If you are an Amazon FBA seller, then Amazon must have owed you money for different kinds of mistakes. The tricky part is finding and claiming the FBA reimbursements Amazon owes you. It is a challenge for sellers to get a refund from Amazon. If you’re not observing your seller central account daily for errors, the reimbursement amount will be huge than your expectations. Since hundreds of machines and Amazon employees are involved daily, mistakes are bound to happen. However, you can hire a professional Amazon FBA consultant that will make the task less stressful. FBA reimbursement can amount to 1% to 3% of annual revenue. If you run a business into millions, you could get a significant amount from reimbursement. Hence, it is worth tracking your inventory damages, overcharge fees, and false refunds that could be privileged as FBA reimbursement. You can file a claim to the applicable department within eighteen months from the date of the error with the help of an Amazon FBA consultant. This blog post will cover the common areas of Amazon’s FBA reimbursement policy and reimbursement process and give you some tips and tricks for a quick reimbursement! Let’s get started.
What Is Amazon FBA Reimbursement & Amazon Claims?
Amazon FBA Reimbursement is the amount paid for the disparity made by Amazon on your Amazon selling account. As a seller, you can ask for an FBA reimbursement claim with Amazon, which allows you to get the refund that the e-commerce giant owes you for the discrepancies on your account. Requesting for Amazon Seller Refund in an Amazon claim is a part of the FBA claim process. It is the FBA seller’s responsibility to claim Amazon’s reimbursement.
When you sell products through Amazon’s FBA program, you’re essentially trusting your products to Amazon, from when the e-commerce giant receives them to packing and shipping the product until a customer makes a purchase. While it sounds easy and convenient, it also comes with specific perils. One is inventory loss or damage. If something happens to your inventory while it’s in Amazon’s care, they are liable for reimbursing you for the damage or loss.
What Kind Of Mistakes Does Amazon Make?
Amazon, the e-commerce giant mostly picks up on its errors, but one or two mistakes could be left unattended.
Several issues that could lead to FBA reimbursement include the following:
- Lost or damaged items in Amazon Warehouse by inbound shipper
- Items destroyed by Amazon without prior permission
- Customers receive numerous items while they pay for one or fewer of the obtained items
- When a customer received a refund without returning the item
- When a customer received a replacement item without the return of the original
- Stock deducted after shipment closed
- Inbound inventory not added to seller’s account
- Orders with the weight or dimension mischarged
- Mischarged commission fees
- Issued reimbursement not showing up
- Removal order not received
Damaged inventory (by warehouse or shipper) and issues with customer FBA returns (the product never reaches the warehouse or the customer never returns it) are the most common FBA errors experienced by FBA sellers.
Amazon handles hundreds of thousands of products and returns in a day. The immense volume is the sole reason for such typical issues. Many sellers are stepping back from FBA as they assume the process is complicated and they would lose money if Amazon does not reimburse them for their inventory. The actuality is that Amazon FBA provides many benefits, such as:
1. Handling The Fulfillment Process: When a customer orders your product, Amazon picks, sorts, packs, ships, and tracks the order. The giant retailer even takes care of returns and manages refunds. Sellers need to put in a significant amount of time and effort when they handle all these processes. Fewer upfront costs to do business are ideal for companies, specifically those looking for growth.
2. Manage Your Returns: It can be tough dealing with frustrated customers. You need to understand the reason behind returning products and check whether it is valid. Further, you need to pay the cost for replacement or refund and notify the customer about the modification in status. You need to engage more staff as you can’t handle all this alone. FBA makes it effortless for you, as Amazon’s employees follow these tasks.
3. Reduce Shipping Costs: Shipping companies charge a considerable amount for delivering products. If you burden your customers with these charges, some of them will shift to your competitor. Don’t restrict your business growth, and opt for this. Amazon FBA delivers premium services at a small nominal price.
4. Eliminates The Need For A Warehouse: Every business demands a warehouse to store them. You would also need personnel to handle the warehouse. With all these needs, your budget will increase. Amazon FBA offers fulfillment centers that keep your products. They include all overhead costs in affordable monthly inventory fees.
Amazon FBA provides the above benefits. There could be chances of a few mistakes for which Amazon reimburses its sellers, leaving them zero chance to complain. Hence most sellers opt for FBA as they acknowledge it will bring them voluminous business just by paying some inventory charges to Amazon.
The Main FBA Reimbursement Types
There are five types of FBA inventory reimbursements. Each kind of reimbursement has distinct eligibility necessities, so it’s vital to understand their differences. Let us have a look at them one by one.
1. Lost Inventory
When you send inventory to Amazon FBA warehouses, a few products can get lost for several reasons. One reason could be that it might get placed in other sellers’ inventory. It can occur because of the massive inventory and more orders. Figure out what happened by taking a look at your inventory reports. In short, Amazon FBA warehouses cater to hundreds of FBA sellers and mistakenly can place your inventory in another seller’s inventory. We need to check and ask for Amazon Warehouse Damaged Reimbursement.
2. Damaged Inventory That’s Not Reimbursed To The Seller
Amazon can damage your FBA inventory during order fulfillment, or carriers can damage it when they deliver customer returns. It is another expected area for Amazon’s FBA reimbursement. You can check the details of the damaged items in the damaged inventory report on Amazon seller central.
Areas covered by the lost and damaged policy by Amazon are the following:
- Products lost in the fulfillment center
- Products damaged in the fulfillment center
- Damaged or lost items are en route from the fulfillment center to the customer.
