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Selling on Amazon? The MEGA Step by Step Guide to Get THOUSANDS Reimbursed (in 3-5 days)

amp0193

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If you are selling on Amazon, then Amazon owes you money. They won't give it to you, unless you ask for it. A member of this forum got $13,000 back last week after following this step by step plan.

Are you ready?

Here we go (Links to step by step posts):

1) SHIPMENT RECONCILIATION
2) DAMAGED/DESTROYED INVENTORY
3) LOST IN WAREHOUSE INVENTORY
4) CUSTOMER REFUNDED FOR “OTHER CONCESSION”
5) CUSTOMER RETURNS THAT AMAZON REFUNDED BUT DID NOT RECEIVE WITHIN 45 DAYS
6) THREE REFUNDS ELIGBLE ONLY FOR FBM (FULFILLED BY MERCHANT) ORDERS. (does not apply to fba sellers)
7) AMAZON NOT REIMBURSING YOU WHEN THEY SAID THEY WOULD
8) SHARE YOUR REIMBURSEMENTS IN THE THREAD!


Amazon Lost & Damaged Reimbursement Policy: Amazon.com Help: FBA Lost and Damaged Inventory Reimbursement Policy


Amazon Refund SAAS Solutions:

These solutions will do everything in this thread automatically, you just have to pay them a percentage commission to do so:

AMZRefund (My Affiliate Link): Amazon Seller Tools - FBA Inventory Reimbursements by AMZRefund
RefundsManger (My Affiliate Link): www.RefundsManager.com?affid=6720


Here's a Spreadsheet used by some, that can run Steps 2,3 & 5 of the process: Amazon FBA Refund & Lost Inventory Reimbursement Checker



If you have questions, ask away. I know this stuff can be a little overwhelming, and I'll do my best to help or clarify on the steps.


p.s. There's 1 or 2 more possible reimbursements, that I'm trying to figure out. I'll update the thread when/if they work out.

Also, if you know of a reimbursement that I missed, please let us know in the thread, and I'll add it to the OP.
 
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amp0193

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1) SHIPMENT RECONCILIATION

What it is:

Sometimes, FBA loses your items during the check-in process. Anywhere from 1 unit to AN ENTIRE BOX. You can request to be refunded for any missing items.


How to do it:

1. In seller central click Inventory --> Manage FBA Shipments
2. Find a Closed shipment and click the Shipment Name. i.e. FBA (1/22/17 8:40 AM)
3. Click the Reconcile tab (next to track shipment and Shipment Contents)
4. You will see all of the SKUs with a difference in the number of shipped and received.

5. For each SKU, select an option from the drop down. On the negative numbers, select “Missing – Please Research”.

6. If it’s been a long time, or there are A LOT of units missing, you will be asked to upload an invoice.

7. Click “Preview Your Request”. Confirm and submit. This will open a case with Amazon, and they will usually respond within a few hours.

8. GET PAID in 3-5 business days.

NOTE 1: It’s worth checking on shipments 2-3 months after delivery to make sure nothing else has changed. I have had shipments “received in full” that were later marked as missing items.

NOTE 2: If you have more units received than expected, be aware that selecting “Unexpected – Please Research” can trigger a temporary suspension of your listing, while they investigate. If it’s just a few units, I select “Additional Units Shipped” even if I know I didn’t ship them in.
 
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2) DAMAGED/DESTROYED INVENTORY

What it is:

Amazon FBA sometimes damages or destroys your inventory in the fulfillment center. They should automatically reimburse you, but they don’t. They owe you the cost of the item minus amazon fees.


