UnilyticFBA inbound shipment discrepancies in India units received short, and how to claim
Amazon counted fewer units than you sent. How to reconcile the shipment on amazon.in, the 14-day and 60-day window, the documents it asks for, what it pays, and how to stop short receipts happening.
What a discrepancy is
When you send stock to a fulfilment centre, your shipping plan says how many units of each SKU are in the boxes. The fulfilment centre counts what actually arrives. A discrepancy is a difference between the two. It shows on the Contents tab of the shipment, in a column that compares the units expected with the units located.
Amazon's help text lists the shipment statuses In transit, Delivered, Checked in, Receiving and Closed. Amazon says reconciliation usually takes 14 days from the date the shipment was received, and that where possible it investigates differences automatically and adds or removes the reconciled units. What it cannot resolve is listed for you to act on.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, Reconcile your shipment (amazon.in, read October 2026).
Common to all marketplaces, and specific to amazon.in. FBA is a programme Amazon runs on several marketplaces. What is specific to amazon.in is the paperwork: the Delivery Challan, the Stock Transfer Note that must carry the fulfilment centre's stamp, and the India guidelines that tie a Missing from Inbound case to that paperwork. This guide covers the amazon.in rules only and has not checked other marketplaces.
Not covered here: how to build a shipment, label requirements beyond what affects a claim, and units damaged inside the fulfilment centre after receiving. For those, see the FBA reimbursements guide.
The 14-day and 60-day window
Two different things can go wrong, and the clock works differently for each.
Delivered, but units are short. Amazon's FBA lost inventory policy classes this as missing from inbound, a claim-based case. If a shipment has been delivered or checked in and the units were not added to inventory within 14 days of the receive date, you can reconcile it. The policy says to raise the claim 14 days after the inventory receive date and within 60 days of it.
Scroll the diagram sideways to see all of it.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, FBA lost inventory reimbursement policy (amazon.in, read September 2026).
The policy's text counts 60 days from the inventory receive date. Its table counts 60 days from the inbound shipping delivery. Those can differ by days. Amazon does not say which governs a borderline case. Our advice, not Amazon's: count from the earlier of the two, the delivery date, and file well inside it.
The shipment never arrives. If you sent it with the Amazon Partnered Carrier programme and Amazon cannot see a delivered or checked-in status 14 business days after pick-up, it reimburses you automatically and emails the details. This applies only when there is no delivered or checked-in status at all. If the shipment is delivered but units are short, it is the claim route above, and Amazon tells you to contact Selling Partner Support. The reconcile request described below is how you do that: submitting it creates the Selling Partner Support case. Amazon's pages use the name Amazon Partnered Carrier for this automatic payment and Amazon Transportation Services (ATS) for the document rules below, and do not say whether they are the same programme, so if you are unsure which your shipment used, ask Selling Partner Support.
Check the Reimbursements report (Supply Chain, then Supply Chain reports, then Reimbursements) before assuming nothing was paid. Amazon also says that if it reimburses units that are later found, it may reverse the credit.
How to reconcile, step by step
Reconciling starts in the shipment itself. Amazon lists six steps.
This guide uses the new Seller Central layout. The menu paths and screen labels here, including the report locations later on, were checked on screen in the redesigned Seller Central in October 2026. Amazon's own help articles still describe the older layout, so you may see different names in them. Where something could not be checked on screen, the page says so.
Find the shipment
Go to Supply Chain, then Manage Shipments. Beside each shipment is a View Details option; at the bottom of the details, a line tells you to go to the Contents tab to reconcile discrepancies. The SKU count link beside the shipment (it reads, for example, “3 SKU(s)”) opens the same page directly.
A shipment can only be investigated once its status is Closed. Amazon's help text says the tool shows an estimated date for when a shipment will be ready.
Open the Contents tab
Each SKU row shows units expected with units located beneath it, a Discrepancy column, and a Status column. Hover over the units located number to open a small box with the quantity and the reason, for example “Units have been received.” Other reasons Amazon lists include reconciled, reimbursed, or moved to another shipment.
Pick an option for every SKU marked Action required
Every SKU with that status needs a choice before you can submit, and the options you are offered depend on the discrepancy. For units that are short, Units not shipped confirms you or your supplier did not send them, or sent a different product, and Research missing units confirms they were in the shipment and asks Amazon to look further. For extra units, Amazon's help text lists two more, Extra units shipped and Research extra units.
Upload the documents
Proof of delivery and proof of ownership, described in the next section.