- Shipments that are lost or damaged on their route to fulfillment centers (for FBA)
- FBA Inventory Missing in fulfillment centers for the past 30 days
You need to observe these situations regularly and see if you got the reimbursement from Amazon. In a few cases, Amazon initiates the money refund when their employee causes damage to your item. In other cases, sellers check and file a claim to process their FBA reimbursement.
3. Issues Related To Customer Returns
Customer returns are a part of any e-commerce business. Amazon manages customer returns and refunds for FBA sellers. However, Amazon doesn’t follow the rules consistently. Sometimes consumers get a refund even if they forget to return the product. With so many returns processed daily, reimbursement claims tend to be higher in this category. Can you guess the reason? Well, Amazon needs to fix the issue within the allotted time. If it fails to do so, you can claim a reimbursement from them and get your money back. Let us have a look at a few common ones.
Customers do not return the product after refund – This happens when a customer is refunded the amount, but Amazon does not get the product in return.
Customer does not return the product after replacement– The customer received the replacement of the product, but the initial item does not return to the seller.
Amazon does not add the returned item to the seller’s inventory – The customer returned the product, but for some reason, it did not return to the seller’s inventory.
There are different possibilities for when this type of reimbursement can apply. Some common ones include below:
- There was never a reimbursement payout.
- Amazon accepted an incorrect customer-returned product.
- The customer received a refund that was higher than what they had charged.
- The customer damaged the product and returned it, and Amazon took the damaged product.
- When Amazon grants a customer an exception to the return policy after the usual policy window.
1. Destroyed & Disposed Of Amazon FBA Inventory
Sellers may permit Amazon to dispose of their products if:
- The product reached its expiration date.
- Amazon disposes of seller products due to safety concerns.
- The old items are present in the inventory and not selling.
However, if Amazon destroys or disposes of the seller’s inventory without their permission, the seller may be eligible for reimbursement.
2. Order Quantity Issues
Sellers may face several issues while processing the orders. The customer might receive more quantities of the product than what they ordered. Mostly, customers won’t return the additional item. Amazon may not realize this error. So it’s up to sellers to notice the errors in their inventory and order details.
3. Amazon FBA Seller Fees
There are different types of Amazon FBA fees- commission fees, storage fees, long-term storage fees, and shipping fees. These costs are distinguished based on your selling category as well as the size and storage of the item. They can overcharge you sometimes. It can account for a prominent part of your FBA reimbursements, especially if you haven’t kept tracking for a few weeks. You can take a glance at the list of FBA issues here. If they have previously overcharged your FBA fees, reach out to Amazon and request a refund. However, you will need to deliver evidence of the overcharges, such as screenshots or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Use the fees explainer tool on Amazon to understand the various fee types that Amazon has charged you. Follow these steps to access it:
- Go to Reports and select Payments in Seller Central.
- Navigate to Transaction View.
- Select any of the figures in the Total column by clicking on them.
- Click on any of the amounts you want to check under Amazon fees.
Benefits of Amazon Reimbursements
FBA reimbursement is a way for FBA sellers to increase cash flow. The advantages of Amazon reimbursement include the following:
Extra inflow will benefit FBA sellers during these extreme times and help them manage the issues that may occur from grave Amazon inventory restrictions. For proposing an Amazon claim, sellers need to execute a detailed audit of their accounts. It will help them to analyze the most-loved products and the items that are doing so well. It authorizes the sellers to get a hold of their positives and work on their not-so-good points.
In general, there are three approaches for reimbursement: Self-managing, virtual assistants, and solution providers. The complete process from start to finish is a bit tiresome; the complication multiplies if the number of products additions. Amazon requires precise documentation to support all the claims.
If you plan to self-managing, you could be demoralized by information, but there are zero guarantees that the claim is precisely submitted. Virtual assistant lacks experience in the Amazon FBA platform. Hence, the chances of not getting the maximum FBA reimbursements are high. In both cases, the result isn’t what you desired, while money can be left behind.
Do’s & Don’ts While Filing Amazon Seller Reimbursement Claims
Do’s
- To maximize efficiency and file a proper Amazon seller reimbursement claim, pick the correct method that suits your needs.
- Find and review all the ways that Amazon might need to repay you.
- Amazon Reimbursement Claim is an ongoing process if you are selling on Amazon. So, create a template and use that template again and again. It will assist in making your job easier. Remember, each mistake will require a different template. So you may need 4-5 templates based on the situation.
- Make sure to check if the reimbursement amount is fair or not. There might be technical glitches, or Amazon might undervalue the claim amount. So make it a routine to calculate the amount you should get back and validate it later.
- Follow up. Once you raise a support ticket, you need to follow up periodically. Amazon usually takes around 12 hours to reply to an email.
Don’ts
- Be cautious while approaching Amazon! Simple errors can result in your Amazon account suspension.
- Ensure you don’t permit an automated tool to gather your reimbursement claim. Amazon does not like it if you use the automated tool and open cases. Besides, opening too many at a time may result in a warning or lead to suspension.
Why Sellers Should Hire One Of The Best Amazon FBA Consultants Today?
The process of getting reimbursed can be complicated and time-consuming. As an FBA seller, you spend money on Amazon services. So you are privileged to reimbursement if Amazon makes any errors. Protecting your seller account and hard-earned money is crucial. Amazon FBA reimburses your money almost every time. However, mistakes are common. Therefore, you need to audit your account and get a refund in any way possible. Reach out to SIPRANSHECOMMGROWTH FBA REIMBURSEMENTS SERVICES and ensure successful FBA Seller Reimbursement. We have a team of Amazon experts who are here to help you anytime. Give us a chance and see the result for yourself.