How to do it:

1. In Seller Central go to Reports --> Fulfillment --> Inventory --> Inventory Adjustments

2. Click the download tab, and download everything for the last 18 months (to the 1st of the 18th month)

3. You’ll get a text file, but just open it up in Excel.

4. Sort the data so that the REASON column only shows “D”, “E”, and “Q”. (Code meanings are here)

5. Each of these lines is reimbursable. You will need both the TRANSACTION-ITEM-ID and the FNSKU.


6. Open a case with Amazon. Help --> Contact Us --> Selling on Amazon --> Fulfillment by Amazon --> FBA Issue --> Something Else --> Email

7. Use the following text:

I need a reimbursement for inventory that was damaged by the Amazon fulfillment center

The transaction item ID's and FNSKUS that need reimbursement are:

32053183606 X000QTSG7A

115297762135 X000QTSG7A

115297756135 X000QTSG7A

29729963607 X000QTSG7A

41708760172 X000QTSG7A


7. Amazon will respond within a few hours and you will GET PAID in 3-5 business days.


NOTE 1: I recommend only copying 5 lines of transactions per case. If more than that, and your case may get escalated, and it will take longer to resolve. So, I open a bunch of cases, with 5 items each.

NOTE 2: I typically get refunded for 100% of “D” and “E” coded lines. “Q’s” are sometimes not reimbursable, but I ask anyways.

NOTE 3: Damaged/Destroyed/Lost inventory is only eligible for reimbursement going back 18 months.

NOTE 4: If you have a high dollar sku, or a lot of units damaged for one sku, it's better to open these up in their own separate case, so that you can fight seller central if they mess it up.
 
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3) LOST IN WAREHOUSE INVENTORY

What it is:

An Amazon Fulfilment center lost some units of your product. If they haven’t found it in 30 days, then you can be reimbursed.


How to do it:

1a. In Seller Central go to Reports --> Fulfillment -->Inventory --> Inventory Adjustments

1b. Click the download tab, and download everything for the last 18 months (to the 1st of the 18th month)

1c. You’ll get a text file, but just open it up in Excel.

1d. Sort the data so the REASON column only shows “M” (missing)
1e. DELETE any lines with a date in the last 30 days.
1f. Sort the data so the REASON column only shows “M” and “F” (Missing & Found)

1g. Sort the data so the FNSKU column only shows the first FNKSU.

----this sheet is now ready----


2a. In Seller Central go to Reports --> Fulfillment --> Payments --> Reimbursements

2b. Click the download tab, and download everything for the last 18 months (to the 1st of the 18th month)

2c. Sort the data so the REASON column only shows “Lost_Warehouse”
2d. Sort the data so the FNSKU column shows the same FNSKU you selected in step 1g.


3. In the Inventory Adjustment sheet, highlight the entire QUANTITY column. Take note of the SUM.


4. In the Reimbursements sheet, SUM the amounts in the QUANTITY-REIMBURSED-TOTAL column. ADD this number to the SUM from step 3.

5. If the resulting number is negative, this FNSKU has lost units that need to be reimbursed.

6. Repeat steps 1g through 5, selecting the next FNSKU down each time, until you get through all of your FNSKUs.

7. Open a case with Amazon. Help --> Contact Us --> Selling on Amazon --> Fulfillment by Amazon -->FBA Issue --> Something Else --> Email


8. Use the following text:
Hello,
I need a reimbursement for inventory that was lost by the Amazon fulfillment center

The FNSKUs that need reimbursement are:

X00136B2W2
X00141DMDN
X0016WN8I2
X00148SIM4
X001434706



9. Amazon will respond within a few hours and you will GET PAID in 3-5 business days.

NOTE 1: I recommend only copying 5 lines of transactions per case. If more than that, and your case may get escalated, and it will take longer to resolve. So, I open a bunch of cases, with 5 FNSKUs each.

NOTE 2: You may get some false positives, that Amazon doesn’t think need to be reimbursed, but I’ve gotten the process pretty close to being correct.

NOTE 3: If you have a high dollar sku, or a lot of units damaged for one sku, it's better to open these up in their own separate case, so that you can fight seller central if they mess it up.
 
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amp0193

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4) CUSTOMER REFUNDED FOR “OTHER CONCESSION”

What it is:

Amazon Customer service takes it upon themselves to offer customers good faith refunds to compensate for late shipping, etc. You can get reimbursed for these, but you have to ask.


How to do it:

1. In Seller Central go to Reports --> Payments --> Transaction View --> [Filter view by REFUNDS] --> CUSTOM DATE RANGE to when you started selling on Amazon (or the last time you asked for reimbursements).

2. Click Update. Then Click Download. NOTE: This report truncates after 600 transactions, so you may need to do just a few months at a time

3. You’ll get a text file, but just open it up in Excel.
4. Sort the data so the PAYMENT DETAIL column says OTHER CONCESSION

5. Each of these lines MAY be reimbursable. You will need to check to see if they have already been reimbursed.

6. In Seller Central go to Reports --> Fulfillment --> Payments --> Reimbursements. Set the dates to the appropriate range. Plug in the ORDER IDs from steps 4/5 into the AMAZON ORDER ID box.

7a. If there is a reimbursement for the same amount as shown in steps 4/5, you’ve already been reimbursed. Take no further action.

7b. If no reimbursement comes up, then proceed to step 8.


8. Open a case with Amazon. Help --> Contact Us --> Selling on Amazon --> Fulfillment by Amazon -->FBA Issue --> Something Else --> Email

9. Use the following text:

Hi,

The customer was refunded for the reason: "Other Concession".

FBA was responsible for the concession being issued to the customer, so this $[ENTER AMOUNT] amount needs to be refunded to my account.

[copy/paste Order ID number]


10. Amazon will respond within a few hours and you will GET PAID in 3-5 business days.

Note 1: If you have a high dollar sku, or a lot of units damaged for one sku, it's better to open these up in their own separate case, so that you can fight seller central if they mess it up.
 
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amp0193

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5) CUSTOMER RETURNS THAT AMAZON REFUNDED BUT DID NOT RECEIVE WITHIN 45 DAYS (hell of a title, huh?)

This one is complicated, but will give you lots of $$$. Thankfully, someone already did a wonderful step by step at /r/FulfillmentByAmazon here.

NOTE: In step 2, You are copying/pasting the data from each of these reports into different tabs of the same Excel document.


I’ve copied the text from reddit below, for your convenience:

1.Criteria for reimbursement:

· Order was not returned to FBA within 45 days

· You have not already been reimbursed by Amazon

· Only open cases with 5-10 order ID's max

· Do not send seller support a giant list of order ID's

2.Download reports

· "RefundMasterList" Reports > Payments > Transaction View > Filter view by: Refund Reports (download gets truncated after 600 transactions, make sure to download multiple times using various date ranges)

· "ReturnsToFBA" Reports > Fulfillment > Customer Concessions > Returns

· "Reimbursements" Reports > Fulfillment > Reimbursements

· "AllOrders" Reports > Payments > Date Range Report

3.Create tabs and headers

* See pic here

4.Copy and paste Column B from "RefundMasterList" into Column B of "AutoOutput". Highlight column, Data > Remove Duplicates.

5.Enter formulas

· A2 =INDEX(RefundMasterList!$A:$A, MATCH(AutoOutput!B2, RefundMasterList!$B:$B, 0))

· C2 =IF(ISERROR(MATCH(B2, ReturnsToFBA!$B:$B, 0)), "No", "Yes")

· D2 =IF(ISERROR(MATCH(B2, Reimbursements!$D:$D, 0)), "No", "Yes")

· E2 =INDEX(AllOrders!$I:$I, MATCH(AutoOutput!B2, AllOrders!$D:$D, 0))

· F2 =IF((TODAY()-A2)>45,"Yes","No")

· G2 =SUMIFS(RefundMasterList!$G:$G, RefundMasterList!$B:$B, AutoOutput!B2, RefundMasterList!$E:$E, "Product charges")

· H2 =IF(C2="Yes", "No", IF(D2="Yes", "No", IF(E2="Seller", "No", IF(F2="No", "No", "Yes"))))

6.FAQ/tips

· DO NOT SORT DATA after completing. It will mess up all the formulas. First copy all the information, right click, Paste Options, Values (V). Then you can sort the data as you please

· Why is the date column just a bunch of numbers? Highlight the column, right click it, format cells as: date

· Some orders aren't reimbursable even though the file says it is reimbursable? Generally this worksheet finds 100% of potentially reimbursable transactions, but some false positives may be included. Check manually if the order ID is valid for reimbursement prior to opening a case with seller support

· Column F is returning a #N/A value: Here is how to fix: If the date in column A is less than 45 days ago, enter "No" in column F. If column A is more than 45 days ago, enter "Yes" is column F

· How do I put the formulas in the rest of the spreadsheet? On the cell containing the formula, double click the bottom right box in the cell, the formula will auto-fill the rest of the sheet.


