Amazon FBA Reimbursement: How to Get Your Money Back (2026)

Why Amazon owes you money

Amazon operates a massive logistics network with hundreds of fulfillment centers worldwide. Millions of products are received, stored, picked, packed, and shipped daily. At this volume, mistakes are inevitable — and these mistakes cost you more often than you think.

The problem: Amazon does not always reimburse automatically. In many cases, you as a seller must actively file a claim to get your money back. And if you do not know what to look for, these amounts are simply lost.

The most common sources of errors

• Lost goods in the fulfillment center. Your inventory arrives at the FBA warehouse, gets received — and then disappears without a trace. Amazon can lose units during warehouse transfers between fulfillment centers, misassign them during picking, or simply miscount them in the system.
• Goods damaged by Amazon. When Amazon damages your product during storage, picking, or shipping, you are entitled to reimbursement. Amazon classifies damaged goods as "Warehouse Damaged" — but reimbursement does not always happen automatically.
• Incorrect dimension measurements. Amazon measures your products' dimensions and calculates FBA fees based on those measurements. If Amazon categorizes your product into the wrong size tier — for example "Oversize" instead of "Standard" — you pay significantly higher fees than necessary. These errors often affect hundreds or thousands of units.
• Customer returns without actual return. A customer receives a refund and is supposed to return the product — but never does. Amazon refunds the customer immediately but still charges you. If the product has not been received at the FBA warehouse after 45 days, Amazon should credit you a reimbursement. Often this does not happen automatically.
• Overcharged fees and billing errors. FBA fees are calculated automatically but not always correctly. Errors in weight measurements, incorrect referral fee categories, or duplicate fee charges occur — especially for products with variations or category changes.

What types of reimbursements exist?

Amazon distinguishes different reimbursement types, each with its own processes and deadlines. Here is an overview of the most important categories:

Lost inventory

When Amazon can no longer locate units of your inventory, it is classified as "Lost." You can see these adjustments in the Inventory Adjustments Report under Reason Code M (Misplaced) or D (Damaged). Amazon typically reimburses based on the average selling price of the last 90 days minus the Referral Fee and FBA fee. For a product with a selling price of 29.99 EUR, the typical reimbursement is 18-22 EUR per unit.

Damaged goods (Warehouse Damaged)

Goods that Amazon damages in the fulfillment center are marked as "Warehouse Damaged." The reimbursement amount is calculated the same way as for lost inventory. Be careful to distinguish damaged goods from "Customer Damaged" — for the latter, you as the seller are responsible unless there is a return anomaly.

Return reimbursement issues

Three typical scenarios with customer returns:

• Customer was refunded, goods never returned: After 45 days without the return arriving, Amazon should credit you the amount. Deadline for a claim: 60 days after the customer refund.
• Goods returned in wrong condition: When a customer returns a different or damaged product, you can file a claim.
• Return incorrectly booked: The goods come back but are not credited to your inventory.

Dimension measurement errors (Cubiscan Errors)

Amazon measures products with automated systems (Cubiscan). If your product is incorrectly measured, you pay excessive FBA fees every month — for every single unit. For a product with 200 units and a fee difference of 1.50 EUR per unit per month, that adds up to 300 EUR monthly or 3,600 EUR per year — for a single product.

Destroyed inventory without permission

Amazon can classify goods as "unsellable" and destroy them if you do not create a Removal Order. In some cases, this happens without sufficient notification or for goods that are still sellable. You can also file for reimbursement here.

How to find missing reimbursements

The challenge with FBA reimbursements is not the claim itself — it is recognizing that you are owed money in the first place. Amazon provides the necessary reports, but you have to reconcile them yourself.

