# Amazon Lost Inventory Reimbursement: How to Recover the Money Amazon Owes You Author: Himanshu Gaba Author URL: https://sellerview.ai/blog/author/himanshu-gaba Published: 2026-09-29 Category: Amazon Profitability Category URL: https://sellerview.ai/blog/category/amazon-profitability Meta Title: Amazon Lost Inventory Reimbursement: Recover Your Money Meta Description: Amazon loses FBA inventory and the money often goes unclaimed. See how Sellerview Profit Recovery surfaces lost units and what you can still claim. Tags: FBA profitability, amazon fba, sellerview.ai, amazon profit analytics Tag URLs: FBA profitability (https://sellerview.ai/blog/tag/fba-profitability), amazon fba (https://sellerview.ai/blog/tag/amazon-fba), sellerview.ai (https://sellerview.ai/blog/tag/sellerviewai), amazon profit analytics (https://sellerview.ai/blog/tag/amazon-profit-analytics) URL: https://sellerview.ai/blog/amazon-lost-inventory-reimbursement You paid for the unit. It never sold. Somewhere between your box and the customer, Amazon lost it, and nobody told you. That is the quiet leak most FBA sellers never audit. Amazon does reimburse a lot of lost and [damaged stock](https://sellerview.aihttps://sellerview.ai/blog/amazon-reimbursement-recovery) on its own, but not all of it, and the claim window is short. We built Profit Recovery inside Sellerview because sellers kept finding this money by accident, if they found it at all. This post covers where lost inventory comes from, why it never shows up in [your profit](https://sellerview.ai/amazon-fba-profit-calculator) numbers, and how to see and claim what Amazon owes you, screen by screen. ## What "lost inventory" actually means A lost unit is one you paid for that Amazon can no longer account for. It left your warehouse, it was headed to an FC or sitting in one, and then it dropped out of your sellable stock without ever becoming a sale. It happens in four places. ### 1\. Inbound shortages You send 200 units, the FC receives 184. That 16 unit gap is the most common loss and the easiest to ignore. Reconciliation at the FC, matching what you sent against what was received, only works if your delivery challan is filled in properly. Get the challan wrong and you have no case. ### 2\. Lost inside the FC Units were received, then marked lost in your inventory adjustments. Amazon's reason often reads something like "misplaced, could not find it." ### 3\. Damaged at the FC or during handling Same story, different reason code. ### 4\. Customer returns that never make it back The customer got a refund, but the unit never returned to sellable stock. Before you assume you were shorted on damaged RTO stock, check your payments report. A safety claim (Amazon calls it SAFE-T) is often already counted inside the disbursed amount. ### Why you have never seen this in your profit numbers ![Sellerview dashboard Profit and Loss panel showing revenue, COGS, Amazon fees, refund cost, ad spend and gross profit](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cmlqlveae00u901w0q414cvzy/images/04-dashboard-pl-panel-1790677980733-compressed.png) Your profit is revenue minus Amazon fees, ad spend, returns and COGS. Most sellers skip at least one of those. Lost inventory hides inside the COGS line. There is no order row, no refund row, nothing that says "this one disappeared." So the SKU looks a little worse than it should, and you blame ads or pricing. Sellers do catch some FBA leaks. [Long term storage](https://sellerview.ai/blog/what-is-long-term-storage-fees-amazon-sellers) fees are the famous one (one brand we reviewed paid $2,147 to Amazon in a single month). Almost nobody audits lost units. How crazy is that? It is the same category of leak, money out of your pocket because of inventory, but this one comes with a way to get the money back. Say you send 750 units a month at $10 cost. If 2% go missing, that is 15 units, or $150 a month. Over a year, $1,800. (Example numbers for illustration.) Small per unit, ugly in aggregate. In Sellerview, the reimbursements Amazon has already paid are not hidden. Open the [Profit & Loss](https://sellerview.ai/profit-analytics) panel on your Dashboard, expand the Amazon Fees row, and you will see reimbursement and warehouse damage lines sitting next to FBA fulfillment fees, commission and storage fees. That is the money that came back. Profit Recovery is where you find the money that has not. ### Meet Profit Recovery Profit Recovery is a page in Sellerview built around one question: what does Amazon owe you, and what is quietly leaking? At the top you get three cards and a status line. ### • Paid back: the cases Amazon already paid on its own. ### • Claimable: lost or damaged units you can still claim, and how many claims that is. ### • Leaking: money slipping out every month through fixable issues, with the number of findings behind it. A line in the top corner shows when Sellerview last ran its checks and when the next run is due, so you always know how fresh the numbers are. ![Sellerview Profit Recovery page with Paid back, Claimable and Leaking cards for Amazon FBA lost inventory reimbursement](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cmlqlveae00u901w0q414cvzy/images/01-profit-recovery-header-cards-1790681120034-compressed.png) ### Claims to file Every open claim shows the SKU, Amazon's stated reason, the warehouse, the adjustment ID, the amount and a deadline countdown. Under the hood it works from your inventory ledger adjustments and Amazon's reimbursements report, so you are looking at Amazon's own records, not an estimate. Sort by amount and by deadline, and start with whatever is closing first. ![Open claim in Sellerview Profit Recovery showing Amazon owes you for lost units, an estimated $148 and 15 days left](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cmlqlveae00u901w0q414cvzy/images/02-claims-to-file-open-claim-1790681185494-compressed.png) ### File it Open a claim and Sellerview gives you the Seller Central path (Fulfillment by Amazon, then Inventory Damaged or Lost in Warehouse) and a ready-made case message with the details filled in. You copy it and file it yourself. No hunting for adjustment IDs across spreadsheets. ### Filed & paid Once Amazon pays, the case moves here. Sellerview matches it against Amazon's reimbursement report and shows what was paid against what was claimed, with a timeline of payment references and a plain label for the reason, such as stock lost moving between Amazon warehouses. This is your proof that the audit is working. ![Sellerview Filed and paid tab listing Amazon FBA reimbursement cases matched to Amazon's reimbursement report](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cmlqlveae00u901w0q414cvzy/images/03-filed-and-paid-list-1790681245852-compressed.png) ### Leaks to fix Not every leak is a claim. This tab lists long term storage fee warnings, with the dollar per month that units heading for LTSF will cost you, and products that cost more to advertise than they earn. It sits beside your claims because it is the same job: stop paying for things you can fix. ## The rest of the picture Lost units are a COGS problem, so your COGS needs to be right. In the Products table, Sellerview lets you set [COGS per SKU](https://sellerview.ai/cogs-management), and the saved filters include COGS Missing, Loss Making, High Refund Rate and Dead Stock. Each SKU also shows refund cost, [refund units](https://sellerview.ai/blog/track-amazon-sku-refunds-returns) and refund percentage. If you are still on the default COGS estimate, your leak numbers are estimates too. Put in real costs first. ### A monthly routine that takes under an hour Monitoring is the key here, not a one time cleanup. Do this once a month. ### 1 Open Profit Recovery. Read the four cards. Note what is claimable and what is leaking. ### 2 Work Claims to file from the top. Sort by amount and deadline. Ten units of a $40 SKU matter more than fifty units of a $3 SKU. ### 3 Copy the case message and file in Seller Central. Use the path Sellerview shows you. ### 4 Check Filed & paid. Confirm the money landed and matches what you claimed. ### 5 Do the two checks Sellerview does not cover. Compare units sent against units received on inbound shipments, and look for returns that were refunded but [never restocked.](https://sellerview.ai/blog/does-amazon-charge-for-returns) ### The window is shorter than you think This is why monthly matters. From October 23, 2024, the claim window for most FBA inventory reimbursement categories, except shipment to Amazon claims, moved from 18 months to 60 days. Amazon automated a lot of the process, which is the reason, but it also means a loss you spot late may simply not be claimable. Every claim in Profit Recovery carries its own deadline countdown for exactly this reason. Don't be that seller who finds $1,000 of missing stock in a spreadsheet and then learns the window closed. ### What Profit Recovery does not do Straight answer, because you should know before you rely on it. Sellerview does not file the case for you, and it does not track case status. Amazon offers no API for the case log, so you file in Seller Central and Sellerview shows you the result once the reimbursement lands. It also does not currently flag inbound shipment gaps, returns that were never restocked, or underpaid reimbursements. Those stay on your monthly checklist. ### The short version • Lost inventory hides inside COGS, so it never announces itself. • Losses come from inbound shortages, FC losses, FC damage and unrestocked returns. • The claim window is short. Audit monthly. • Profit Recovery shows what Amazon paid, what you can still claim and what is leaking, with the case message ready to copy. Revenue is a vanity number if part of your stock disappears before it sells. Profit clarity means knowing where every unit went, and every rupee that should have come back. ## FAQs ### What is Sellerview Profit Recovery? Profit Recovery is a page in Sellerview that shows the reimbursements Amazon has already paid you, the lost and damaged units you can still claim, and other leaks such as long term storage fees. It is currently in beta. ### Does Sellerview file reimbursement claims for me? No. Sellerview gives you the Seller Central path and a ready-made case message, and you file the case yourself. Once Amazon pays, the reimbursement appears in the Filed & paid tab. ### Does Amazon reimburse lost inventory automatically? For many cases, yes. Amazon has automated a large share of lost and damaged reimbursements. It does not catch everything, so a monthly audit still finds gaps. ### How long do I have to claim reimbursement for lost inventory? For most lost and damaged inventory categories the window is now 60 days, with shipment to Amazon claims treated separately. Check the current policy in Seller Central before you file, since Amazon updates these rules. ## FAQs Q: What is Sellerview Profit Recovery? A: Profit Recovery is a page in Sellerview that shows the reimbursements Amazon has already paid you, the lost and damaged units you can still claim, and other leaks such as long term storage fees. It is currently in beta. Q: Does Sellerview file reimbursement claims for me? A: No. Sellerview gives you the Seller Central path and a ready-made case message, and you file the case yourself. Once Amazon pays, the reimbursement appears in the Filed & paid tab. Q: Does Amazon reimburse lost inventory automatically? A: For many cases, yes. Amazon has automated a large share of lost and damaged reimbursements. It does not catch everything, so a monthly audit still finds gaps. Q: How long do I have to claim reimbursement for lost inventory? A: For most lost and damaged inventory categories the window is now 60 days, with shipment to Amazon claims treated separately. Check the current policy in Seller Central before you file, since Amazon updates these rules. --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---