Ok I'm back.

After setting up the spreadsheet from Reddit:

7. Open a case with Amazon. Help --> Contact Us --> Selling on Amazon --> Fulfillment by Amazon -->FBA Issue --> Something Else --> Email

8. Use the following text:

The following orders were filed as returns, but the customer did not return the item. It has been more than 45 days, so we are entitled to a reimbursement for lost merchandise:
Order ID
Order ID
Order ID
Order ID
Order ID


9) Plug in the Order IDs from the spreadsheet that you created. Anything with a "Yes" in the REIMBURSABLE? column, should be reimbursable.

10 ) Amazon will respond within a few hours and you will GET PAID in 3-5 business days.


NOTE: If there is a "Yes" in the REIMBURSABLE? column, but the number in the PRODUCT SALES column is 0, then you've actually already been reimbursed by Amazon. This result was a false positive. You need to open cases on the "Yes's" that have a number other than 0 in the PRODUCT SALES column.


Video of me doing setting up the spreadsheets in this step:
 
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amp0193

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6) THREE REFUNDS ELIGBLE ONLY FOR FBM (FULFILLED BY MERCHANT) ORDERS. (does not apply to fba sellers)

For these, I’m just going to provide you the relevant documentation, and you can figure out how to do it on your own. Just because this doesn’t apply to most people on this forum.

Here’s what you can be refunded for:

1) Customer returns in original condition within 30 days for one of the following reasons: Accidental Order, Better Price Available, or No Longer Needed/Wanted. 20% Restocking Fee

2) Customer returns item in original condition after 45 days - 20% Restocking Fee

3) Customer returns item in Damaged or Materially Different condition and returned for one of the following reasons: Accidental Order, Better Price Available, or No Longer Needed/Wanted - 50% restocking fee

4) Damaged or Carrier Damaged = 100% Refund

5) Customer Returns for reasons SWITCHEROO

6) Fraudulent Returns (You will need video proof) See section 5.1 here.


Relevant Documentation:
Amazon.com Help: Restocking Fees

Amazon.com Help: Returns

Amazon.com Help: About Refunds
 
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amp0193

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7) AMAZON NOT REIMBURSING YOU WHEN THEY SAID THEY WOULD (*facepalm* yes, really).

What it is:

You did everything in the previous posts, and Amazon said they would reimburse you in 3-5 business days. They create a Reimbursement ID. THEN THEY NEVER SEND YOU THE MONEY.


How to do it:

From @biophase

"First, you get the email from Amazon that is titled, "FBA Reimbursement Notification". I star the email.
I wait until I get paid, so every 2 weeks I do this.
I just check report, transaction view, other, to make sure the payment is in there.
Then I archive the email."


If you don't want to do that, or other manual processes for doing this, then there is some software that can help with that.

AMZRefund is a service that will find money that Amazon owes you, but will charge you an 8% commission to do so. If you feel like it, they will automatically do EVERYTHING I laid out in this thread… you’re just going to have to pay the commission.

I will only use this service a month or so AFTER doing all of the previous steps manually, once all of my cases have been resolved, and reimbursements processed. Then, I use AMZRefund to check to make sure that my reimbursements actually went through, and to see if maybe I missed anything.

You can find AMZREFUND here (my affiliate link): Amazon Seller Tools - FBA Inventory Reimbursements by AMZRefund

Another Refund SAAS Solution. Link here (my affiliate link): www.RefundsManager.com?affid=6720
 
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amp0193

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8) SHARE YOUR REIMBURSEMENTS IN THE THREAD!

And now, the fun part!

2-3 days after completing the above steps, go in Seller Central to Reports --> Payments --> Transaction View --> [FILTER VIEW BY: OTHER] --> [STATEMENT PERIOD: The current statement ( or previous one if you just got a disbursement)]

Click Download. This spreadsheet is all of the reimbursements you just got.

