According to Jungle Scout’s 2022 State of the Amazon Seller Report, 68% of Amazon sellers use FBA to fulfill all of their orders in the United States, while an additional 21% use FBA combined with other fulfillment methods. Amazon ships approximately 1.6 million packages a day. That works out to more than 66 thousand orders per hour, and 18.5 orders per second! With the enormous amount of inventory arriving at one of Amazon’s 110 fulfillment centers in the US every day, it’s not surprising that mistakes will happen.
For Amazon FBA sellers, what are the most common reasons why Amazon may owe you money?
There are several reasons why Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) sellers may be owed refunds from Amazon:
- Lost Inventory: Lost inventory may be due to miscounting the number of units shipped into the fulfillment center versus what was marked as received, incorrectly assigning the inventory to another seller, or inventory not being assigned to an order. To be considered by Amazon as Lost Inventory, the product has to have been missing in fulfillment centers for at least the past 30 days.
- Damaged Inventory: This is where the damage occurred after Amazon receives the item into its fulfillment center. The damage may occur at the fulfillment center, en route to the customer, or during the customer returns handling process. Damage may be done by Amazon or by a carrier used by Amazon. In rarer situations, Amazon may even destroy items without permission.
- Lost or Damaged Inventory From Your Inbound Shipping: These situations apply when the items are lost or damaged before they are checked into the fulfillment center.
- Issues Relating to Processing Customer Returns: The National Retail Federation noted that in 2021, over 20% of online purchases in the US were returned, adding to over $23.2 Billion. For Amazon sellers using FBA, Amazon manages the processing of these returns directly. A number of issues can occur with these returns that may be eligible for reimbursement:
- The product isn’t returned after the customer is refunded – This happens when a customer is refunded the amount but did not return the product.
- The product isn’t replaced after return – The customer received a replacement for the product, but the initial item isn’t returned to the seller.
- The returned item isn’t added to your inventory – The customer returns the item, but for some reason, it is not returned to the inventory.
- Errors with Amazon Fees: Other errors that are eligible for reimbursement include: if Amazon applies the wrong referral fee, uses the incorrect weights or dimensions of a product, charges the wrong storage fee or long-term storage fee, or charges the wrong shipping fee.
What are the Steps You Need To Take To Recover The Money That You are Owed?
Unfortunately, in all instances, Amazon sellers are responsible for sending the appropriate documentation or evidence, filing the case with Amazon, and then following up with Amazon Support until the case is resolved.
Some of the key documentation steps include:
- Reconcile the discrepancies between your shipping plan and what was received by the fulfillment center
- Verify FBA charges and the weights and dimensions being applied for items.
- Review your Inventory Adjustments Report
- Check your Removal Order Detail Report and your Removal Shipment Detail Report
You can do these steps yourself, but the process is often time-consuming and it requires combing through your Amazon Seller Central reports diligently every month.
And you need to act fast. Unfortunately, depending on the type of claim, there are different lengths of time for you to claim your reimbursement before they expire. For example, for claims relating to FBA Shipments, you have 9 months from the last activity on the shipment to make your case.
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HINGE COMMERCE has a proven success record of reimbursement recovery. In fact, we have even recovered $42,000 for one of our clients in a single month. Our secret is simple: We know Amazon, we are meticulous in reviewing your account, and we don’t drop the ball with Amazon case management. Our Operations team will work to recover all the money you are owed! Best of all, no long-term contract is required. We will simply apply a 25% recovery fee, payable only after the recovered funds are deposited by Amazon into your account. It’s a win-win!
Reach out to us to learn more. We are happy to help!