FBA-FC Damaged Inventory Reimbursement Policy

Please refer to COVID-19 reimbursements policy help page for temporary changes to the policy owing to COVID-19.

Use the self-service FBA Reimbursement tool to understand if your order is eligible for a reimbursement.

We maintain high standards when it comes to taking care of your inventory. However, occasionally accidents do happen. If your inventory is damaged when it is under Amazon's control (damaged by an Amazon partnered carrier, in the fulfilment center, during provision of storage services by Amazon, during delivery to your customer or damaged by customer), we will:

Pay you the Reimbursement as a percentage of evaluated fair market value of your damaged inventory, less any applicable FBA and Selling on Amazon fees (subject to applicable grading standards utilized by Amazon).

Effective reimbursement value = (Effective Reimbursement rate¹) x [(Fair Market Value of unit) - (Amazon SOA and FBA Fees)]

¹Please check Reimbursement_Rates_And_Grade_Based_Reimbursements.

What is covered by this policy?

• Both new and Used or Certified Refurbished items that are damaged while in an Amazon Fulfilment Centre.
• Both new and Used or Certified Refurbished items that are damaged by the carriers during delivery to customers, return pickup from the customers and at time of removals.
• Only new items that are damaged by customers

Below are all the damaged use cases and their corresponding details that we encounter in FBA-FC Fulfillment Channel:

Customer/Carrier Damaged

All Units returned on or after May 01, 2018 as Customer/Carrier Damaged will be eligible for reimbursement across all categories. These reimbursements are automatically processed within 45 days of the shipment return in FC and do not warrant a seller contact requesting for the same. For the Reimbursement Rates and Grade Based Reimbursement, please check this link : FBA Reimbursement Rate of Damaged Products and Grade Based Reimbursements. In order to check the reimbursed value, please refer to “Order Level Reimbursement Report¹

¹Order Level Reimbursement Report: Please check Damage Reimbursement Reconciliation section for more details.

Warehouse Damaged

Inventory damaged in Amazon warehouses gets classified as "warehouse damaged". These items will be automatically reimbursed within 60 days of inventory adjustment and do not warrant a seller contact requesting for the same at a defined % of Fair Market Value less any applicable FBA and Selling on Amazon fees. For the reimbursement rates please check Reimbursement_Rates_And_Grade_Based_Reimbursements . In order to check the reimbursed value, please refer to “Reimbursement Report²”.

²Reimbursement Report : Please check Damage Reimbursement Reconciliation section for more details

Removal Shipment Damaged

This process is used to address seller's concern if there is carrier responsible damage to units that have been or are in the process of being returned to the seller on a Removal Order. Seller can raise a case by clicking on this link within 7 days from shipment delivery date

Below is the information required for raising a request for this issue:

• Removal Order ID
• ASIN/FNSKU of the unit damaged
• Image of Outer box in which the removal was delivered
• Image of the damaged unit received (One or two images which clearly depicts the damage)
• If multiple units are damaged, place them all together and provide us an image where we should be able to identify the damage and also the number of units damaged (1, 2 images to cover all the damaged units).

In addition, we may request and require a seller to provide CCTV recordings/Video Evidence to substantiate their claims.

The CCTV recordings/Video Evidence for a claim should cover the following steps for the claimed unit:

• Overview of the box received and a view of all sides of the box
• Unpacking process of the outer box
• Unpacking contents inside the box
• Opening each item inside the box and displaying the unit received inside.

All the steps should clearly show the product and package/shipping labels to identify the order and shipment details. In case the seller fails to provide the CCTV recordings/video evidence, the seller claims may be declined.

For more information on how to accept removal packages and report damage claims for the packages accepted, refer to the Removal Packages Acceptance Guidelines Governing Reimbursement Claims help page.

Failure to comply with Amazon policies as outlined above may result in the denial of your reimbursement claims, in Amazon's sole discretion. Our policies prohibit any activity that would interfere with our capacity to help other sellers. Examples of such activities include, but are not limited to, submitting insufficiently researched or prematurely submitted requests, or submitting high volumes of requests in a short period of time. All disputes to the case resolution provided must be submitted within 7 days from case closure date with valid reasons and supporting documentation.

What is not covered by this policy?

• FBA Prohibited Products.
• Products that do not adhere to FBA inventory requirements.
• Excluded Products and Unsuitable Units as defined in FBA Help section Product Restrictions and Packaging Requirements.
• New and Used or Certified Refurbished Units that are defective or damaged by distributors or sellers.
• Used or Certified Refurbished items that are damaged by customers. For more details please check Reimbursements FAQ
• Mobile Units that arrive at our fulfilment centre with the following defects:
  • Without an IMEI
  • Invalid IMEI
  • IMEI that cannot be scanned
  • IMEI that was previously reimbursed and re-shipped to our fulfilment centre unless they are listed under our Renewed Program
• Restricted products damaged during removal order processing.
• Expired items destroyed after 90 days from the day an item was flagged as Expired in our Fulfilment Centre
• Items that arrive at the fulfilment centre in damaged condition using Non-Amazon Partnered Carriers.
• Items shipped using Amazon partnered carriers that are damaged due to inadequate packaging.
• Sellers would not receive customer damage reimbursements if the customer return reasons can be attributed to sellers and not Amazon . The Seller Controllable Return Rate (SCRR) is calculated based on the total number of Units returned on account of product quality issues for a given category against the total number of Units shipped for that category. For more details on type of Customer Return Considered for SCRR, please check FAQ 9 in “Damage Related FAQ” in “Reimbursements FAQ” section

Damage Reimbursement Reconciliation:

For both the claim based and automated reimbursements, please use the following tools and reports to help identify and resolve the discrepancy:

1. Customer/Carrier Damaged Reimbursements
   • Order Level Reimbursement Report¹/Reimbursement Report³ : Use this report to find out if the order has been reimbursed
   • FBA Customer Returns Report² : Use this report to find out if the order was returned to your account and was graded as “Unsellable
   • Or you can use workflow mentioned in the top of this page to find out reimbursement status against Order ID
2. Warehouse Damaged and Removal Shipment Damaged Reimbursements
   • Inventory Adjustments Report⁴: Use this report to find out if the unit was marked damaged. Please refer to this link to find out more details on how to use the adjustments report
   • Reimbursement Report³ : Use this report to find out if you have been reimbursed for these cases

¹²³⁴Please click here to go to the Amazon Fulfilled Reports . You will get all the reports in this page

Also Check :

Reimbursement_Rates_And_Grade_Based_Reimbursements