Add them up, and then post your total reimbursements in the thread.

Can we get this thread to take back 100k from Amazon? 1 Million????



If you have questions, ask away. I know this stuff can be a little overwhelming, and I'll do my best to help or clarify on my steps.
 
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amp0193

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Last week, before I made this thread, I went through all of the above steps. It took me 3-4 hours.

The last time I had completed these steps was in August 2016, so I was only looking at data for the last 6 months.


My last case was resolved today, and my total reimbursements from Amazon are $3,342.98.

If I had paid AMZRefund 8%, that would have been a $267 fee. So I saved $67 an hour doing it myself.


However, if you've NEVER done these reimbursements before, you might get back way more than 3k, so it's definitely worth doing it yourself.



Honestly, I'm surprised there hasn't been a single response to this thread.


This is gold. Literal dollars in your bank account, ya'll.


Take 2-4 hours and go through the process, and let us know how it goes.
 
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Honestly, I'm surprised there hasn't been a single response to this thread.
Thanks for taking the time to detail the process here. I've been using a spreadsheet from Tools for FBA. It's time for me do this again so I go thru your process here and report back.

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ddall

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This is an excellent post, thank you.

I've used AMZ refundmanger (they take 25%, and I ended up paying them well over $3500). Needless to say I could not believe their cost after the fact (and how much Amazon refunded) I cancelled soon after as I found their rates insane ( figured at the least I could pay someone far less to figure it out) plus many refunds were reversed. I have AMZ suite doing some of these (I know they do not look for all refund types).

This is excellent, I will be applying these myself, although my Excel skills may need a refresher, particularly for #5. Has anyone made a YouTube video of this process?
 
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I used this as a reminder to file for some missing FBA inventory. Your write up was good... a good amalgamation of data that was out there separately.

There's always been the dilemma of how much time you spend in the minutia vs. pushing the big picture. The answer to how much of your money you want back is ALL OF IT, but the question is always one of ROI. How much time do I spend there vs. dedicating the same man hours towards pushing more out the front door.

The missing FBA credit I will receive back is a few thousand dollars. Your process didn't do it, but the reminder to claim the missing funds can be credited back to your thread.

One of the risks of using a third party company to do any of this is giving anyone any access to any aspect of your Amazon business. Not only from an IP address issue standpoint, but being that I rarely trust even my own employees to touch most aspects of our Amazon account... granting an accounting level access to non-employees is likely a non-starter.

However, your outline is extremely valuable.
 

amp0193

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I've used AMZ refundmanger (they take 25%, and I ended up paying them well over $3500).

25%!!!! They've been around for years, so they have made an absolute KILLING.

This is excellent, I will be applying these myself, although my Excel skills may need a refresher, particularly for #5. Has anyone made a YouTube video of this process?

-edit- On second thought, I'm not going to make a video. I can't find a way to make a helpful video, without revealing sensitive information about my business. Check out the spreadsheet that @AllenCrawley shared, if you need a more automated solution.
 
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This is gold. Literal dollars in your bank account, ya'll.

Thanks for the detailed walkthrough. Based on your info I just finished step 2 (damaged/destroyed inventory). Literally within 5 minutes I missed a call from Washington and got an email that they are reimbursing me. I guess it will only be $40-60, but hey "free" money.

I'll move through the rest of the steps in a few months because my volume is not yet worth the time.

Someone else just mentioned this to me recently as well. I have no experience with it, so I can't comment.

It looks like it can run steps 2,3 and 5 of this process, and save a bit of time.

Here's the link, for anyone wondering: Amazon FBA Refund & Lost Inventory Reimbursement Checker

Their spreadsheets are great, but unfortunately I ran into date issues (US vs EU) that messed with my numbers in strange ways. I got quick support from the creator, but in the end he was not able to fix the issue.
 
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amp0193

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Your write up was good... a good amalgamation of data that was out there separately.

That's why I wrote it up. This information doesn't exist in one place anywhere else. Everything I learned was by trial and error with seller central, based off of Amazon's confusing and not-so-straightforward policies.

