www.peppm.org/amazon. Click on “Product Categories.”
Q: Is Amazon Business different than Amazon.com?
Yes. Amazon.com is a consumer website. Amazon Business is geared to organizations. It features workflow controls for orders, accepts multiple forms of payment (including check, ACH, and credit card), and offers guided buying features that promote best purchasing practices for your organization.
Q: What’s the difference between Amazon Prime and Business Prime?
Amazon Prime is a membership program available on Amazon. It offers household and entertainment benefits such as Prime Video, Prime Music, Amazon Fresh, Prime Now, and Prime Reading for use at home.
Business Prime is separate membership program designed for businesses available only on Amazon Business. It offers business-specific features and benefits suited for work such as a single membership for all users on a business account, fast free business shipping on eligible items, ability to guide your users to certain selection, visibility into your company’s spend, and much more. Amazon Business no longer supports new Amazon Prime membership sign ups. Business Prime was designed for Amazon Business customers.
Q: How do I view my organization’s spend through the contract?
A: You may view your organization’s spend through Amazon Business’s built-in Analytics feature.
Q: Can my organization restrict specific categories from being purchased on Amazon Business?
A: Yes, Amazon Business offers a Guided Buying curation as one of the benefits of Business Prime (paid subscription), which allows customers to identify one or more categories as restricted – through messaging on the product detail page, business order information page, and approvals workflows – to empower end buyers and purchase approvers to make the right purchasing decision.
Q: How does Amazon Business partner with local businesses?
A: Amazon Business has tens of thousands of sellers on its marketplace, many of which have self-identified with one or more quality or diversity ownership credentials. Customers can refine their product search to include offers based on different seller criteria, including minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, and small business.
Q: Where can I get my questions quickly answered about Amazon Business?
A: You may find more information about Amazon Business on their help page here.
