Selling products through Amazon can be a lucrative way to grow your business. After all, leveraging the largest e-commerce platform in the world has plenty of benefits. Unfortunately, there may be times where you need to be reimbursed for your products. We’ve put together a short guide that details everything you need to know about Amazon reimbursements.
For those who are unaware, there are numerous different complications that you could experience with Amazon shipments. Although these are relatively uncommon, they could result in a significant loss of inventory.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common.
As you might expect, an item can sometimes become lost or damaged during the shipping process. More often than not, this is due to an oversight made by the inbound team.
To elaborate, let’s assume that you shipped 100 units to a particular location. The team that received your shipment might have only checked for the presence of 50 units, leaving plenty of room for error.
Additionally, items could become lost or damaged while in transit with a partnered carrier. In these scenarios, Amazon works with a separate carrier (such as UPS) in order to fulfill the shipment.
After the other carrier begins transporting the shipment, a loss or damage may occur. Although Amazon isn’t directly responsible for the incident, it is their duty to seek reimbursement from the carrier.
This is a situation that many carriers are accustomed to dealing with. It refers to any type of loss or damage that occurs after your shipment was received by an Amazon warehouse.
Although the reasons behind these incidents may vary, the seller is still placed at a disadvantage.
In certain situations, the Amazon team will need to destroy a particular item. More often than not, this occurs due to the item having a significant amount of damage. Afterward, you are supposed to receive a credit for any destroyed items, but oversights do occur when it comes to Amazon reimbursements.
For one reason or another, customers may file a return request for a particular item. In this situation, there is a handful of additional complications that could occur.
For example, the item may be in such poor condition after it has been returned that it is no longer sellable. This is further compounded by the fact that buyers often cite an alternative reason for the return.
To elaborate, a buyer may return a destroyed product but claim that they are returning it because they purchased it by mistake. Another common scenario involves a buyer requesting a return without actually returning the product.
They are then able to both receive a refund and keep the product in question.
The Amazon team could also be at fault. This occurs when a buyer returns an item but Amazon never places the item into your returns. So, this essentially becomes lost inventory.
In addition to inventory issues, sellers may also encounter problems with reimbursement fees. Perhaps the most commonly seen is an overcharge of a referral fee.
Depending on the product category, your referral fee will vary. Sometimes, you may incur a charge that is meant for a higher category instead.
Incorrect product dimensions can also lead to numerous complications. If your item is incorrectly measured or weighed, this can have a significant impact on the fees that you pay.
This is especially true if your item is mistakenly classified as oversized.
Given how much can go wrong, it can seem overwhelming when it comes to figuring out how much money you are owed.
Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to see how much money Amazon needs to reimburse you (and any inventory they have lost). Within the Amazon dashboard, navigate to Reports -> Fulfillment -> Inventory Adjustments.
You can also find this information by following these steps.
You can then download a list of inventory that has been lost or damaged within the past 18 months. You should note, though, that you need to use Microsoft Excel to open this file.
Each item will have a different code that denotes the reason why it was added or removed from your inventory. In this scenario, you should be looking for the codes ‘E’ and ‘M.’
As you can tell, it’s entirely possible to manage this obligation on your own. But, many entrepreneurs tend to gravitate toward the use of specialized services.
This is particularly true for those who deal with a large volume of sales on a regular basis.
Although these services can only make the same types of actions that you can, it can do so far more efficiently. This will allow you to invest your time into other aspects of your business.
When implemented correctly, the costs that you incur from using this type of service are highly outweighed by the increased productivity experience. Additionally, it’s highly likely that you will be able to secure much more money in reimbursements than you would be able to by yourself.
So, keep this in mind when deciding how to go about the process.
It’s essential that you keep the above information in mind. From here, you’ll be able to handle any necessary Amazon reimbursements quickly and effectively.
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