Amazon is shortening the window for sellers to make claims when the company loses their inventory in its fulfillment centers, starting in October. But the following month it will begin proactively reimbursing sellers who use FBA when fulfillment centers report lost goods.
“Almost all reimbursement claims related to warehouse lost and damaged and customer returns cases will now be proactively reimbursed,” Amazon stated in an announcement on July 24, 2024. “However,” it continued, “if you do not receive an automatic reimbursement and you believe that your inventory has been lost or damaged, you will need to file a manual claim. Additionally, all removal claims will still need to be filed manually.”
Beginning October 23, manual claims must be submitted within the following timelines:
- A fulfillment center operations claim for an item that is lost or damaged in the fulfillment center must be submitted no later than 60 days after the item was reported lost or damaged.
- An FBA customer returns claim can be submitted between 60-120 days after the customer refund or replacement date. Claims must not be submitted before 60 days to ensure the customer has time to return the item to us for processing.
- A removal claim for items lost in transit can be submitted 15-75 days from the shipment-creation date. Claims must not be submitted before 15 days to ensure the shipment can be delivered back to you.
- All other removal claims must be filed within 60 days of the shipment being delivered back to you.
Getida’s Yoni Mazor published a video explaining the announcement – “it’s written in English, but this is “Amazonian English,”” he said. Getida is a third-party service that audits sellers’ Amazon FBA transactions and manages claims for lost, damaged, destroyed inventory, including Amazon FBA inbound shipments.
Mazor explained that Amazon is not shortening all claims windows (FBA Inbound Shipments and Weights & Dimensions Fees are not changing) but in some cases are shortening them significantly, from 18 months to between 2 months (for Lost, Damaged Units) and 4 months (for FBA Customer Refunds).
Sellers are asking questions about the new policy on the announcement page on Amazon Seller Central.
