Every seller conducting business on both Amazon FBA and any other platform aims to have clear visibility on the quantity of available stock, as well as the number of products currently in transit to the warehouse or customer, etc. Trading based on a formula
The quantity of products sent to the warehouse = the quantity of sold products + the quantity of products available for sale
is the goal of everyone, but in practice, often unattainable. Products in warehouses are very often lost or damaged, and Amazon is no exception. How to recover such products and get compensation from Amazon? How to retrieve at least some of the money owed to you?
Amazon Inventory Reconciliation process
Inventory Reconciliation or Stock Reconciliation, simply put, is an inventory of Amazon FBA products. You receive an inventory reconciliation report and manually check if the quantities of shipped, sold, and available-for-sale products match. If they don’t match, you need to look for discrepancies – products that Amazon lost or damaged – and request compensation for them.
Inventory Reconciliation You can find the report in your Amazon Seller Central account by clicking Reports > Fulfillment by Amazon > Inventory Ledger. Enter the product identification code (ASIN, SKU, or FNSKU), apply other necessary filters, and select the desired time frame. To streamline the entire process, it’s always recommended to perform inventory reconciliation once a month.
In the report, you’ll see a lot of detailed information about your Amazon FBA inventory, allowing you to delve deeper into this information. However, in this case, the most relevant information for you is about Amazon lost and damaged products.
Lost and damaged products in Amazon FBA fulfillment center
If you notice discrepancies in the Amazon FBA Reconciliation report, it could possibly be lost or damaged products, but there’s no need to rush. Often, such products reappear within a few days or weeks, resolving the issue. However, if after 30 days the discrepancies persist, Amazon should allocate compensation.
According to Amazon, compensation is supposed to be granted automatically, but relying blindly on this is not recommended as it doesn’t always happen. Sellers should proactively request compensation from Amazon.
In the Inventory Reconciliation report, you can see detailed information about each product: product lost in the fulfillment center / product found; product damaged by the buyer / damaged in the fulfillment center; buyer returned the product, but it’s suitable for resale / product unsuitable for resale; buyer returned the product, but Amazon decided to leave it with the buyer and refund the money, and so on.
More about the reasons why there may be discrepancies in the report: https://medium.com/@SellerZen/understanding-amazons-fba-inventory-reconciliation-report-641bdf865c87.
Information reconciliation is most complicated, particularly with returns, especially when a buyer decides to return the money to Amazon and keep the product. In such cases, compensation should be allocated to you after 45 days (or you can request compensation after that time has passed).
More about returns: https://digitalfrks.com/every-sellers-nightmare-returns-how-to-deal-with-amazon-returns/.
How to submit a request to receive compensation?
Carefully reviewing the Inventory Reconciliation report and having specific FNSKUs that Amazon lost or damaged, after 30 days, if you haven’t received automatically allocated compensation, you can contact Amazon and request it yourself.
Start a new case with support, as usual, through the Get Support section: choose Selling on Amazon > Or, browse for your issue in the menu > Fulfillment by Amazon > Inventory Damaged or Inventory Lost in Warehouse. Select the specific case, whether you are seeking compensation for a lost or damaged product.
Clearly and specifically describe the issue, include the product’s FNSKU, quantity for which you are claiming compensation, and attach evidence – a fragment of the Inventory Reconciliation report. Attachments ensure that a real person will read your message, not just an automated response. Create separate cases for each issue – lost products and damaged products – and create new cases for each FNSKU.
More on how to ask for compensation: https://www.onlinesellersolutions.com/post/how-to-get-your-money-back-from-lost-and-damaged-fba-inventory.
Inventory or Stock Reconciliation process requires attention and manual work, especially if you are a medium or large Amazon FBA seller. Therefore, we recommend not neglecting this process and conducting inventory reconciliation regularly. If you lack the time or skills for it, we, DIGITAL FREAKS, will provide this service for you. Let’s talk and find the best solution for your Amazon business.