Guide
How to Get the Amazon FBA Reimbursements You're Owed
If you sell through FBA, Amazon is constantly handling your inventory — receiving it, shelving it, shipping it, processing returns. Things go wrong at every step, and when they do, Amazon owes you a reimbursement. It pays many of them automatically. It quietly misses others. Most sellers never check the difference, which for an active store routinely adds up to hundreds or thousands of dollars a year. Here's how the system works and how to collect what's yours.
What Amazon actually reimburses you for
The main categories: inventory lost or damaged in a fulfillment center; inbound shipments where Amazon received fewer units than you sent; customer returns where the buyer was refunded but the item never made it back into your sellable inventory within the return window; items lost or damaged during removal orders; and fee errors, most commonly being overcharged because Amazon measured your product's weight or dimensions wrong. Each category has its own report trail and its own claim window. None of them require anything unusual from you — they're all covered by Amazon's own FBA reimbursement policy. The catch is that Amazon only pays automatically when its systems detect the problem, and its systems don't detect everything.
Why automatic reimbursements miss money
Amazon does proactively reimburse a lot — when a warehouse adjustment marks your unit as lost, a reimbursement often follows within days. But 'often' is not 'always.' Units get lost without a clean adjustment record, damaged stock gets written off without a matching credit, refunded returns silently never come back, and dimension errors overcharge you on every single unit until someone notices. Amazon's obligation in most of these cases only kicks in when you file a claim. The gap between what happened and what was auto-reimbursed is invisible unless you reconcile the reports yourself — which is exactly why an entire industry of recovery services exists.
The reports that contain the evidence
Everything you need is already in Seller Central under Reports → Fulfillment. The Inventory Adjustments report logs every lost, damaged, and found event with a reason code. The Reimbursements report logs every credit Amazon has actually paid you. The FBA Customer Returns report shows every refund and whether the item was returned. Inbound shipment details show units shipped versus units received per shipment. The core audit is one idea applied four ways: line up the 'bad thing happened' report against the Reimbursements report and list every event that has no matching credit. Those unmatched events are your claims.
Mind the claim windows — they're short now
This is where sellers lose real money. Amazon has significantly tightened its eligibility windows over the last couple of years; for several claim types, including fulfillment center lost and damaged inventory, the window is now measured in weeks to a few months, not the eighteen months sellers once had. An annual audit no longer works — discrepancies age out of eligibility before you ever look. Check the current windows for each claim type in Seller Central's reimbursement policy (they've changed more than once), and build your audit cadence around the shortest one. Monthly is the practical minimum; more often is better for high-volume stores.
How to file a claim that gets paid
File through Seller Central → Help → Get Support, under the FBA issue path for the relevant category. A good claim is boring and specific: the SKU or FNSKU, the quantity, the date and reason code of the adjustment or the shipment ID and discrepancy count, and a one-line statement of what you're requesting. One issue per case — bundled claims get partially investigated and partially ignored. If a case is denied with a generic response and your data is solid, reply once with the evidence restated plainly; first-pass denials that reverse on a clear follow-up are common. Keep a simple log of case IDs and outcomes so nothing falls through.
Do it yourself, or pay someone a quarter of your money
Traditional reimbursement services run this exact audit for you and charge about 25% of everything recovered — forever. That's a steep toll for reading reports you already own. The DIY route costs you a few hours a month in spreadsheets. The middle path is software that does the reconciliation and writes the claim text for a flat fee, so recovering $2,000 doesn't cost you $500. That's what we're building with RefundFox: it scans your own reports, flags every unreimbursed event, and generates paste-ready claim text. It's in early access — join the waitlist and you'll get an invite as slots open.
Stop leaving FBA money on the table
RefundFox scans your own Amazon reports, flags every unreimbursed unit, and writes the claim text — for a flat monthly fee, not a 25% cut. We're in early access.
Join the waitlist →Frequently asked
Does Amazon automatically reimburse FBA sellers for lost inventory?
Often, but not reliably. Amazon proactively reimburses many lost and damaged units, but plenty of events never get a matching credit. For those, you have to find the discrepancy in your reports and file a claim yourself.
How far back can I claim FBA reimbursements?
Much less far than you used to. Amazon has shortened claim windows substantially, and for some claim types they're now a few months or less. Check the current policy in Seller Central and audit monthly so claims don't expire.
How much do FBA reimbursement services charge?
Typically around 25% of every dollar recovered. Flat-fee software is the alternative: RefundFox scans your reports and writes the claims for a flat monthly price, so you keep 100% of the recovery.