FBA reimbursements in India what's automatic, and what you must claim

Automatic, or claimed

Amazon India's FBA lost inventory policy splits losses in two. Some are reimbursed automatically. Everything else is claim-based: nothing arrives until you raise it, inside a window that starts counting without you.

Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.

Source: Amazon Seller Central, FBA lost inventory reimbursement policy (amazon.in, read September 2026).

"Lost in transit" means lost in Amazon's network on the way to a customer, or on the way back to the fulfilment centre as a return or rejected delivery - if the unit is not back within 45 days of the refund, Amazon pays without being asked. A unit that goes missing inside a fulfilment centre is different: that one waits for your claim.

In the report above, 4,492 of 4,662 paid lines carry no case ID and 170 carry one:

What the split cannot tell you is what is missing. A loss Amazon never reimbursed, and nobody claimed, does not appear in the reimbursement report at all - so a report full of automatic payments is not proof that every loss was paid. The only check is to take the losses from your Inventory Ledger and look for a matching payment for each one, then check that what did arrive was the right amount.

Reading the reimbursement report

Everything Amazon pays back for FBA inventory lands in one report. Amazon's own description of it (report type GET_FBA_REIMBURSEMENTS_DATA) is itemised reimbursement details, including the reason, updated daily. The columns that matter:

Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.

The reasons you will actually see

Guides written for the US marketplace list dozens of reason codes. Here are the ones that actually appeared in an Indian seller's report over 15 months, with how often:

Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.

Every Lost_Inbound and Lost_Warehouse line - claim-based on amazon.in - arrived with a case ID, and 3,660 of the 3,667 CustomerReturn lines arrived without one. But every Lost_Outbound and Damaged_Outbound line carried a case ID too, so the column alone does not tell you whether a payment was automatic or claimed. And this is one account's payments: it cannot show losses in any category that were never paid. Treat every category as one to reconcile, not one to assume.

How much Amazon pays

amazon.in values every reimbursement - lost, damaged, rejected or undeliverable - at a fair market value that Amazon calculates itself. The policy describes it as a dynamic figure from Amazon's algorithm, which may take in your current sales, past sales and category averages. From it, Amazon deducts the product taxes on the order and the FBA and selling on Amazon fees, then applies an effective reimbursement rate:

reimbursement = effective reimbursement rate
                × (fair market value − product taxes − FBA and selling fees)

Source: Amazon Seller Central, FBA lost inventory reimbursement policy (amazon.in, read September 2026).

The FBA reimbursement calculator runs this formula for a batch of lost or damaged units, with your own estimate of the fair market value.

When you have to file

Every claim-based row in the table above has a hard window - 60 days for a warehouse or inbound loss, 30 or 7 days for removal orders. Appeals on a resolved case must be made within five business days of the last resolution, and disputes within seven days of the case closing.

Source: Amazon Seller Central, FBA lost inventory reimbursement policy (amazon.in, read September 2026).

A claim you find after its window closes is worth nothing.

Amazon's policy works a warehouse loss out the same way you would, as a reconciliation: received inventory plus returns, minus sales, removals, adjustments and credits. To file one:

1. Confirm the loss in the Inventory Ledger first. A unit that looks lost at one fulfilment centre often reappears at another as a transfer - the Inventory Ledger guide shows how to tell the difference.
2. Check the reimbursement report for the FNSKU, so you are not claiming something already paid.
3. Contact Seller Support within 60 days of the inventory adjustment, with the ASIN or FNSKU and the missing quantity. For an inbound shortfall, wait until 14 days after the shipment was received, then file within 60 days of its delivery. Amazon's policy counts that 60 days from delivery in its summary table and from receipt in its detailed text, so go by the earlier date.
4. Write down the case ID and what you expect to be paid.

Amazon's policy also warns against premature or insufficiently researched requests and high volumes of requests in a short time - one more reason to check the ledger before you file.

Checking you were paid enough

A reimbursement that arrived is not the same as a reimbursement that was right. The check we run is simple to describe:

• Work out what the unit would have earned you: the sale price, minus Amazon's fees on that sale. If the unit never sold, use its current listing price.
• Multiply by the number of units on the line.
• Compare that with amount-total. A payment well below it is worth a second look.
• Leave out units a customer returned in sellable condition - you have the unit back to sell, so a small payment is not a real loss.

That is Unilytic's method, not Amazon's. Amazon pays against its own valuation, so a line can be correct by Amazon's rules and still leave you short. The point of the check is to see the gap, and to decide which gaps are worth a case.

The same check, every morning

Unilytic syncs the reimbursement report from Amazon's API, lines each reimbursement up against the actual sale price and fees, and flags the ones that came in short. The same workspace shows refunds where the unit never came back, units damaged at the fulfilment centre, and seller-fulfilled returns waiting on a SAFE-T claim.

app.unilytic.in/returns-reconciliationFull size

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