The cases Amazon owes you for
Reimbursable discrepancies fall into a handful of recurring types — each one a place where Amazon's handling, not yours, caused the loss:
- Inventory lost inside an Amazon fulfillment center
- Inventory damaged while in Amazon's care
- Stock destroyed without your authorization
- Inbound shipments received short of what you sent
- Customer returns Amazon refunded but never put back in your inventory
- Fee overcharges — billed for the wrong size tier or weight
The window is the whole game
Every reimbursement has a filing deadline — commonly around 18 months from the discrepancy, shorter for some types. Miss it and the claim is gone for good. That's why reimbursements are less about finding a big one-time windfall and more about working the queue continuously: small cases add up, and they expire quietly if no one is watching the clock.
How to find what you're owed
The evidence is in Amazon's own records. Reconciling the inventory, shipment and fee reports surfaces the discrepancies Amazon hasn't already credited — the units that went missing, the shipments that arrived short, the fees charged on the wrong tier. The work is turning each discrepancy into a case with a dollar figure and a deadline, and filing it before it lapses. The reimbursement recovery tool does that scan and quantifies the recoverable total.
Keep the whole recovery
A cottage industry of services will file your claims for a percentage of whatever they recover — often around a quarter. If the choice is between that and leaving the money unclaimed, take it. But it's a cut of money that was already yours. Surfacing and filing the cases yourself, or with software on a flat subscription, keeps every recovered dollar. And don't forget the adjacent leak: the true-profit math in the profit guide only holds if refunds and unsellable returns are counted too.
FAQ
What can I actually claim a reimbursement for?+
Discrepancies where Amazon's own handling cost you units or money: inventory lost or damaged in a fulfillment center, stock destroyed without authorization, inbound shipments received short, customer returns that were refunded but never restocked, and fee overcharges from the wrong size tier or weight. If Amazon's records show the loss, you're generally owed it back.
How long do I have to file?+
The window is limited — commonly around 18 months from the discrepancy, and shorter for some claim types. That's the catch: cases quietly expire, so the reimbursements you never noticed simply stop being claimable. Working the queue by deadline is what turns 'owed' into 'paid'.
Should I pay a service that takes a percentage?+
Many recovery services take a cut — often around a quarter — of everything they win for you. That's fine if the alternative is leaving it unclaimed, but it's money off the top of money that was already yours. Software that surfaces the eligible cases and lets you file them for a flat subscription keeps the whole recovery.
Are returns a separate problem?+
Yes. Beyond reimbursable losses, customer returns come back unsellable, get restocked as new when they shouldn't, or never come back at all — a steady drain that hides inside your refund numbers. It's worth quantifying return losses separately from the reimbursement cases.