The Amazon inventory management issues you care about most will all be resolved this time!Includes case studies

● Seller A: The beginning of the year is the perfect time for booming sales, but my inventory issues are giving me a headache. Some shipments have still not arrived, and I don’t know whether they’re eligible for compensation. What should I do?
● Seller B: Yeah, same here. Some shipments show that the investigation has been completed, but the quantities don’t match. How do I open an investigation?Some products were suddenly automatically marked as “stranded,” and I don’t know how to handle them?
● Don't worry!This article provides a complete guide to common inventory management issues to help you manage your inventory with ease.

Inventory management has always been a top priority in store operations. In the new year, many sellers have run into inventory management difficulties in their cross-border selling journey. Shipments are still not arriving, the quantities don’t match, or products are automatically marked as stranded. Today, we’ll take a detailed look at how to handle issues such as shipment reimbursements, shipment discrepancies, and removing stranded inventory, so you can easily manage inventory and free up more time to drive sales.

Have you also ever encountered a situation where goods were lost or damaged, but you didn’t know how to check your eligibility for compensation?Don’t worry, we’ll explain it for you now:
First, only shipments with a status of "Completed" meet the requirements for shipment discrepancy inquiries.

On the “Shipment Summary” page, use the “Item information” tab to check the “Status” column. If it shows that the shipment meets the investigation requirements, you can file a claim.

Open the "Reconcile your shipment" help page, use the shipment discrepancy inquiry tool, and check whether your shipment is eligible for investigation. The tool shows the estimated date the shipment will be ready for investigation, so you can keep track of the timeline.

Important reminder*
You must submit a claim within 9 months after the shipment is delivered to the Amazon fulfillment center. Claims submitted late will not be reimbursed. So, once you notice an issue with your shipment, act as quickly as possible—don’t let your losses “expire”!

Copy and paste the following link into your browser to open it and view the "Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) inventory reimbursement policy"
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/GEYPWTSQRTXXXMVB?locale=zh-CN

After the shipment is received, it shows “Investigation completed - shipment counted and confirmed,” but the quantities don’t match. What should you do?

When your shipment shows this information, it usually means:

✅ Amazon has conducted a thorough investigation of the delivered boxes or pallets;
✅ The fulfillment center compared the boxes received with the estimated number of boxes in your shipping plan;
✅ A physical count was conducted for all inbound products, confirming that the quantities were accurate.

At this point, because these products no longer meet the requirements for an investigation, you won’t be able to submit an investigation request directly in Seller Central. You can contact Seller Support, and if Amazon finds the missing items, they will be added to your inventory. Otherwise, Amazon will treat these items as not shipped and therefore cannot issue reimbursement.

What documents do I need to submit when requesting a shipment discrepancy claim investigation?And what are the specific requirements?

Proof of ownership

Acceptable proof-of-ownership documents for inventory include invoices provided by suppliers and receipts provided by other sellers; if you are the manufacturer of the product, you may also provide a signed packing list as a supporting document.

When using an invoice as proof of ownership of inventory, you must ensure that you provide the following information:
● Date of purchase
● Product name matching the missing item
● Purchase quantity

If you use a packing slip as proof of inventory ownership, you must ensure that you are the manufacturer of the product, and the packing slip must include the following information:
● Packing slip date
● Shipment number or purchase order number
● Name of the missing product
● Shipped quantity
● Manufacturer's signature or stamp

For LTL or FCL shipments, please provide a bill of lading showing the number of boxes and total weight of the shipment at the time of pickup by the carrier. The document must be stamped by Amazon to confirm that the fulfillment center has received the shipment. You can get a copy of this file from your carrier.

To ensure that your file is successfully accepted, please be aware of the following format requirements:
● Editable formats are not accepted, such as Excel, Word, etc.
● Accepted file formats: PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF.
● Ensure the file is not editable: provide a scan or image of the original invoice or packing slip.

Important reminder
1) If you have provided a receipt or invoice as proof of ownership of the inventory, you can hide or obscure the price you paid for the purchased item.
2) Amazon does not accept preliminary bills of sale or similar contracts as proof of ownership because these documents cannot prove that the purchase has been completed.

● Per-item charge: The removal fee is charged for each item removed and is charged when the removal order is completed.
● Removal rate: To determine the removal rate for your item, you first need to determine the product's size band and shipping weight.
For specific rate information, copy the following link and open it in your browser, then refer to the price list on the help page
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/200685050?locale=zh-CN
● Special products have separate rates: if your product requires special handling, please refer to the price list for oversized products and products requiring special handling. Products requiring special handling may include clothing, footwear, watches, jewelry, and dangerous goods (hazmat).

Special note
For standard-size items with a shipping weight of less than 1 pound, the shipping weight is rounded up to the nearest 0.1 pound for calculation. For the remaining size tiers, the shipping weight will be rounded up to the nearest whole number of pounds.

● Removal order processing time: starts at 90 days
Once a removal order is created, it may take 90 days or more for Amazon to process and the shipment to leave the fulfillment center, and there are three key points:
● Fulfillment center processing time: removal orders are processed in the order they are created and cannot be expedited or prioritized.
● Carrier transit time: After the shipment leaves the fulfillment center, it will take about 2 weeks for the carrier to deliver it to the designated address.
● Special circumstances: In the event of large-scale events such as natural disasters or epidemics, the removal process may be further delayed.

