How to get reimbursed when Amazon loses inbound FBA boxes
Box-level details to the rescue!
Every Amazon FBA seller has been there. You ship several boxes of product to the fulfillment center (FC), and Amazon comes up short after receiving the contents. It has happened again, Amazon loses inbound FBA boxes. Especially frustrating is an increasing tendency for the warehouse to claim it investigated, and you simply didn’t ship the product in. You request further investigation and – denied.
However, there could be another avenue for satisfaction, depending on the details of your case. In my own account, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. Rather than missing a few units out of each box, the FC clearly is losing an entire box of inventory – and all its contents. Fortunately, this is easy to prove!
Steps to show your inbound inventory was lost
- Under the “Inventory” menu, go to “Manage FBA Shipments.”
- Find the shipment with shortage and click “Track shipment.”
- On the next screen, you will see a list of boxes. Make sure each one has the status of “delivered.” If it wasn’t delivered, your beef is with the carrier.
- If every box shows as delivered, it’s time to find out where the shortages are. Click on the “Shipment contents” tab. Determine which ASINs were shorted.
- Now, click on the “Prepare Shipment” tab above.
- On the next screen, you will find the box-level contents. Are you able to see that all (or almost all) of the missing items were in a single box? If so, it’s time to reopen that case!
Reaching out to Seller Support – and beyond
If you can see that the problems are related to completely missing box(es), reopen your request with Seller Support.
For instance, explain with language similar to this:
“Recently, you refused to reimburse a shortage on inbound FBA shipment (shipment ID). After researching, I have determined that XX missing units were all from a single box. This box was delivered on DATE, according to tracking number (tracking number). Clearly, the box has been lost at the warehouse. I again request reimbursement. If you need more information, please refer to the shipment’s box- level details.”
Now for the bad news. Oftentimes, this will again be denied. Don’t ask me why – it evades all common sense. But there is an alternative! Now is the time to reach out to executive contacts and ask for reimbursement. On the last two shipments where I did this in my own account, my inventory was “magically” found within a matter of days.
If you need assistance recovering your “lost” inventory, let us help! Contact us here Riverbend Consulting or call us at 877-289-1017
Author
Lesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm’s client services team. She has personally helped hundreds of third-party sellers get their accounts and ASINs back up and running. Lesley leverages two decades as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. She has been an Amazon seller for almost a decade, thanks to her boys (21 and 15) who do most of the heavy lifting.
