Amazon FBA is a service for sellers that allows them to send their inventory to one or more of Amazon’s warehouses. Customer orders are fulfilled directly from Amazon, making it ideal for sellers who can’t or don’t want to fulfill their own orders.
However, with millions of inventory units being checked into the warehouses daily and millions of customer orders being picked, packed, and shipped daily, sometimes inventory gets misplaced or lost.
Right now, whenever a seller notices that the number of units available doesn’t match the number sent to the warehouse, they, the seller, will need to make a manual claim for reimbursement. Amazon will then investigate the claim, and if the outcome shows that units are lost or damaged at the warehouse, the seller is reimbursed 100% of the regular selling price of the lost/damaged units. The problem is that making manual claims is time-consuming, and the investigation can take weeks to complete, leaving the seller out of pocket in the meantime.
A new and better approach starting in November
As of November 1st, 2024, Amazon’s approach to lost inventory reimbursements is changing for the better. From that point onward, Amazon will automatically reimburse the seller as soon as FBA reports the inventory as lost. This means that sellers will no longer need to submit manual claims and will be reimbursed much quicker.