Add what you know
Amazon asks for any known discrepancies, a description of the boxes (colour, size, distinguishing marks), whether the product codes match Seller Central, and any prep you missed. A physical check is done at the fulfilment centre, so box details help it find the units.
Submit the request
Submitting creates a case with Selling Partner Support, and you can follow it under Help, then Manage support cases.
Scroll the diagram sideways to see all of it.
Settle the cases you can explain first. Amazon's instruction is to reconcile discrepancies by confirming units not shipped or extra units shipped before you submit a research request. After you submit, Amazon confirms the quantities received and tries to match units not shipped against extra units shipped; it says those reconciliations do not affect your available inventory.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, Reconcile your shipment (amazon.in, read October 2026).
The documents Amazon asks for
Amazon requires both proof of delivery and proof of ownership with the request. Amazon says a proof of delivery or Stock Transfer Note that lacks the listed details will not be considered.
Proof of delivery. It depends on how the shipment travelled.
- Amazon Transportation Services (ATS): the Delivery Challan for all units sent. Amazon's help text says it can be downloaded from your shipment, but in our check of a current account we could not find where. If you cannot find it either, ask Selling Partner Support.
- Any other carrier: the fulfilment centre-stamped Stock Transfer Note (STN) and the Electronic Proof of Delivery (EPOD) the fulfilment centre gave the carrier on delivery.
For an STN to be accepted, Amazon says it must:
- carry the shipment ID, the appointment ID and the appointment date;
- carry the fulfilment centre's stamp;
- list each ASIN or SKU with the quantity sent;
- show an accurate From address and a To address matching the destination;
- be a scanned PDF in colour, covering the full document with no cropped pages;
- come with the EPOD, because a carrier's docket slip alone is not a valid STN.
Amazon also needs the accurate shipment weight on the proof of delivery, to the highest accuracy possible, whether you used a carrier or Self-Ship.
Proof of ownership. A supplier or manufacturer invoice, or a receipt. The price you paid may be hidden. Pro forma invoices do not count, because they do not show a completed purchase. The invoice and packing slip must be non-editable: a scan or photo in PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG or TIFF, not an Excel or Word file.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, Reconcile your shipment (amazon.in, read October 2026).
What Amazon pays
Amazon's lost inventory policy lists missing from inbound as a lost-inventory case. For lost inventory, Amazon's reimbursement FAQ says it will do one of two things: replace the item with one with the same FNSKU, or pay the evaluated fair market value of the lost inventory, less any applicable fees.
Fair market value is Amazon's estimate. Amazon says it considers your sales history, the average FBA selling price, the grading standards that apply, the ASIN's sales history and the applicable tax rates. It is capped at ₹1,00,000 per item, and for items worth more Amazon suggests third-party insurance. If you disagree with the amount, ask for a re-evaluation within 60 days of the original reimbursement and Amazon may require a receipt or invoice.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, FBA fulfilment centre reimbursement FAQ (amazon.in, read October 2026).
A worked example, with assumptions you should replace with your own:
- You send 100 units and the Contents tab shows 92 located, so 8 are short.
- Suppose Amazon's fair market value for the item is ₹500 and the applicable fees come to ₹120 per unit.
- Before any adjustment: 8 × (₹500 − ₹120) = ₹3,040.
That is only an upper bound. Amazon's formula multiplies by an effective reimbursement rate, and the policy says product taxes are also deducted from fair market value. The fair market value and fees are Amazon's figures per item, and you will not know the real amount until the reimbursement posts to your Reimbursements report.
Our view, not Amazon's: a claim for a handful of low-value units can cost more in documents and time than it returns. Amazon values each unit, so rank shipments by units short multiplied by that unit's value and start at the top.
Preventing it
The India inbound guidelines carry a short list headed Prevention of units missing from an inbound shipment. Amazon says failing to comply may lead to a Missing from Inbound (MFI) case being rejected. These are the conditions Amazon attaches to those cases:
- List every product as a separate line item on the Stock Transfer Note, with the mSKU, ASIN or FNSKU, the product title and the quantity of each.
- State the outer or visible carton count on the Stock Transfer Note or invoice. It can be printed or handwritten, but a handwritten count needs the brand or seller seal. Amazon says that where this is not followed, no MFI claim is processed.
- The shipment (purchase order) must not be in Cancelled or Deleted status.
- One appointment must not arrive in several trucks, and several appointments must not arrive in one vehicle.
Two more rules from the same page cause refusals before counting even starts. On the Stock Transfer Note, the ship-to name must read your name followed by “c/o Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd.”. Writing it as Amazon Seller Services alone gets the shipment rejected. And FNSKU labels must be printed from Seller Central: Amazon warns that labels from third-party generators may not be GS1 compliant and may not scan at the fulfilment centre.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, India fulfilment centre inbound shipment acceptance guidelines (amazon.in, read October 2026).
