FBA inventory reimbursement policy
This article applies to selling in: United States

FBA inventory reimbursement policy

Note: Starting March 10, 2025, the FBA inventory reimbursement policy will be updated. For items that are lost or damaged before a customer places an order, reimbursements will now be based on the sourcing cost value. For more details, go to Changes to program policies.

If an item you send to us as part of the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service is lost or damaged at a facility or by a carrier operated by Amazon or on behalf of Amazon, we replace that item with a new item of the same product or reimburse you for it.

Eligibility

For an item to be eligible under this policy, all of the following must be true:

  • The item is registered in FBA at the time it is lost or damaged.
  • The item complies with FBA product restrictions and with FBA inventory requirements.
  • You have sent us the exact items and quantities stated in your shipping plan.
  • The shipment for the item is not in canceled or deleted status.
  • The item is not pending disposal or was not disposed of at your request or because we have exercised a right to do so.
  • The item is not defective and was not damaged by a customer.
  • When a lost or damaged item claim is filed, under review, and during any appeals, the seller’s account must be in normal status.

Claims

If your item is eligible under this policy, and we haven't already reimbursed you, you can file a reimbursement claim. The process to a file a claim varies depending on where in the fulfillment process your item is lost or damaged:

Important: You must follow the applicable process described on the pages above and provide all requested information when you file a claim. We may decline your claim if you do not.

Reimbursements

If we determine that your reimbursement claim is valid, we will replace the lost or damaged item with a new item of the same product or we will reimburse you for it.

If a reimbursement was made in error, or if a reimbursed item is later found and returned to your inventory, we reserve the right to reverse the reimbursement credit that was applied to your account.

We may dispose of any item for which we reimburse you under this policy, including by selling it. As a result, such items, including lost items that are found after reimbursement, may be listed for sale on Amazon Warehouse or other channels.

Important: Our policies prohibit any activity that would interfere with our capacity to help other sellers. Examples of such activities include submitting insufficiently researched or premature requests, or submitting a large number of requests in a short time. Sellers who repeatedly engage in these activities may receive delayed support on their cases or be subject to monitoring, investigation, and account action.

Calculation of reimbursement value

Important: The maximum reimbursement amount for a single unit of any FBA eligible item is $5,000. For items valued at more than $5,000, we recommend that you consider buying third-party insurance.

Because item prices tend to fluctuate over time and may vary widely from seller to seller, we compare several price indicators to determine an estimated sale price for the item when calculating the reimbursement amount. The price indicators we compare are as follows:

  • The median price at which you have sold the item on Amazon over the past 18 months
  • The median price at which other sellers have sold the same item on Amazon over the past 18 months
  • The current list price you have set for the same item on Amazon or the mean list price if you have multiple listings for the same item
  • The current list price for the same item from other sellers on Amazon

If we don't have enough information to calculate the estimated sale price of a unit using the price indicators described above, we assign an estimated sale price based on the price of a comparable product. We may ask you for additional information or documentation to help us determine that value.

If we elect to reimburse you for a shipment to Amazon claim, we reimburse you for the estimated proceeds of a sale of that item.

Note: Estimated proceeds means the estimated sale price of the item for which you are being reimbursed minus referral fees and fulfillment fees.

If we elect to reimburse you for a fulfillment center operations claim or a removals claim, we reimburse you for the estimated proceeds of the sale of that item unless the item was in an unsellable condition when lost or damaged or when removed from the Amazon fulfillment network. For unsellable items, we reimburse you at a valuation consistent with the estimated proceeds of the discounted sale of the unit. We may ask you for additional information or documentation to help us determine that discounted value.

If we elect to reimburse you for a customer return claim, the value of the reimbursement is based on the refund or replacement given to the customer on your FBA order. If Amazon refunded or replaced an item on your FBA order, we calculate the reimbursement value as the refund amount or the price of the replacement item on the original order minus applicable fees.

If you don't agree with our valuation of a unit, you can file a claim on Contact Us in Seller Central within 60 days after we have issued the reimbursement.

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FBA inventory reimbursement policy

  • FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Shipment to Amazon claims
  • FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Fulfillment center operations claim
  • FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Removals claims
  • FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Customer return claims
  • FBA shipping label reimbursement policy
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