Amazon Sellers: Are you missing out on FBA refunds you might not know about?
You’re owed FBA refunds when Amazon makes mistakes handling or reporting your inventory and order fulfillment. You might think FBA refunds are automatic because, after all, the errors for which you are owed money are Amazon’s fault. But that’s not really how it works.
In most cases, you bear the burden of identifying where you think FBA refunds are owed to you and filing the necessary claims within at most 18 months of when the errors took place.
So, let’s take a look at what kind of discrepancies can cause FBA refunds and then how you can get back these FBA refunds in the easiest way possible.
What Are FBA Refunds?
As an Amazon FBA seller, you essentially contract with them to manage your inventory, fulfill orders, and handle customer returns. Given the global scope of Amazon and the sheer number of logistical operations it performs every day, it’s not surprising that some mistakes are made. Usually, you can claim refunds in the following situations:
- Your inventory is lost, either during shipping or is somehow misplaced.
- Your inventory is damaged, either during shipping or at the warehouse.
- Returned products are not properly credited back to you in your inventory. This is actually one of the largest reasons for FBA refunds.
- Amazon destroys or disposes of items in your inventory because they deem them unsellable. They have the right to do this without prior permission.
- Amazon overcharges you for storing inventory based on inaccurate product dimensions.
Now, let’s look at how you determine which of these losses occurred in your business and whether FBA refunds are due.
How to Find Your FBA Refunds If…
Your inventory is lost
Review your inventory reconciliation reports for possible discrepancies. Also, review the Damaged inventory Report discussed next.
Your inventory is damaged
Review the Damaged Inventory Report in Seller Central listing products lost or damaged at the fulfillment center, to the fulfillment center, or from the fulfillment center to the customer. It also lists products missing at fulfillment centers for the past 30 days.
Returned products are not properly credited to your inventory
Perform an Amazon audit to determine whether FBA refunds are owed for any of the following occurrences:
- Returns Reimbursement: refunds not paid out
- Returned Not Refunded after 45 Days: customer refunded but did not return the item
- Return Overcharge: customer refunded more than charged
- Wrong Item Returned: Amazon accepted another, incorrect item for the customer’s return
- Damaged Returns: returned product is damaged
- Return after 60 days: return granted past time when returns are normally accepted
Amazon destroyed or disposed of inventory
To determine whether Amazon destroyed or disposed of any products, look at your inventory within your Amazon Seller Account. Unfortunately, you have to do this on a continual basis to find any issues like this likely to qualify for FBA refunds—there’s no automated process.
Amazon overcharges you
Again, there’s no easy way to discover this. The only way to determine if Amazon overcharged you for storage fees based on incorrectly large product dimensions is to compare actual product weight and dimensions against Amazon’s listed dimensions for that product.
How to Claim Your FBA Refunds
Okay, so this is obviously a time-consuming process to figure out if you are owed FBA refunds. You might think the effort isn’t worth it, but that kind of thinking might cost you money. On average, FBA refunds can add up to as much as 3% of annual revenues. Let’s say you make a million dollars; your potential FBA refund total is $30,000. That’s not chump change.
Of course, the only way to know for sure how much your FBA refunds are is to track for errors that qualify and then submit claims to the appropriate departments. You could do this yourself in the unlikely event you have the time. In most cases, your attention is best concentrated on running your business.
Another option is to assign this task to an employee if you have one, but again you are taking time from them performing their current tasks. Or, you could hire a virtual assistant (VA), but that’s not only an added expense, it requires time to train someone on how to track for FBA refunds and submit claims, a process you probably aren’t much familiar with beyond what we’ve just outlined here.
There is a better way.
GETIDA for FBA Refunds
GETIDA (GET Intelligent Data Analytics) is the largest provider dedicated to getting Amazon sellers their FBA refunds. GETIDA software performs a comprehensive review of your past 18 months of transactions to identify potential FBA refunds. You get results in a matter of days. If there’s sufficient potential to proceed, GETIDA submits claims and follows up until there is a resolution.
None of this costs you anything. The only cost is a percentage of FBA refunds successfully obtained, and the first $400 is free of charge. A cost much less than if you paid a VA or what you and/or an employee may have lost in productivity chasing for FBA refunds.
Sign up with GETIDA for free and see what your FBA refunds might amount to. You’ve got nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain.
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