There's always been the dilemma of how much time you spend in the minutia vs. pushing the big picture. The answer to how much of your money you want back is ALL OF IT, but the question is always one of ROI. How much time do I spend there vs. dedicating the same man hours towards pushing more out the front door.

Well, I KNOW a lot of people on this forum selling on FBA have never done any of these things. i.e. my friend who got 13k last week. So the ROI of going through the minutia would be quite high. For people like you and me, who periodically take care of these things, there might be a better ROI in paying a service on a regular basis. I'm going to buy this spreadsheet that @AllenCrawley posted for next time I go through this. It should turn 4 hours of work into 1 hour.

One of the risks of using a third party company to do any of this is giving anyone any access to any aspect of your Amazon business.

Good point. The spreadsheet @AllenCrawley shared solves this, as it's a one time purchase to a tool for $49, that only you have access to.
 
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AMZRefund estimated over $1200 back for me

Not $13k, but $1200 more than I would have thought beforehand - going to start going through all this manually and see what the exact amount is. Will update when I'm finished.

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amp0193

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Not $13k, but $1200 more than I would have thought beforehand

It also depends on if Amazon has had any really big mess ups with your stuff.

For example, I just got $3300 back last week, but a good chunk of that was ONE sku that had 93 lost units.

I've also had inbound shipments in the past where an entire 150 unit box was just never checked in, or all of one sku is just missing. In one case, a shipment entitled me to a $5000 refund.
 
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25%!!!! They've been around for years, so they have made an absolute KILLING.



-edit- On second thought, I'm not going to make a video. I can't find a way to make a helpful video, without revealing sensitive information about my business. Check out the spreadsheet that @AllenCrawley shared, if you need a more automated solution.

Indeed they have been making away like bandits. Most higher volume sellers I know no longer use them.

I've been spending the last hour or so trying to get step number 5 going, it's giving me a massive headache. Not even sure where to start with excel. I bought the tool Allan and you linked to, Enterprise Version, but when I go to upload the reports I downloaded, nothing happens.

Very frustrating!

I'm not sure when I stopped using RefundsManager, but checking InventoryLabs Amazon has issued nearly $34K in refunds to customers from September to Dec 31, clearly this will be worth figuring out.
 

QDF

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I'm usually pretty good at keeping up on the shipment reconciliations, so when I opened this thread I didn't expect much, but I didn't know about any of the other things.

I've started the process, and looks like I might get more back than estimated - I'll have to see but there's a ton of missing/damaged, etc. units I didn't even notice or know about.

On a side note, I tried getting a refund several months ago for a $100 freight shipping charge I paid after their warehouse refused my shipment for no reason, and it was a giant pain in the a$$ that amounted to Amazon employee's playing hot potato with my case. Needless to say, no refund there.

Totally awesome thread.
 

amp0193

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and it was a giant pain in the a$$ that amounted to Amazon employee's playing hot potato with my case. Needless to say, no refund there.

It's not that they're playing hot potato, it's that every response to the thread is opened by a new customer service person (except in extremely rare cases when you get a dedicated rep). And then, they don't really read through all of the previous discussion. That $5000 refund case I mentioned was seen by 14 different reps over the course of 4 months. Most of my responses were just copy/pasting the same things, so that the next new rep could just start over fresh.
 
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amp0193

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I've been spending the last hour or so trying to get step number 5 going, it's giving me a massive headache.
Very frustrating!

Believe me brother, I've been there. OH man, have I been there.

Let me take another stab at this video... I think I can make it happen, if I scrub the sensitive data out of these sheets first.

If you're having trouble, others will too.

-edit- @ddall here's the video. It took me 9 minutes to set up the spreadsheet. I guess the video recorder didn't film my cursor, but hopefully you can follow along.

 
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million$$$smile

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First of all, I want to thank the OP for going to the trouble of sharing this information. I'm sure he spent considerable time compiling and then writing all of this out for our benefit.

I use the standard FBA program very little as we ship quite a bit here from our own websites and it allows me to keep a full time employee plus one part timer shipping all day long.