Where claims go wrong
- Filing too early. Before the shipment is Closed, the tool will not let you investigate. Amazon lists in-progress receiving and pending final counts among the reasons.
- Filing too late. Amazon's status list includes Claim window expired (Amazon ties that status to its FBA-FC damaged inventory reimbursement policy, so check which window your screen applies) and Automatically closed after 90 days. Our advice, not Amazon's: do not leave a short receipt to sit.
- Missing the substitution. The located-units hover can say a different item was received on the shipment under another FNSKU, or that units were received on a different shipment of yours. The shortage may be sitting in another line or another shipment, so look before you claim.
- Weak paperwork. A docket copy alone, a black-and-white or cropped scan, a Stock Transfer Note without the fulfilment centre stamp, or a pro forma invoice. Amazon says a proof of delivery or Stock Transfer Note without the listed details will not be considered.
- Assuming it was already paid. Reimbursed units appear in the hover and in the Transaction view (Finance, then Finance reports). Check them before you file, and check the Reimbursements report under Supply Chain reports afterwards.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, Reconcile your shipment (amazon.in, read October 2026).
Spotting short receipts in Unilytic
Unilytic's Shipments page can import your Amazon inbound shipments. For each one it lists the units sent and the units received per SKU, and each shipment card can show only the SKUs where received is still below sent, with a count of how many are pending. A Hide completed option clears finished shipments. That makes a gap visible without opening each Contents tab.
Received below sent can also simply mean a shipment is still in transit or being received, so check its status before treating it as short. The Inventory Ledger also records receipts per SKU; the ledger guide shows how to read them.
Unilytic does not file reconciliation requests, hold your Stock Transfer Notes or tell you whether a claim is still inside its window. Those stay in Seller Central. It shows you where to look first. For the wider picture of what Amazon owes you, see FBA reimbursement tracking.
Questions sellers ask
What is a missing from inbound claim on Amazon India?
It is a claim for units you sent to a fulfilment centre that were delivered or checked in but not added to your inventory within 14 days. Amazon classes it as claim-based, so you raise it yourself, although Amazon reconciles some differences on its own first. You raise it from Seller Central by opening the shipment from Manage Shipments and going to its Contents tab, where discrepancies are listed and you can request research.
How long do I have to claim missing inbound units on amazon.in?
Amazon's FBA lost inventory policy says to raise the claim 14 days after the inventory receive date and within 60 days of it. The same policy's table counts the 60 days from the inbound shipping delivery, so our advice, not Amazon's, is to count from the delivery date and file early. Amazon's shipment status list includes Claim window expired.
Why can't I reconcile my FBA shipment yet?
A shipment is eligible only when its status is Closed. Amazon lists the usual reasons it is not: the fulfilment centre is still processing it, it has not been delivered, the final unit counts are pending, extra units were found that need more time, or it was received in full or already reconciled. The tool shows an estimated eligibility date.
What documents does Amazon need to investigate missing units?
Proof of delivery and proof of ownership. If you shipped with Amazon Transportation Services, that is the Delivery Challan for all units sent. With another carrier, it is the fulfilment centre-stamped Stock Transfer Note plus the Electronic Proof of Delivery. For ownership, a non-editable supplier invoice or receipt: pro forma invoices and Excel or Word files are not accepted.
How much does Amazon reimburse for units lost on the way into a fulfilment centre?
Amazon says it will either replace the item with one with the same FNSKU or pay the evaluated fair market value less any applicable fees. Fair market value is capped at ₹1,00,000 per item. If you ask for a re-evaluation, it must be filed within 60 days of the original reimbursement, and Amazon may require a receipt or invoice.
What if the carrier loses the whole inbound shipment?
If you used the Amazon Partnered Carrier programme and the shipment shows no delivered or checked-in status 14 business days after pick-up, Amazon reimburses it automatically and emails you the details. The policy page describes no automatic payment for other carriers, so for a whole shipment lost on another carrier, ask Selling Partner Support, and raise it with your carrier too (our suggestion, not Amazon's).
FBA reimbursements in India
Amazon now pays some losses without a case - but its report only shows what it paid, never what it missed. How to read the reimbursement report, what Amazon pays for a lost unit, and how to find what is still owed.
Reimbursements & claimsHow to read the Amazon Inventory Ledger
The bank statement for your FBA stock: the two views, the columns and event types, how to reconcile a SKU, and the three traps that make stock look lost when it is not.