Important
1) Once you create a removal order, you won't be able to change the address provided in that removal order.
2) Once you have successfully created a removal order, Amazon will not charge storage fees for your items while the removal order is being processed, until the order is completed.
3) If your inventory is located in different fulfillment centers, the items in your removal order may be delivered by different carriers in multiple shipments.

Amazon will automatically remove unsuitable units based on the following settings:
● Unsuitable Units: For unsuitable units, Amazon has enabled Automated unfulfillable settings. You can use Automated Unfulfillable to configure your removal preferences, but you can’t turn off this setting. If you have not configured removal preferences, Amazon may dispose of your products at its discretion as early as capacity allows, including immediately after a return evaluation.
● Fulfillable inventory: If you have enabled this setting, Amazon will return, liquidate, or dispose of the following items:
○ Sellable inventory stored in Amazon fulfillment centers for more than 365 days
○ ASIN products that have not been sold for at least 6 consecutive months and have been in the fulfillment center for more than 180 days
○ You can change your automatic fulfillable inventory settings on the Automated fulfillable inventory settings page.
● Stranded inventory: For questions about Automated Unfulfillable for stranded Amazon inventory, please check “Will stranded inventory be automatically removed?

Typically, a removal order will be created within one to two weeks after the inventory count date, and you can check the real-time status to confirm the removal order based on this timeline.
Copy and paste the following link into your browser to open it, and go to [Automated Unfulfillable] to learn more
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/G200678710?locale=zh-CN
Removing inventory is an indispensable and important part of seller operations. If you would like a dedicated official advisor to help you plan your removal strategy in advance, clearly explain the reasons for removal, assist with canceling orders, and help you avoid unnecessary losses, scan the QR code below now!

The following conditions may cause inventory to become stranded:
● When your inventory is stored in an Amazon fulfillment center, but there is no related active listing;
● When you delete a product or the listing is deactivated, or change its fulfillment method from [Fulfilled by Amazon] to [Merchant Fulfilled Network];
● Product information issues, infringement issues, or system errors,

Special note
If one of your ASINs already has stranded inventory in an Amazon fulfillment center, please do not send any more inventory for that ASIN to Amazon. If you add an ASIN from stranded Amazon inventory to a shipment, Amazon will send you an alert and will not process the shipment.

When your inventory shows a “stranded” alert, you can quickly resolve it by following these steps:
● Log in to Seller Central and go to the page for resolving issues related to Search Suppressed and Inactive Listings inventory.
● Refer to the “Cause” and “Additional Information” columns in the table for specific causes and solutions to the problem.

Special note
If you resolve the issue that caused your Amazon inventory to become stranded on your own, please wait 24 hours for the latest status to be reflected in your stranded inventory.

Under the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement, you must remove all “Unsuitable Units” from Amazon fulfillment centers.
● Default setting: If you haven't configured removal settings, Amazon will automatically dispose of stranded inventory after the maximum number of days from the date the inventory first became stranded.
● Custom settings: You can go to the stranded inventory fix page to customize automatic removal settings. After you click "Edit automatic action settings," set up "Auto fix" and "Auto remove." If you wish to remove rather than dispose of the inventory for this type of product, select “Return the item to me” and configure the return address.

When your inventory becomes stranded, Amazon will automatically remove or dispose of it based on your settings. However, if you're appealing, you can delay removal by following these steps:

● The "stranded Amazon inventory event date" column shows when the inventory entered stranded status. The number of days the product has been stranded is calculated from that date. The “Automatic Removal Date” column shows when the inventory is scheduled to be removed.

● Log in to Seller Central, go to the "Fix stranded inventory" page, and select "Delay removal by 30 days" from the drop-down menu to the right of the item.
● Note: Each stranded inventory event can be delayed only once, so please plan your timing accordingly.

If you choose "Return items" as the removal method, please make sure the return address is accurate:
● Go to the “Automatic removal settings for stranded inventory” page.
● Update the return address to make sure it matches the actual situation.
● Important: Return addresses for stranded inventory and unsellable items must be updated separately. Please check each one separately.

What is the IDR portal?

The Inventory Defects and Reimbursements (IDR) portal is a tool Amazon provides to sellers to manage inventory-related defects and their resolutions.
It covers the following types of defects:
● Warehouse lost: items lost in Amazon fulfillment centers
● warehouse damaged: products damaged in the fulfillment center
● Buyer return defects: product issues that occur during buyer returns

What can the IDR portal do for you?

● View defects eligible for claims
● Track defects under review (no action required on your part)
● Learn about resolved defects and why Amazon made its decisions

How can you use the IDR portal to efficiently get reimbursement?

● Filter defects
○ Filter by date range: Select a predefined or custom date range to view defects within a specific time period.
○ Filter by SKU/ASIN/FNSKU: Quickly identify the amount of defects associated with best-selling SKUs, so you can determine which products have a higher damage or loss rate than others.

● Check the defect status
○ Eligible for reimbursement: you can submit a claim.
○ Resolved: View Amazon's resolution and reason.
○ Processing (under review): Amazon is investigating, and you do not need to take any action.

Whether it’s shipment discrepancies, removal fees, or stranded inventory issues, Amazon provides you with comprehensive solutions. We hope this article helps you better manage your inventory and accelerates your journey in global selling!