Selling on Amazon has many benefits, such as increased traffic, high sales volume and scalability.
When you use their FBA program (Fulfilled-By-Amazon), you can leverage the power of Amazon’s advanced logistics network to grow your business in ways you otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
That being said, when you outsource the fulfillment of your products to another party, you will inevitably encounter problems from time to time.
Amazon’s workers sometimes miscount your items when they receive your inventory or sometimes your boxes are lost entirely by Amazon or UPS.
It is your responsibility as a seller to make sure that all of your shipments are received in full and to reconcile any missing inventory.
Amazon does a pretty decent job at reimbursements, and as long as you have proof of inventory ownership, it is highly likely you will get your money back from their mistakes.
In this article, I will show you how to get reimbursed by Amazon when there is an issue with your shipment.
How to check the status of your shipments:
In Amazon Seller Central, go to Inventory -> Manage Shipments and filter the results to show your closed shipments.
You can do this by clicking on Filters -> Status -> Closed -> Apply
You want to routinely check your closed shipments to see if any items are missing from your shipments or if an entire shipment is lost.
I recommend you check your shipments at least biweekly or monthly.
You want to check before it is too late, because if you do not submit evidence in time, they can determine that the investigation is finalized and you will not be able to submit an appeal.
Until your shipment is officially closed, you cannot submit evidence of your ownership of your inventory. You will have to wait until it is marked as closed for you to file a claim.
Step 1: Click on a shipment that is missing units
Step 2: Click on Contents
Step 3: Click on the drop down that says “Action Required” and select “Research missing units”. Repeat for all SKUs that have missing units.
Step 4: Go to Google Slides and create a blank presentation
Step 5: Click on File -> Page Setup
Step 6: Click Custom and set your page to be 8.5×11 inches. Then delete the text boxes
Step 7: Find the receipts for all the units that Amazon lost and take clear photos of the receipt with your phone. Airdrop or email it to your computer
Step 8: Upload receipt into Google Slides and crop your image
Step 9: Copy ASIN
Step 10: Paste ASIN into Slides and create an arrow pointing to the missing units.
Step 11: Download the slide as a PDF file
Step 12: Submit file on Amazon under “proof of inventory ownership”
Step 13: Include any additional information or prep information here
Step 14: Submit and wait for reimbursement
It can take a couple days for Amazon to review your request. When they come to a decision, they will either reimburse you the amount of money you would have received if you had sold your items, or they will replace your inventory with identical units if they have them avaiable.
If you found this article useful, feel free to share it to someone who may also find it useful. If there are any questions regarding Amazon FBA you would like answered, leave a comment below and I’ll either make a blog or video answering them.
Best regards,
Alex Chung
Update: I got my money back
I submitted my case on April 1, 2023. On April 6, 2023,I received a cash reimbursement.
As you can see now, the units located have been reconciled and it says 74 instead of 0.
If I hadn’t done this, that would have been over $600 down the drain.
Sometimes they reimburse you with the same inventory you sent in, other times they don’t have it and will send you cash.
I received a reimbursement of $861.36, which is close to the amount I would have received had all these units sold.
This is the response Selling Partner Support attached to the case I created:
You want to copy the REIMBURSEMENT ID and paste it into your Reimbursement report.
This will show you what you received as a reimbursement from Amazon.
Conclusion
For the most part, you can get your money back from Amazon
Read: How To Recover Money Amazon Owes You From Warehouse Damaged Items
I wrote that article to show you how to recover additional funds when Amazon workers damaged your products in the warehouse.
Overall, if you proactively stay on top of managing your inventory and periodically check your closed shipments, you can recover a lot of money.
There are times that things don’t go your way and you’re not able to submit an appeal.
However, I’m pretty satisfied with my experiences getting my money back.
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