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New effective date for FBA inventory reimbursement policy
The updated Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) inventory reimbursement policy will now go into effect on March 31, 2025, instead of March 10, 2025. We made this change to give you more time to manage your costs through the Manage Your Sourcing Cost page in the Inventory Defect and Reimbursement portal.
Since January, we've been gradually rolling out the Manage Your Sourcing Cost page to ensure a high-quality experience. All sellers will have access to this page by February 28, 2025, giving you time to review and submit your costs before the new policy takes effect.
For more information about the FBA inventory reimbursement policy, go to Changes to program policies.
58 replies
Seller_7WVJctILMqzwU
The policy changes are concerning for those dealing with collectibles (toys, cards, sports memorabilia, etc) and high-value items. We should be exempt.
Unfair Valuation: Amazon's shift to manufacturing cost-based reimbursement severely undervalues collectibles.
Burden of Proof: Sellers are now responsible for submitting proof of actual costs pro-actively, an unreasonable and time-consuming task, especially for those with large number of SKU's.
Incomplete Compensation: The new policy fails to account for shipping, placement fees, and prep fees, local storage, labor and other operational costs, leaving sellers to absorb these significant costs.
Arbitrary Cost Determination: Amazon's method of estimating sourcing costs is opaque and often inaccurate, potentially undervaluing items significantly. A quick glance at the dedicated Source cost page and I can see its about 40% or more below my costs.
Time-Consuming Updates: Sellers are expected to manually update and maintain cost information for all SKUs proactively, an unreasonable demand on their time and resources.
Unsellable Item Devaluation: Reimbursement for unsellable items is based on a "discounted sale" valuation, further reducing compensation.
Loss of Potential Profits: If Amazon loses and later finds a high-value item, they retain the right to dispose of or sell it, potentially profiting from the seller's loss. A rare Charizard card can sell for $270,000, yet Amazon would only reimburse the original cost of $4.
Punitive Measures: The policy introduces strict penalties for "premature or numerous requests," effectively discouraging sellers from seeking rightful reimbursement. Why would I be penalized for trying to be made whole?
This policy update unfairly shifts the financial burden onto sellers, particularly impacting those dealing with collectibles and high-value items. It's a concerning development that threatens to erode seller profits and trust in Amazon's FBA program.
At this rate I might have to explore other platforms, Walmart, mercari, ebay, my own website.
What use to be a great selling platform has become a giant headache.
Seller_0D3VGuKcH4QUw
Please share with your FBA Sellers all the Corrective Actions issued corporately (per FC employee) that addresses their miscounting product and losing inventory and how the company will be holding the people and managers at the FCs accountable for errors that 1) have nothing to do with the Professional Sellers, and 2) now worsen the Professional Sellers bottom lines because we are out shipping, operational costs, labor, and overhead. Thank you.
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
And with the money you'll save from these new, heinous changes, we will see what in return?
Seller_7WVJctILMqzwU
@Joey_Amazon Does the team have any guidance for us on our concerns?
It feels this policy change was kind of haphazardly rushed out.
Seller_k4EyxHQfXjNWy
Trying to make this a policy for all sellers is ridiculous. I can see this for resellers but how can you arbitrarily hold manufactures that sell on here to this? I looked at your estimates for my "cost" and some are ridiculous. I put in true cost and 90% of them came back as "denied" or "more information needed".
Denied ones I am out of luck with, I can try again in 30 days, that's BS.
For more information needed you are asking for invoices. I don't have an "invoice" because we made it. I can give you raw material costs, time sheets (labor), Machine time rates, Electric bills, Rent, shop supply costs etc... all of which needs to be considered when coming up with a products cost.
How am I suppose to upload all of this information as "proof" when only 1 document is allowed to be uploaded per SKU?
Seller_p7fZ5OJOffXhc
Amazon, this is completely unacceptable.
Your updated FBA inventory reimbursement policy now forces sellers into a no-win situation where we must either disclose confidential wholesale pricing—which many of us are legally prohibited from sharing—or accept massive losses due to Amazon's own pricing errors.
Amazon has no legitimate reason to demand sourcing costs from sellers. This requirement gives Amazon direct access to proprietary pricing information, which could be used to negotiate directly with suppliers, undercut third-party sellers, and unfairly control the marketplace. This raises serious ethical and potential legal concerns regarding anti-competitive behavior.
Amazon’s mistake in pricing my products over 50% below cost should not result in me being forced to compromise my business relationships and risk my ability to compete.
Pushing the deadline back by three weeks does nothing to fix the core issue here. Sellers deserve a solution that does NOT require violating confidentiality agreements just to correct Amazon’s own errors.
Amazon, you need to immediately offer an alternative resolution that does not require sellers to disclose their private business information. This policy needs to be addressed before it goes into effect, not just delayed.
Seller_pyCNvcu4niexi
Just like someone else predicted on the other thread, they're delaying the effective date and acting like they're doing us a favor. This whole policy is just so stupid.
Seller_V7poGyV8oS610
We are getting DENIED before we are even able to submit documentation about our sourcing costs. How can you fix this? They sourcing costs that Amazon has are way off and these costs needs to be addressed.
Seller_uGV19xmGRVdnz
So I have done some dabbling in the manage sourcing cost.
I have come to an extreme examples I will share;
0.53$ for what should be over 20$. all I can do is accept their 0.53$ because it just says *denied, submitted value falls outside policy guidelines*
Then their policy is basically non existent in terms of information. and it does not allow you to challenge the overlords on their decision.
This is nothing short of being criminal.
Good job Amazon, you have yet again exceeded yourself with another unscrupulous policy
Seller_KvuXBL1ug1xuU
I’m confused on how the new reimbursement policy will affect “collectibles” on Amazon. For example, if you buy a baseball card for say 25 cents, hold for 5 years and it’s worth $200..will Amazon only reimburse me the 25 cents…or even perhaps the 3 cents it cost to manufacture?
I deal in collectibles, and the original retail cost can sometimes be 10% of what the current value is, and the manufacturing cost can sometimes be 3% of the current value. So if I sent in a box with $1,000 worth of collectibles, and Amazon loses it (which they tend to do)….the risk is that I might only get back $30?
“On December 10, 2024, Amazonannounced a significant change to its FBA inventory reimbursement policy, effective March 10, 2025. Amazon is moving towards reimbursing based on the manufacturing cost of lost or damaged inventory rather than the previous reimbursement model, which was based on the item's selling price.”
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