FBA reimbursements in India what's automatic, and what you must claim
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.
Every figure on this page comes from the reimbursement report of one Amazon India business, roughly 300 FBA SKUs, that agreed to share its data for this guide. One seller, not an average. The report lists only what Amazon paid: it cannot show losses that were never reimbursed or claimed, so these figures say nothing about how much of what a seller is owed arrives on its own.
Automatic, or claimed
Amazon India's FBA lost and damaged inventory policies split 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.
| What happened | Paid how | Window counts from | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lost in transit, order refunded | Automatic | Refund date | 45 days |
| Lost in transit, replacement sent | Automatic | Replacement order date | 45 days |
| Customer return damaged by the buyer or carrier | Automatic | Shipment returned to the fulfilment centre | 45 days |
| Damaged in the fulfilment centre | Automatic | Inventory adjustment | 60 days |
| Partnered-carrier inbound not received | Automatic | Pick-up date | 14 business days |
| Missing from an inbound shipment | Claim | Inbound delivery or receipt (raise from 14 days after receipt) | 60 days |
| Lost in the fulfilment centre | Claim | Inventory adjustment | 60 days |
| Removal order lost | Claim | Removal order shipped | 30 days |
| Removal delivered but not received | Claim | Removal order delivered | 7 days |
| Removal damaged, swapped or missing parts | Claim | Removal order delivered | 7 days |
Source: Amazon Seller Central, FBA lost inventory reimbursement policy (amazon.in, read September 2026).
Source: Amazon Seller Central, FBA inventory reimbursement policy (damaged inventory) (amazon.in, read October 2026).
For the automatic rows you do not file: the figure is the period Amazon's policy sets for its own reimbursement (for lost in transit, how long a unit can stay out before it pays). For the claim rows it is the time you have to file.
"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:
Scroll the diagram sideways to see all of it.
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.
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| approval-date | The day Amazon approved the reimbursement. |
| reimbursement-id | Amazon's ID for this payment. Quote it if you dispute the amount. |
| case-id | Filled when the payment came from a case you (or someone) opened. Blank on most lines. |
| amazon-order-id | The customer order the reimbursement relates to, when there is one. Blank for losses inside a fulfilment centre. |
| reason | Why Amazon paid. See the next section. |
| sku / fnsku / asin | Which product. The FNSKU is the one that ties back to the Inventory Ledger. |
| amount-per-unit / amount-total | What was paid. amount-total covers every unit on the line. |
| quantity-reimbursed-cash | Units paid for in money. |
| quantity-reimbursed-inventory | Units replaced with stock rather than cash. Rare - 10 units in 15 months for the seller above. |
| original-reimbursement-id / -type | Set when this line adjusts or reverses an earlier reimbursement. |
A line can cover several units. When you compare a payment with the price of the product, multiply the per-unit value by the reimbursed quantity first - a two-unit line will otherwise look like an overpayment.
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.
| reason | Lines | Amount | Case ID attached? |
|---|---|---|---|
| CustomerReturn | 3,667 | ₹10,06,891 | 7 of 3,667 |
| CustomerServiceIssue | 741 | ₹1,76,327 | None |
| Damaged_Warehouse | 84 | ₹13,684 | None |
| Lost_Outbound | 65 | ₹26,014 | All |
| Damaged_Outbound | 39 | ₹6,961 | All |
| Lost_Inbound | 30 (224 units) | ