[April FBA Series]💰 Recover Your Lost FBA Inventory: UK Reimbursement Claims Explained
Hi sellers,
Throughout April, we're launching a comprehensive educational series focused on the FBA topics that matter most to you. Learn more about this series here. For Week 1 (6-10 April), we're focusing on Shipping, Delivery & Reconciliation.
🗓️ Save the Date: Have questions on FBA? Join our FBA Ask Amazon event on 29 April to get answers directly from FBA partner teams!
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Understanding the FBA reimbursement process is essential for protecting your inventory and ensuring you're fairly compensated when issues occur. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything UK sellers need to know about claiming reimbursements for lost or damaged inventory.
What is FBA Reimbursement?
When Amazon is responsible for lost, damaged, or disposed inventory in our fulfilment centres, we reimburse you based on the estimated proceeds - your item's value minus applicable fees. Amazon acts as custodian of your inventory, and when defects occur in our value chain, we compensate you accordingly.
Types of Reimbursable Events
Warehouse Damage
- Inventory damaged whilst in Amazon's fulfilment centres
- Automatically reimbursed within 21 days for sellable inventory
- Eligible for manual claims if source disposition is customer damaged, inbound carrier damaged, expired, or distributor damaged
Warehouse Lost Inventory
- Items that go missing within our fulfilment centres
- Must be claimed within 18 months of the event
- Currently requires manual claim submission (automatic reimbursement disabled since August 2022)
Customer Returns
- Items returned damaged by the carrier or warehouse
- Items not returned within 45 days (UK/WW) when returnable
- Items flipped to Amazon ownership regardless of condition
How to File a Reimbursement Claim
For Damaged Items:
- Locate the Transaction Item ID in your Inventory Ledger Report
- Use the Check Warehouse Damaged Reimbursement Status tool
- Verify the item disposition shows "Sellable" and reason is "Damaged at Warehouse"
- Confirm you haven't been previously reimbursed
- Submit your claim through the Contact Us page if needed
For Lost Items:
- Check your Inventory Ledger Report for the transaction
- Verify the loss occurred within the past 18 months
- Provide either the Transaction Item ID or FNSKU
- Submit through Contact Us with relevant details
Help Resources:
- FBA Reimbursement Policy
- Inventory Ledger Report: Reports > Fulfilment > Inventory Ledger
- Inventory and Reimbursement Portal
Important Eligibility Requirements
- Claims must be filed within 18 months of the event
- Your account must be in normal or pending status (not blocked, terminated, or fraud)
- The ASIN must be active (not suppressed, prohibited, or restricted)
- You must have a standard FBA contract
- Only one claim per shipment is permitted
Key Timeframes for UK Sellers
- Warehouse damage claims: Available immediately after the damage event is visible
- Customer return claims: No sooner than 45 days after refund Lost inventory claims: Within 18 months of the event
- Automatic warehouse damage reimbursement: Within 21 days
What You'll Need
- When submitting claims, be prepared to provide:
- Transaction Item ID or FNSKU
- Date and location of the loss or damage
- Amazon shipment ID (for inbound issues)
- Proof of inventory ownership (invoice, receipt, or packing slip)
- Proof of delivery for inbound shipments
Need Additional Support?
If your claim is denied, review the specific reason provided, check the Inventory Ledger Report for additional transaction details, and contact Seller Support with your Transaction Item ID for further investigation.
Share your Experience
Have you successfully navigated the reimbursement process? What tips would you share with fellow sellers? Drop your experiences below - your insights help build a stronger seller community!
[April FBA Series]💰 Recover Your Lost FBA Inventory: UK Reimbursement Claims Explained
Hi sellers,
Throughout April, we're launching a comprehensive educational series focused on the FBA topics that matter most to you. Learn more about this series here. For Week 1 (6-10 April), we're focusing on Shipping, Delivery & Reconciliation.
🗓️ Save the Date: Have questions on FBA? Join our FBA Ask Amazon event on 29 April to get answers directly from FBA partner teams!
_____________________________________
Understanding the FBA reimbursement process is essential for protecting your inventory and ensuring you're fairly compensated when issues occur. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything UK sellers need to know about claiming reimbursements for lost or damaged inventory.
What is FBA Reimbursement?
When Amazon is responsible for lost, damaged, or disposed inventory in our fulfilment centres, we reimburse you based on the estimated proceeds - your item's value minus applicable fees. Amazon acts as custodian of your inventory, and when defects occur in our value chain, we compensate you accordingly.