The 4 most important reports

The reconciliation process

Here is the systematic approach:

1. Load Inventory Adjustments — Filter by Reason Codes "Lost" and "Damaged." Note all affected ASINs and quantities.
2. Reconcile with Reimbursements — Check for each lost or damaged unit whether a corresponding reimbursement exists in the Reimbursements Report. The transaction reference links both reports.
3. Identify gaps — Every unit marked as "Lost" or "Damaged" without a reimbursement is a potential claim.
4. Check returns — Load the Customer Returns Report and check returns where the customer was refunded but the status shows "Not returned" and they are older than 45 days.
5. Verify dimension measurements — Compare the Fee Preview Report with your actual product measurements. Deviations of more than 1 cm or 50 g can lead to incorrect fee categories.

Step-by-step: Filing a claim

Once you have identified missing reimbursements, the next step is filing the claim with Amazon. Here is the exact process:

Step 1: Open a case in Seller Central

Go to Seller Central, select "Help" and then "Contact Us." Choose the category "Fulfillment by Amazon" and then the relevant subcategory (e.g., "Lost goods in warehouse" or "Customer return not received").

Step 2: Provide the right information

Every claim must include the following information:

• ASIN and FNSKU of the affected product
• Quantity of missing or damaged units
• Time period (when the incident occurred)
• Reference IDs from the Inventory Adjustments Report or Customer Returns Report
• Proof that no reimbursement was issued (screenshot from the Reimbursements Report)

Step 3: Formulating the claim

Keep the claim factual, concise, and precise. Amazon support agents process hundreds of cases daily. The clearer your request, the faster the processing.

Step 4: Follow-up

Amazon typically responds within 3-5 business days. Possible outcomes:

• Reimbursement approved: The amount will be credited to your account. Check the amount — it should correspond to the market value minus fees.
• Additional information requested: Amazon needs more evidence. Respond quickly and provide the requested data.
• Claim denied: If you believe you are entitled to reimbursement, you can reopen the case or escalate. Provide additional evidence.

A professionally formulated claim with the right reference IDs is approved significantly faster and more frequently than a vague hint without evidence.

Common mistakes with FBA claims

There are pitfalls when filing reimbursement claims that can lead to rejections or even account issues.

Mistake 1: Wrong time period

Filing a claim for an incident outside the reimbursement deadline results in automatic rejection. For lost goods it is 18 months, for returns only 60 days. Set fixed dates in your calendar to check regularly.

Mistake 2: Insufficient evidence

A claim without reference IDs, without screenshots, and without a specific time period will not be taken seriously by Amazon. Seller Support cannot review your case if you do not provide transaction data. Take the time to document the claim properly.

Mistake 3: Filing duplicate claims

Amazon maintains an internal log of all your claims. Filing the same incident multiple times — intentionally or accidentally — can result in a warning or even suspension of your claim privileges. Keep your own list of submitted claims to avoid duplicates.

Mistake 4: Blanket claims instead of individual claims

Do not submit a single case for 50 different ASINs and incidents. Amazon Support cannot efficiently process blanket claims. Better: one case per ASIN or per incident type. This leads to faster responses and higher approval rates.

Mistake 5: Claims for already reimbursed incidents

Always check the Reimbursements Report before filing a claim. Amazon may have already automatically reimbursed — just with a delay. Filing a claim for an already completed reimbursement wastes your time and can be flagged as abuse if it happens frequently.

How much can you recover?

The big question: is the effort worth it? The answer depends on your FBA volume — but in almost all cases it is: yes.

The 1-3% rule

Industry experience consistently shows that for most FBA sellers, between 1% and 3% of annual FBA revenue can be identified as missing reimbursements. This percentage varies by product category, volume, and return rate.

Example calculation

For larger sellers with 2 million EUR in FBA revenue, we are talking about 20,000 to 60,000 EUR potentially left on the table. These amounts add up — especially because they flow directly into your margin without additional advertising costs or revenue growth.

FBA reimbursements are not a "nice to have" — they are money that belongs to you and that you must actively reclaim. The larger your FBA volume, the more a systematic process pays off.