BUT I use the FBA Small and Light program considerably as many of our items are less than a pound and are not oversized. This is SUPPOSED to be considerably cheaper than standard FBA but it has been a real pain for the most part. One of the issues is that they constantly charge the standard FBA fees instead of the S&L FBA fees.

Like the OP said, I too cringe at making that phone call to Amazon due to the fact that you get a different support agent each and every time and they do not always keep good notes on your issue. I have had completely opposite explanations why the fees are alway incorrect. I currently have 3-4 different open cases with them as now they are telling me that I shipped the products to the wrong warehouse even though that was the one I was originally told to use. (The Small & Light Program only uses 2 or 3 Amazon warehouses for shipments) They say they are charging me the standard FBA fees because all my S&L FBA shipments went to the wrong destination!

The difference is several thousand in fees but I really haven't dug too far back on the shipments. Needless to say, I too have been neglectful in asking for refunds that were clearly overcharged.

Is anyone here utilizing the S&L FBA Program? I'd like to hear what your experiences have been like. For certain items, it can save quite a bit in FBA fees.

Rep+ for the great write up!
 

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BUT I use the FBA Small and Light program considerably as many of our items are less than a pound and are not oversized. This is SUPPOSED to be considerably cheaper than standard FBA but it has been a real pain for the most part. One of the issues is that they constantly charge the standard FBA fees instead of the S&L FBA fees.

Thanks so much for the reply. I'm actually still trying to research incorrect shipping fees myself, to find the most efficient way to identify and get reimbursed for them. Not just for small & light, but just in general.

Is anyone here utilizing the S&L FBA Program? I'd like to hear what your experiences have been like. For certain items, it can save quite a bit in FBA fees.


I'm going to look into this again, as I think some of my newer products might qualify, but I forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder!
 
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First of all, I want to thank the OP for going to the trouble of sharing this information. I'm sure he spent considerable time compiling and then writing all of this out for our benefit.

I use the standard FBA program very little as we ship quite a bit here from our own websites and it allows me to keep a full time employee plus one part timer shipping all day long.

BUT I use the FBA Small and Light program considerably as many of our items are less than a pound and are not oversized. This is SUPPOSED to be considerably cheaper than standard FBA but it has been a real pain for the most part. One of the issues is that they constantly charge the standard FBA fees instead of the S&L FBA fees.

Like the OP said, I too cringe at making that phone call to Amazon due to the fact that you get a different support agent each and every time and they do not always keep good notes on your issue. I have had completely opposite explanations why the fees are alway incorrect. I currently have 3-4 different open cases with them as now they are telling me that I shipped the products to the wrong warehouse even though that was the one I was originally told to use. (The Small & Light Program only uses 2 or 3 Amazon warehouses for shipments) They say they are charging me the standard FBA fees because all my S&L FBA shipments went to the wrong destination!

The difference is several thousand in fees but I really haven't dug too far back on the shipments. Needless to say, I too have been neglectful in asking for refunds that were clearly overcharged.

Is anyone here utilizing the S&L FBA Program? I'd like to hear what your experiences have been like. For certain items, it can save quite a bit in FBA fees.

Rep+ for the great write up!

We don't use small and light because I think the average price point has to be sub $10?
 

million$$$smile

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We don't use small and light because I think the average price point has to be sub $10?

Yes, that is correct. We use it for bundles of decals and stickers along with several other products. It is the only way to be profitable on some smaller items as 'package' shipping (for Amazon required tracking purposes) is $2.60 for 1 oz!

Needless to say, it is the only way I have found to circumvent the exorbitant cost of selling low priced items on the marketplace. It CAN be profitable if watched closely.
 
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Wow @amp0193 this is an insane amount of helpful information. I've only hit the reconcile shipments so far but I was able to get back around $1200 from your advice. I'm going to try and blast through the rest of these over the weekend.
 

amp0193

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Wow @amp0193 this is an insane amount of helpful information. I've only hit the reconcile shipments so far but I was able to get back around $1200 from your advice. I'm going to try and blast through the rest of these over the weekend.

yyyeaaahh! Let's keep it coming!
 

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