Does Amazon reimburse for lost or damaged inventory?

What Amazon actually reimburses (and what it doesn't)

Amazon's reimbursement obligation is tied to fault and to the unit being sellable. If Amazon loses or damages a unit inside its own network, or loses it during the fulfillment leg of a customer return, that is on Amazon. If a customer is refunded but never returns the item — or returns a different, damaged, or empty item — that can also trigger a reimbursement or chargeback to the customer rather than to you. The common thread is that the loss happened while Amazon controlled the inventory or the transaction.

Just as important is what is not Amazon's fault. Inventory that arrives at the fulfillment center short because the carrier you chose lost it, units damaged by defective packaging you supplied, or expired and unsellable goods are generally not reimbursable to you. Knowing the boundary matters because it's the difference between a valid claim and a denied one — and filing denied claims repeatedly is a good way to get your claim privileges throttled.

• •Units lost or damaged inside an Amazon fulfillment center
• •Inventory lost during inbound receiving once Amazon has checked it in
• •Lost or damaged items during the carrier leg of a customer return
• •Customer-refunded orders where the item is never returned within the policy window
• •Disposed or destroyed inventory removed without your authorization

How Amazon now values a lost unit — the 2025 change

The single biggest recent shift is in how Amazon prices the inventory it owes you for. Historically, Amazon estimated a unit's value from its own data on sale price, which could land high or low and was hard to predict. Beginning in 2025, Amazon moved FBA inventory reimbursements to a manufacturing-cost (sourcing-cost) basis — it reimburses based on what you paid to source or make the unit, not an estimated retail price.

That change makes accurate cost data essential. If Amazon doesn't have a cost on file for a SKU, it will apply its own estimate, and that estimate may not reflect what you actually paid — landed cost including freight, duties, and prep. Sellers who keep a clean per-SKU cost basis are in a position to confirm Amazon used the right number; sellers who don't are accepting whatever Amazon decides. Verify the current valuation rules and your stored costs in Seller Central, because Amazon's reimbursement policy language continues to evolve.

The claim window, auto-reimbursements, and why you're underpaid

Amazon auto-detects and reimburses a large share of discrepancies without you lifting a finger, and it has also shortened the time you have to file the cases it misses. Recent policy changes compressed claim windows — for example, fulfillment-center loss and damage cases now run on a much tighter timeline than the older multi-month windows (commonly cited around 60 days for FC cases — verify the current window for each case type in Seller Central, as Amazon sets different deadlines for inbound, FC, removal, and customer-return cases). Once a window closes, an unfiled claim is gone.

The deeper issue is that auto-reimbursements are often under-paid rather than absent. Amazon may reimburse fewer units than were actually lost, value them with an estimate instead of your real cost, or net a reversal against a later found unit and never surface the difference. Because the credit shows up buried in your settlement as an adjustment, it looks like the matter is handled — when in fact you were partially paid. Catching this requires reconciling Amazon's inventory adjustments and reimbursements against your own ledger, line by line, which is the work most sellers never do by hand.

• •Many lost/damaged cases are auto-reimbursed by Amazon's systems
• •Auto-credits are frequently underpaid — fewer units or a lower value than owed
• •Claim windows have shortened; FC cases commonly cited near 60 days — verify current
• •Different case types (inbound, FC, removal, returns) have different deadlines
• •An expired window means the money is permanently forfeited

How to actually recover what you're owed

Recovery comes down to reconciliation. You compare what you sent to Amazon and what Amazon reports as on-hand, in-transit, lost, found, damaged, and reimbursed — and you flag every gap. For inbound shortages you need your shipment records; for FC losses you need Amazon's inventory adjustment and ledger reports; for returns you need to confirm refunded units were either returned or reimbursed. Each discrepancy becomes a documented case filed before its specific window closes, with the evidence Amazon requires attached.

Doing this manually across thousands of SKUs and continuous adjustments is impractical, which is why automated reconciliation exists. BeanHawk continuously cross-checks Amazon's inventory and settlement data against your own records, surfaces both missing and underpaid reimbursements, and packages each into a filable case. If you want to see what you're currently owed without committing to anything, start with a free FBA reimbursement audit and let the numbers make the case.

Two habits make every dollar of this easier to capture: keep an accurate per-SKU landed cost so reimbursements are valued correctly, and check your discrepancies on a cadence tighter than the shortest claim window so nothing expires unfiled. The money Amazon owes you is real, but it is a use-it-or-lose-it asset.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to file an FBA reimbursement claim?

It depends on the case type, and the windows have gotten shorter. Fulfillment-center loss and damage cases are commonly cited at around 60 days, while inbound, removal, and customer-return cases have their own deadlines. Because Amazon has revised these timelines and applies different rules per case type, verify the current window for each in Seller Central rather than relying on a fixed number. Once a window closes, the claim is forfeited.

How much will Amazon reimburse me per lost unit?

Since 2025, Amazon reimburses FBA lost and damaged inventory based on your sourcing or manufacturing cost rather than an estimated sale price. If Amazon has no cost on file for the SKU, it applies its own estimate, which may not match your actual landed cost. Keeping accurate per-SKU costs in Seller Central is how you make sure the reimbursement reflects what you really paid.

If Amazon auto-reimburses, do I still need to check anything?

Yes. Amazon auto-detects and reimburses many discrepancies, but those automatic credits are frequently underpaid — fewer units than were lost, or valued with an estimate instead of your real cost. The credit lands quietly in your settlement as an adjustment, so it looks resolved even when you were only partially paid. Reconciling Amazon's data against your own ledger is the only way to catch the shortfall.

Does Amazon reimburse for inventory lost on the way to the warehouse?

It depends on where the loss happened. Once Amazon checks your inbound shipment in and its records show fewer units than you sent, the shortage may be reimbursable. If the carrier you selected lost the shipment before it reached Amazon, that's typically a claim against the carrier, not Amazon. Your inbound shipment records are what determine which side is at fault.

Does Amazon reimburse for stolen or undelivered customer packages?

When a customer is refunded for a lost or stolen delivery, Amazon generally absorbs that cost rather than charging it back to your inventory, so it usually isn't a seller reimbursement. Where you get reimbursed is when Amazon loses or damages your unit in its network, or when a customer is refunded but never returns the item within the policy window. Reconciling refunds against returns is how you separate the two.

Keep learning

• How do you track inventory for an Amazon FBA business?
• How do you do bookkeeping for an Amazon FBA business?
• Is selling on Amazon profitable?
• How do you find cost of goods sold (COGS)?