Most Amazon FBA sellers have money sitting unclaimed in their accounts right now. Amazon loses, damages and misprocesses inventory on a regular basis — and while they do reimburse sellers for these errors automatically in many cases, a significant number of valid reimbursements go unclaimed simply because sellers do not know how to find and claim them.

We are Brandhunterz Ltd — a UK registered wholesale sourcing company (Company No: 15342697) — and reimbursement auditing is something we recommend every Amazon FBA wholesale seller does at minimum once per quarter. In this guide we explain every type of reimbursement available, how to find unclaimed amounts and exactly how to claim what Amazon owes you.

Why Amazon Owes You Money

Amazon’s fulfilment network processes millions of orders every day across hundreds of warehouses. At that scale errors are inevitable — items get lost during putaway, damaged by warehouse equipment, misrouted between fulfilment centres or refunded to customers who never actually return the product. In every one of these situations Amazon is contractually obligated to compensate you as the seller at the estimated sale value of the item.

The problem is Amazon’s automated reimbursement system does not catch every valid case. Reimbursement specialists consistently estimate that between 1 and 3 percent of all FBA inventory is affected by errors at any given time — representing significant unclaimed money for active wholesale sellers who do not audit regularly.

The Five Types of FBA Reimbursements

Type 1 — Lost Inventory

Lost inventory is the most common reimbursement type. Items can be lost during receiving, misplaced during putaway or mislaid during inter-warehouse transfers. Amazon typically conducts a search for the item before issuing reimbursement — if found it is returned to your inventory. If not found after investigation Amazon issues a reimbursement at the estimated sale value. Always wait the full 30 days before opening a case — early claims are often rejected while the search is still ongoing.

Type 2 — Warehouse Damaged Inventory

Amazon warehouses are busy environments where forklifts, conveyors and automated systems handle large volumes of stock. Occasionally your products are damaged in this process. Amazon’s automated system catches many of these cases and reimburses automatically — but not all. Your Inventory Adjustments report flags these incidents and any not already reimbursed are claimable.

Type 3 — Customer Returns Not Received

This is one of the most frequently missed reimbursement types and one of the most valuable to audit. When Amazon issues a customer refund they expect the customer to return the product within 45 days. If the item is never returned Amazon should automatically reimburse you the refund amount — but their automated system does not always catch every case. Regular checks of your Returns report against your refunds report identifies these missed reimbursements quickly.

Type 4 — Inbound Shipment Discrepancies

Every time you close a shipment in Seller Central compare the units you declared versus the units Amazon confirmed received. Discrepancies of even 2 to 3 units per shipment accumulate to significant sums over dozens of shipments. Keep your packing lists and box count records for every shipment — you need these as supporting evidence when opening a case for a shipment discrepancy claim.

Type 5 — FBA Fee Overcharges

Amazon measures products in their fulfilment centres to determine the size tier and therefore the FBA fulfilment fee. If a product is measured incorrectly — assigned to a larger size tier than it actually occupies — you are overcharged on every unit sold until the error is corrected. Requesting a measurement review through Seller Central corrects the fee going forward and can result in reimbursement for the overcharge on historical sales. Use Helium 10 to cross-check Amazon’s recorded dimensions against your product’s actual measurements.

How to Audit Your Account for Unclaimed Reimbursements

Here is the complete manual process for auditing your FBA account for unclaimed reimbursements. Run this process every quarter:

Tools That Automate Reimbursement Auditing

Manual auditing is effective but time-consuming for sellers with large catalogues or high order volumes. These tools automate much of the process:

Tool	Cost Model	Best For
Helium 10 Refund Genie	Included in Helium 10 subscription	Sellers already using Helium 10 — generates ready-to-submit reports
GETIDA	25% of recovered amount — no upfront cost	Sellers wanting fully managed service with no time investment
Seller Investigators	25% of recovered amount	High-volume sellers wanting human review and expert case submission
Manual Audit	Free — your time only	New and smaller sellers with manageable order volumes

For most wholesale sellers starting out the best approach is using Helium 10 Refund Genie — it is included in your Helium 10 subscription at no additional cost and generates the specific case content you need to submit claims directly in Seller Central. As your order volume grows and the manual process becomes unmanageable a professional service like GETIDA that works purely on a percentage of recovered funds becomes the most practical option.

How Much Can You Realistically Recover?

Recovery amounts vary by sales volume, product values and how long since your last audit. Here are realistic expectations based on typical FBA wholesale seller experience:

Monthly Revenue	Typical Annual Reimbursements	Recommended Approach
Under £1,000	£50 to £150	Manual audit every 6 months
£1,000 to £5,000	£150 to £600	Helium 10 Refund Genie quarterly
£5,000 to £20,000	£600 to £2,500	Helium 10 or professional service
Above £20,000	£2,500 to £10,000+	Professional reimbursement service

Common Reimbursement Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake	Consequence	Prevention
Waiting over 18 months	Claim window expires — money permanently lost	Run full audit every 6 months without exception
Claiming already reimbursed items	Account warning for duplicate or fraudulent claims	Always cross-reference reimbursements report before submitting
Vague or incomplete case descriptions	Case rejected — must resubmit with full details	Always include FNSKU date quantity and specific incident type
Not keeping shipment records	Cannot prove discrepancy without supporting documentation	Keep all packing lists and box count records for 24 months
Claiming before Amazon’s investigation period	Claim rejected — item may still be being searched for	Wait 30 days for lost inventory before opening a case

Your Quarterly Reimbursement Audit Checklist

Schedule this as a recurring quarterly task — block 2 to 3 hours in your calendar every 3 months and work through every item:

Audit Task	Where to Find the Data	Period to Check
Inventory Adjustments vs Reimbursements	Reports → Fulfilment → Inventory	Past 18 months
Unreturned customer refunds	Reports → Customer Concessions → Returns	Past 6 months
Shipment unit discrepancies	Inventory → Manage FBA Shipments → Closed	Past 18 months
Product dimension accuracy	Manage Inventory → product dimensions	All active ASINs
Open case follow-ups	Help → Manage Your Cases	Any case over 14 days old

Conclusion — Reimbursements Are Money You Are Owed — Claim Them

FBA reimbursements are not a bonus — they are money Amazon contractually owes you for inventory it has lost, damaged or misprocessed. Leaving them unclaimed is the equivalent of leaving cash on the table every month your business operates. A quarterly audit process that takes a few hours of your time consistently recovers hundreds to thousands of pounds per year depending on your sales volume.

Use the manual audit process outlined above alongside Helium 10 Refund Genie to systematically identify and claim every valid reimbursement within the 18-month window. Use Keepa to track your inventory trends and identify unexpected drops that might indicate unreimbursed losses. And use AMZScout to keep your product research sharp so you continue sourcing profitable products while your reimbursement process runs in the background.

For the complete Amazon FBA wholesale system browse our course library or find your next wholesale product in the Brandhunterz Brands Directory.