Maximize Your Amazon FBA Reimbursement Claims

Maximize your Amazon FBA reimbursement claims by constantly monitoring your stocks, refunds, credits and debits to your seller account, and comparing it to your physical inventory of sellable items. The world’s largest online retailer deals with more than a billion dollars in sales every single day, and the volume it deals with is humongous. You can’t just trust that any money that Amazon owes you gets automatically credited to your seller account the way that they debit your seller fees. Being an Amazon FBA reseller means that you have to mind your bottom line, and you have to crunch your numbers.

Tips on getting successful Amazon FBA reimbursement claims

There are several scenarios in which you can submit a claim for reimbursement for an FBA fee. Inventory can get lost, returns can get waylaid, damaged items not credited back to your seller account, and other discrepancies that can turn up when you’re comparing reports. Almost all of the cases where you can file a case for reversal of fees are covered by an Amazon FBA reimbursement policy. Classify the type of reimbursement you’re claiming and familiarize yourself with the policy it falls under.

For your Amazon FBA reimbursement claim to be successful, you must keep in mind the following:

• Claims window – each Amazon reimbursement policy has their own claims window upon which you should submit your case. For example, under the FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Removals claims, you have 14 days after the last confirmed movement of your shipment to file a claim. In contrast, you have a claims window of 18 months if you’re filing under the FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Customer return claims. Know which policy you’re filing under and take note of how much time you have to submit your reimbursement request.
• Documents – not all submissions require the same documents. It of course depends on the circumstances under which you’re filing and the policy it falls under. For example, the FBA inventory reimbursement documentary requirements depend on whether your item got lost or if it got damaged, and whether it was lost or damaged during shipment to Amazon, or in the Fulfillment center, or when the customer returned it, or during removals operation.
• Reports – you have to have compared reports to notice the discrepancy in your inventory vis-à-visyour accounting. Amazon usually asks a seller to check their Reimbursements report to see if they have already been credited prior to submitting a claim. There are also several Amazon reports that can help you establish whether you have a valid claim or not. For example, when filing under the FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Removals claims, you are asked to check Removal Order Detail and the Removal Shipment Detail reports for confirmation.
• Submission of claim – as there is no set template when filing a case, the onus is on you to create a submission of claim that is clear and concise, with all the supporting documents dictated by the policy which you’re filing under. For example, when filing under FBA inventory reimbursement policy: Shipment to Amazon claims, you need to present the following documents:
  • The Amazon shipment ID found in your Shipping Queue
  • You must present a valid Proof of inventory ownership that includes the date of purchase, the name of the items that are lost, and the quantity
  • And lastly, the Proof of delivery
• Submit a claim for each case – you might be tempted to submit a single claim for all of your lost items, but you run the risk of getting rejected for all reimbursement claims because of a single invalid item in your lump submission. On the other hand, don’t be tempted to create a template and not differentiate your claims for similar items as Amazon hates bots and might think you’re one.
• Results of the claim – constantly check your Reimbursements report to see if your seller account has been credited. There are instances where your submission has been approved but not credited. You can follow up with status requests for reimbursements that have not yet been credited. Be vigilant in going over your report as there are instances of a Clawback. It’s where FBA reimbursements are reversed when a lost item or inventory is found or located.

The costs to your business of not filing a claim

There is a real cost to your business when you don’t monitor your FBA fees.

It can be tempting to just let Amazon do its job of overseeing your logistics and accounting as an FBA seller. However, even the most foolproof of systems have their margins of errors, and Amazon is not exempt from that. There is a real cost to your business when you don’t go over your potential reimbursement claims with a fine toothed comb. The most obvious one is the loss of inventory. Items that are lost or damaged, or not returned by the customer are already counted as a deduction to your profit margin. In addition to that, the lost or damaged items have already incurred FBA fees like the Selling, Per-item, Referral, and/or High-volume listing fees. You can maximize your profit margins when you’re always alert for reimbursement opportunities.

Maximize your Amazon FBA reimbursement claims with Seller Maven

Seller Maven helps you with your FBA Fee recovery without paying any upfront fees or recurring monthly subscription fees.

You don’t need to take time away from marketing your Amazon seller site and selling your products just to monitor your potential reimbursement claims. Seller Maven offers you FBA Fee Recovery without paying any upfront fees or recurring monthly subscription fees. You only pay when Amazon reimburses you. There’s no need to pay additional man hours just to get your money back or dedicate time and effort to become an expert in Amazon reimbursement policies. Seller Maven will take care of tracking reports and filing claims. You get to focus on increasing your sales while you let us do the heavy work of getting your money back for you.

Want your money back? Schedule a call with Seller Maven!