Long-term storage fees

Inventory that has been in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days is charged a monthly long-term storage fee in addition to the monthly inventory storage fee. Long-term storage fees are assessed using an inventory snapshot on the 15th of each month.

FBA calculates inventory age on a first-in, first-out basis across the entire fulfillment network. Items sold or removed are deducted from the inventory that has been in the fulfillment network the longest, regardless of which unit was actually shipped or removed. For example, if a fulfillment center associate picks and ships a unit that arrived in the fulfillment center recently, FBA will still deduct that unit from the oldest inventory in stock.

Use Manage Inventory Health to identify which ASINs are subject to long-term storage fees, including ASINs that would be subject to the fee within 60 days. On Manage Inventory Health, you can locate and filter your inventory by the amount of time it has been in the fulfillment center.

• 0-60 days
• 61-90 days
• 91-180 days
• 181-330 days
• 331-365 days
• More than 365 days

This information can help you estimate the number of items that will have been in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days by the next inventory cleanup date.

The Recommended Removal report can also help you identify items that are subject to long-term storage fees. This report automatically calculates, on an ASIN-by-ASIN basis, the number of items that you would have to remove to avoid long-term storage fees, assuming no further sales. This report identifies items that are subject to long-term storage fees up to 30 days before each long-term storage fee charge date.

How can I avoid long-term storage fees?

Active management of older inventory can help you avoid long-term storage fees. To remove older inventory before the next inventory cleanup date, consider one of the options below.

Mark down and sell through Amazon Outlet: Setting up a deal through Amazon Outlet can help you sell through older inventory. An Outlet deal is a promotional offer with a minimum discount of 20%. To learn more, go to About Amazon Outlet.

Submit a removal or disposal order: If you submit a removal or disposal order for inventory before the cleanup date, that inventory won’t incur a long-term storage fee, even if it isn’t physically removed before the cleanup date. The deadline for submitting a removal order is 11:59 p.m. (PT) on the 14th of the month.

Set up automated removals: If you set up automated removals by the 15th of each month for inventory that is subject to long-term storage fees, that inventory won’t be charged long-term storage fees. To set up automated removals, go to the Settings menu in Seller Central and select Fulfillment by Amazon.

You can enable removal of all inventory subject to long-term storage fees or select a price range to determine which items are to be removed. You can also keep inventory that is priced above a certain amount in the fulfillment center, pay the long-term storage fees for those items only, and have the remaining items returned to you or disposed of. Standard removal fees apply.

When can you replenish your inventory?

If you remove units of an ASIN that would be subject to long-term storage fees at the next inventory cleanup date, you won't be able to send us more units of that ASIN for three months after that date. There is an exception to this policy if your inventory levels for the removed ASIN fall below our running eight-week sales projections.

Three months after the inventory cleanup date: Restrictions based on removals are lifted at this point. For example, if you remove inventory before the February 15 inventory cleanup between January 16 and 11:59 p.m. (PT) on February 14, you’ll be able to send more units of that ASIN to fulfillment centers starting on May 15, unless your ability to send units of that ASIN has been restricted for another reason.

Inventory level falls below sales projection: We base our projection of your sales of an ASIN for the next eight weeks on your average sales rate for that ASIN during the preceding 90 days. At any point that your inventory level for that ASIN falls below eight weeks of cover, the removal-based restriction is lifted and you can send more units to fulfillment centers.

Your inventory utilization for that ASIN may not exceed the preceding 90 days of sales, or about 13 weeks of cover. Inventory utilization consists of your in-stock inventory plus any inventory on its way to a fulfillment center, from creation of a shipment order to receiving at the fulfillment center.

How much new inventory can you send?

For example, if the ASIN you removed sold 180 units in the preceding 90 days, we would project your sales for the next eight weeks as 112 units based on this calculation: 180/90 (units sold/day) x 7 (days/week) x 8 (weeks).

If your inventory utilization fell below projected sales (112), you could send more units of that ASIN to an Amazon fulfillment center, up to the number sold in the previous 90 days (180). So if your inventory utilization fell to 111 units, you could send up to 69 more units to the fulfillment center (180 - 111 = 69).

The table below provides more examples of how much new inventory you can send to fulfillment centers after you’ve removed items subject to long-term storage fees.