Types of Reimbursable Events
Warehouse Damage
- Inventory damaged whilst in Amazon's fulfilment centres
- Automatically reimbursed within 21 days for sellable inventory
- Eligible for manual claims if source disposition is customer damaged, inbound carrier damaged, expired, or distributor damaged
Warehouse Lost Inventory
- Items that go missing within our fulfilment centres
- Must be claimed within 18 months of the event
- Currently requires manual claim submission (automatic reimbursement disabled since August 2022)
Customer Returns
- Items returned damaged by the carrier or warehouse
- Items not returned within 45 days (UK/WW) when returnable
- Items flipped to Amazon ownership regardless of condition
How to File a Reimbursement Claim
For Damaged Items:
- Locate the Transaction Item ID in your Inventory Ledger Report
- Use the Check Warehouse Damaged Reimbursement Status tool
- Verify the item disposition shows "Sellable" and reason is "Damaged at Warehouse"
- Confirm you haven't been previously reimbursed
- Submit your claim through the Contact Us page if needed
For Lost Items:
- Check your Inventory Ledger Report for the transaction
- Verify the loss occurred within the past 18 months
- Provide either the Transaction Item ID or FNSKU
- Submit through Contact Us with relevant details
Help Resources:
- FBA Reimbursement Policy
- Inventory Ledger Report: Reports > Fulfilment > Inventory Ledger
- Inventory and Reimbursement Portal
Important Eligibility Requirements
- Claims must be filed within 18 months of the event
- Your account must be in normal or pending status (not blocked, terminated, or fraud)
- The ASIN must be active (not suppressed, prohibited, or restricted)
- You must have a standard FBA contract
- Only one claim per shipment is permitted
Key Timeframes for UK Sellers
- Warehouse damage claims: Available immediately after the damage event is visible
- Customer return claims: No sooner than 45 days after refund Lost inventory claims: Within 18 months of the event
- Automatic warehouse damage reimbursement: Within 21 days
What You'll Need
- When submitting claims, be prepared to provide:
- Transaction Item ID or FNSKU
- Date and location of the loss or damage
- Amazon shipment ID (for inbound issues)
- Proof of inventory ownership (invoice, receipt, or packing slip)
- Proof of delivery for inbound shipments
Need Additional Support?
If your claim is denied, review the specific reason provided, check the Inventory Ledger Report for additional transaction details, and contact Seller Support with your Transaction Item ID for further investigation.
Share your Experience
Have you successfully navigated the reimbursement process? What tips would you share with fellow sellers? Drop your experiences below - your insights help build a stronger seller community!
11 replies
Seller_l85iSVFc5JByo
Can you give some guidance on how to recover the full amount I paid for damaged/lost items? I recently had 24 units gone missing for which we paid £46 per unit from our distributor. Amazon issued us with a £200 refund for £1104 in lost items despite us submitting supporting invoices to show the cost of good sold. When I spoke to support they told me this is a new procedure where Amazon calculates what they believe the item is worth rather than what I paid for it, leaving us £900 out of pocket because of Amazon's mistake.
I would like to understand how Amazon calculates an item they themselves sell for £75 and which the official manufacturer sells for £46 Amazon calculates at "£8.86 Amazon estimated" when I have invoices showing the EXACT cost of the lost item.
Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J
Thank you for putting this into a written post. This is already more useful than asking sellers to wait for a live event and try to extract the important points in real time.
But I think there is still a gap between explaining the claims process and giving sellers enough visibility to properly check whether Amazon’s decision is actually correct.
At the moment, sellers are often told to use the Inventory Ledger, check the reason given, and contact Support if needed. In practice, that still leaves a lot unclear.
For example:
- an item can appear under one damage type and later seem to fall under another
- a reimbursement may be denied or paid at a value that the seller cannot properly reconcile
- the seller can see a transaction reference, but not the full logic or evidence behind the decision
- the explanation given is often too general to let the seller work out whether the outcome is right or wrong
So from a small seller point of view, the real problem is not only “how to submit a claim”.
It is also:
- how to verify Amazon’s classification
- how to understand the reimbursement calculation
- how to tell the difference between a policy limit, a system issue, and a wrong decision
- how to challenge an outcome without going in circles with Support
That is the part sellers keep struggling with.
A follow-up post would be much more useful if it included a few real worked examples, such as:
1. item marked damaged at warehouse
2. item returned as customer damaged after buyer reported arrived damaged
3. inbound shipment loss
4. denied claim and what evidence the seller should review
For each example, it would help to show:
- what the seller sees in the ledger
- what Amazon is using internally to classify the case
- how the reimbursement amount is worked out
- when a seller should escalate because something looks wrong
That would turn this from a general process article into something sellers can actually use to audit outcomes and reduce wasted support time.
Seller_j30KQjgEjnF6v
Stop talking rubbish. Amazon don't reinverse. I just had my stock sent back to me and marked EVERY shipment defective so when I went back to get a reinversement it was denied as it was defective.
Amazon are basically cons. There is no winning with them.
Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J
I think the deeper problem is that the tracking information shown in Amazon’s system does not always reflect the physical reality of the shipment.
A shipment can already be inside Amazon territory, but still become effectively invisible in the gap between delivery, internal handling, and final receiving. From the seller side, it looks lost. Later, it may suddenly be discovered and added into inventory.
That creates a very difficult situation for sellers, because even if they follow the correct claim process, the whole path is still built around incomplete visibility.
The seller may have to:
* collect proof of delivery
* wait through investigation windows
* open a reimbursement claim
* challenge valuation or denial
* then later see the claim reversed because the shipment was eventually found
But by that point, the seller has already suffered the real commercial damage:
* stock was unavailable for sale while physically inside Amazon’s network
* sales were missed, especially for fast-moving products
* cash flow was tied up in inventory that could not generate revenue
* replenishment planning became less reliable
So the issue is not only “how to file a claim for lost stock”.
It is also that Amazon’s visible tracking states do not always match the physical presence of the shipment, and sellers bear the commercial consequences of that visibility gap.
That is why a follow-up post would be much more useful if it explained how sellers can distinguish between:
1. true non-delivery
2. delayed internal receiving
3. stock physically present but not yet reflected in seller-visible status
4. reimbursement cases later reversed because inventory was eventually found
Without that, sellers are still left trying to solve a physical receiving problem through an accounting claims process.
