As an Amazon FBA seller, it’s important to ensure that your inventory is properly handled and stored in Amazon’s warehouses. Under Amazon’s care, damages may still occur during shipment or while stored in Amazon’s warehouses or by customers. If you found that your items are damaged by Amazon or customers, you may be entitled to reimbursement from Amazon for the value of the damaged products. Amazon provides reimbursement for items damaged by their facilities or employees.
However, Creating effective reimbursement applications for warehouse and customer damaged products can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it’s essential for recovering the costs of damaged items.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to create accurate and complete reimbursement applications for warehouse and customer damage products. By following these steps, you can increase your chances of receiving fair compensation from Amazon and protect your business from unnecessary losses.
Amazon Reimbursement: First Keep Track the Inventory
Although Amazon’s FBA reimbursement policy states that they will reimburse for damaged or lost products of sellers but Amazon won’t always reimburse automatically and even if it does, sellers still may lose money. Amazon makes mistakes. The more time passes the harder it gets to track missing items and take proper action. So sellers should keep an eye on their inventory and monitor all the changes and if something is wrong, contact Amazon.
What happens If Inventory Damage in Warehouse?
Those Amazon warehouses are big places. There are lots of people, machinery, and even robots handling products. Items are bound to get damaged while at the fulfillment centers.
If your inventory is damaged while stored in an Amazon warehouse, it can be a frustrating and costly experience for any seller, though Amazon offers a reimbursement for warehouse damaged goods. To submit a reimbursement claim, you will need to provide evidence and submit a reimbursement request to Amazon.
By following the correct procedures and providing sufficient evidence, you can increase your chances of receiving a reimbursement, though the process is a bit time-consuming.
What happens If Inventory Damaged by a Customer?
If a customer damages your item during the returns process, Amazon generally will not reimburse you for the damage. However, if the customer damages the item during normal use or mishandles it during delivery, you may be eligible for reimbursement.
The process for reimbursement of customer-damaged items can be more complicated than for warehouse-damaged items. Amazon may require additional evidence, such as the customer’s contact information or a police report in the case of theft or vandalism.
It’s also important to remember that the amount of reimbursement you receive for customer-damaged items may be less than the actual cost of the item, depending on the circumstances.
Check Reimbursement Status
To check reimbursement status, go to the Payment Section and Reimbursement. Sellers can search their reimbursement status by merchant SKU, FNSKU, Reimbursement ID, Amazon ID. They can easily see the status of items. Please provide information and click on the Generate button to check the reimbursement status.
Reimbursement Process From Amazon
Amazon can either “Replace the item with one with the same FNSKU” or “Reimburse sellers the estimated proceeds of the sale of that same item”. Sellers can get money back for “Items damaged while in an Amazon fulfillment center” and “Items missing within an Amazon fulfillment center for 30 consecutive days”.There are some conditions that apply.
- Amazon gives you 18 months of the date of loss or damage to submit your claim.
- They also won’t reimburse expired or defective items.
- Amazon has the right to dispose of all items that they reimburse and then sell on its different channels such as Amazon Warehouse.
Search Damaged Products
Before applying for an Amazon reimbursement, Sellers have to find damaged or missed items and contact with Amazon. Please check the below process of finding damaged or missed items
Step 1 : Reports –> Fulfillment –> Inventory – Inventory Ledger
Step 2 : Click on Generate Report
Sellers should get a list of all your damaged items that call for Amazon reimbursement.
Step 2 : Click Investigate an Item Damaged in Warehouse
Once sellers realize the number of damaged items then they investigate the FNSKU.
Step 3 : Check the reimbursable items
Then, Amazon will check eligible items for reimbursement. Also, Amazon sometimes will reimburse even if the item is sellable.
Sellers can see the number of items that are reimbursable, reimbursed, and found.
Amazon has improved the case submission in comparison to what reimbursement requests were like 4 years ago. Sellers were often asked to submit the SKU that required reimbursement to Amazon support, and they had to submit the files multiple times as Amazon only allowed 5 units per case. Now sellers can add a lot of FNSKUs in one request.
Step 4 : Create Case for Reimbursable Item(s)
Step 5: Case Submitted
Step 6: Case Detail
If all else fails the last report would be contacting Amazon support by creating a case
manually. Attach the file with all the items to investigate by Amazon!
Done! Now Amazon will check your application and if they determine that it’s their fault then they will pay back for all those damaged items!
To conclude, as an Amazon FBA seller, it is important to take proactive steps to ensure the proper handling and storage of inventory in Amazon’s warehouses. Despite Amazon’s efforts, damages may still occur during shipment or while stored in their warehouses, or even by customers.
To recover the costs of damaged items, sellers may be entitled to reimbursement from Amazon. However, the process of creating effective reimbursement applications for warehouse and customer damaged products can be complex and time-consuming.
By following the steps provided in this guide, including keeping track of inventory and submitting proper evidence for reimbursement claims, sellers can increase their chances of receiving fair compensation and protect their business from unnecessary losses.
Nonetheless, taking the time to follow these procedures can ultimately benefit Amazon FBA sellers and their businesses.
If you have any queries please let us know through the comment box or email us at the following email address: info@ecomclips.com
To know more about Amazon, please check out our other blog. Also, you can check our YouTube videos related to Amazon.
Amazon FBA Reimbursements for Lost items
Amazon FBA – A Complete Overview of the Amazon FBA Process
Beginner’s Guide for Amazon FBA Business 2023
Amazon FBA Barcodes | How to Create Amazon FNSKU
How to Convert FBM to FBA and Send Products to Amazon Warehouse
