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Sun July 18 2021 13:49:47

Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory

By: Ina Steiner

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Many sellers were puzzled on Wednesday after Amazon informed them it would be adding inventory to their Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) account.

Amazon said the inventory in its fulfillment centers had not been allocated to sellers' account "due to an error in one or more of your shipments to an Amazon fulfillment center."

But sellers who discussed the notification on threads such as this one (and a thread on Reddit) found it odd, to say the least.

Amazon didn't say it would assign items to the owners' accounts; rather, it said it would assign items to accounts it determined to be the owner of the unallocated inventory. "Between July 14 and July 30, you might start seeing items from past shipments being added back to your account," it said.

One seller wondered, "Is this inventory that's been sitting under a conveyor belt somewhere for the last 10 years? Should I expect a big blob of melted together CDs???"

Another seller who received the notice said they hadn't sold using FBA since 2017. "Like I've said before, with FBA it is like Hotel California. You can check out but you can never leave."

Could it be that Amazon did a massive house-cleaning of its Fulfillment Centers and found items it had no idea were there?

The following is the email sellers reported receiving:

Hello,
We are contacting you because we've identified you as the owner of inventory that had not been previously allocated to your account due to an error in one or more of your shipments to an Amazon fulfillment center.

On July 14, 2021, we will begin assigning items to accounts that we determine to be the owner of the unallocated inventory. Between July 14 and July 30, you might start seeing items from past shipments being added back to your account.

You have not been charged storage fees for items that were not previously assigned to your account. Once the inventory is assigned to your account, monthly storage fees will apply.

For more information, go to our inventory storage fees Help page:

If you don't want to continue offering these items for sale, you can submit a request to remove them. We will waive the removal fee for these specific items until 11:59 p.m. August 27, 2021. Starting 12:00 a.m. August 28, you will be charged the standard removal fee to remove units that were assigned to you.

For more information, go to "Remove inventory from a fulfillment center"

To see inventory that was assigned to your account as part of this effort, download your Inventory Adjustments report after July 30 and filter by following the instructions below:

Read the thread for the fulltext of the Amazon notification.

Some sellers were wary. It's probably advisable for all FBA sellers to make sure that inventory allocated to their account is authentic and inventory they sent to Amazon. (As it says above, the notice states sellers can check their Inventory Adjustments report after July 30.)

It's also a reminder to check your account to make sure you're paying storage fees for only the items you own - Amazon is giving sellers until the end of August to remove inventory it allocates to their account before it will begin charging storage fees.



Comments (6) | Permalink

Readers Comments

Perminate Link for Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory   Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory

by: Disgruntled_Seller This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 19 09:18:31 2021

Ole Jeff's company and staff is "Lost In Space" ...

Perminate Link for Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory   Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory

This user has validated their user name. by: Bidonmine

Mon Jul 19 09:34:47 2021

Amazon 'lost' a shipment of 150 mixed DVDs about 6 years ago... They did pay me for the loss. I wonder if they are going to show up now (and if they are going to take back the payment I received for the loss)!

Perminate Link for Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory   Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory

by: I_Fix_Dolls This user has validated their user name.

Mon Jul 19 10:08:53 2021

I don't sell anything on Amazon with FBA, but it sounds like my house. I often open a box and say "When did I get that?"

Perminate Link for Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory   Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory

This user has validated their user name. by: iheartjacksparrow

Mon Jul 19 15:12:24 2021

@I_Fix_Dolls - You sound exactly like me. I have bags and boxes of stuff to list in my eCrater store, and I'll open one and say, 'That's really cool! I I didn't know I had that.' I think that's a result of buying way too much stuff over the years.  

Perminate Link for Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory   Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory

by: Weirdbooks This user has validated their user name.

Tue Jul 20 12:40:45 2021

''if they are going to take back the payment I received for the loss)!''

That's my concern also, especially since Amazon give no guidance on this in their email.  

If something has been lost at FBA for months or years, chances are likely:

1)  That item is totally beat up.  It is not likely to be a condition close to what it was when sent in.  AND/OR   2)  That item is likely no longer in demand.  Even it  it is in re-sellable condition, it likely is no longer even worth selling at all.

So Amazon will probably take back whatever paltry reimbursement they originally made for the lost inventory.  I can't see them not taking back that payment, they do when they find things a few weeks after you are reimbursed.  

When they take back that reimbursement, and you cannot sell that item and make any $ on it, you going are likely going to take an even larger loss on  that inventory than you did when it was first ''lost.''

Perminate Link for Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory   Amazon Suddenly 'Finds' a Bunch of Lost Inventory

by: pace306 This user has validated their user name.

Fri Jul 23 12:10:09 2021

Its a well known "secret" that Amazon looses items, but they also "borrow" inventory as well!

Now that its almost August - the Christmas season is being prepared for - and they are simply "returning the garbage they found god knows where" AND "returning" the merchandise they borrowed ....

...they can only "miscount" your FBA goods so many times.....



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