FBA Reimbursement: What Amazon Sellers Need to Know to Get Their Money Back

If you're selling on Amazon using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), there's a quiet reality that often gets overlooked in the rush of listing products and chasing profits: Amazon makes mistakes. A lot of them. Inventory goes missing. Items get damaged. Returns get mishandled. And the kicker? You’re not always automatically reimbursed for it. That’s where FBA reimbursement comes into play.

Let’s break it down. FBA reimbursement is the process of Amazon compensating sellers for issues like lost inventory, damaged goods, overcharged fees, or customer returns that were never actually returned. Sounds fair, right? But here’s the problem: Amazon doesn’t catch every error on its own. Sellers are responsible for monitoring their accounts and filing claims when something looks off. If you’re not paying attention, you could be leaving hundreds or even thousands of dollars on the table.

So how does it work? First, understand the different types of reimbursements. Lost inventory is a big one. Sometimes, products just vanish inside an Amazon warehouse. No one knows where they went. Maybe a forklift ran over your stock. Maybe someone labeled it wrong. Whatever the case, if the item goes missing and isn’t found within 30 days, Amazon is supposed to reimburse you based on the average sale price of that item. But they don’t always do it automatically.

Then there’s damaged inventory. Your products can get damaged in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, or while being shipped to customers. If the damage is Amazon’s fault, you deserve a reimbursement. But here’s the catch: you need to dig into your reports to find those damaged items. Amazon won’t always wave a red flag and tell you what’s been damaged.

Another category is customer returns. Sometimes a customer gets a refund, but never sends the item back. Or they send back something completely different. If the return is mishandled and you don’t notice, Amazon keeps the refund, you lose your inventory, and no one tells you anything. It's the digital version of being robbed blind while everyone around you shrugs.

And let’s not forget overcharged fees. Amazon charges FBA sellers for things like storage, weight handling, and shipping. But sometimes they miscalculate the dimensions or weight of your product, leading to inflated fees. If you catch the error, you can request a correction and reimbursement for the overcharges. But again, you’ve got to do the work.

Now, here’s where things get real. Managing FBA reimbursements isn’t exactly plug-and-play. Amazon provides all the data you need, but it’s buried in mountains of reports and spreadsheets. To stay on top of it, you need a system. Many sellers set a calendar reminder to review their account every week or month. They’ll dig into reports like “Inventory Adjustments,” “Returns,” and “Fee Preview,” looking for anomalies. It’s like being your own auditor. Not fun, but necessary.

Some sellers don’t want to deal with this hassle, so they outsource it. There are third-party FBA reimbursement services that will do the dirty work for you. They’ll scan your account, identify issues, file claims, and take a cut of whatever money they recover. It’s convenient, especially if you have a large catalog and high sales volume, but not all services are created equal. Some are aggressive and violate Amazon’s terms by mass-submitting claims. Others are slow or miss important details. You have to vet them carefully.

Still, whether you go DIY or hire help, the key is understanding Amazon’s policies. Amazon won’t reimburse you for everything. There are strict guidelines about what qualifies. For example, if your inventory was damaged by your own prep mistake, that’s on you. If you miss the reimbursement window, you’re out of luck. In most cases, you have 18 months to file a claim. Miss that deadline, and it’s gone forever. Also, Amazon uses an internal calculation called the “reimbursement value,” which is often lower than your selling price. It’s based on factors like sales history, average price, and recent trends. So even when you win a claim, you might not get the full retail price back. It's better than nothing, but it’s not perfect.

Let’s talk tactics. One of the smartest things you can do is to automate data collection. Download your reports regularly. Use spreadsheets to track inventory movements, returns, and fees. Color-code things if you need to. Watch for red flags like returned items that aren’t marked “received” or inventory adjustments labeled “lost” with no resolution. If you're even moderately decent at Excel, you can build a tracker that alerts you when something looks fishy.

Another power move is maintaining strong documentation. When you ship inventory to Amazon, save all your shipping labels and tracking numbers. If you ever need to prove that something arrived but wasn’t received properly, you’ll need that proof. When dealing with customer returns, keep an eye on customer feedback too. Sometimes a buyer will say in a review that they didn’t return the product—or returned something else—and that’s evidence you can use in a claim.

Now, let’s clear up a common misconception: filing reimbursement claims does NOT violate Amazon’s policies—as long as the claims are legitimate. Amazon actually encourages sellers to reach out if they think there’s been a mistake. But abusing the system by filing frivolous claims or using bots to spam support? That’ll get your account flagged. Don’t go there. Play it smart. Be persistent, but stay within the rules.

Here’s something else people don’t talk about enough: the psychological side of it. FBA reimbursement work feels tedious and thankless. It’s not glamorous. It’s not going to boost your sales overnight. But here’s the reality—if you don’t do it, you’re literally throwing money away. And in a game where margins are razor thin, that money could be the difference between profit and loss.

Let’s run some numbers. If you sell 500 units a month and just 1% go missing or get mishandled, that’s 5 units per month. If your average profit per unit is $20, that’s $100 a month in potential reimbursements. Over a year, that’s $1,200—just from staying on top of your reimbursements. For bigger sellers, we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars. Money you already earned, just waiting to be claimed.

And here’s the kicker—Amazon is a multi-trillion-dollar company. They’re not going broke if you reclaim what’s rightfully yours. Don’t feel bad for requesting a reimbursement. You’re not gaming the system. You’re holding it accountable.

So what’s the bottom line? If you're selling on FBA, you need to treat FBA reimbursement like part of your regular business maintenance. Just like you wouldn’t ignore your product listings or PPC campaigns, you shouldn't ignore your reimbursements. Build it into your routine. Either commit to doing it yourself or hire someone who will. But don’t ignore it. Don’t assume Amazon has your back.

This isn’t just a side hustle—it’s your business. Every dollar counts. Every mistake Amazon makes is money you deserve to recover. And every smart seller out there knows this: the difference between average and elite isn’t just what you sell—it’s what you don’t let slip through the cracks.

Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. Audit everything. The FBA game isn’t just about selling—it’s about protecting what you’ve already earned. Mastering the FBA reimbursement process is one of the most powerful moves you can make if you want to level up your Amazon business.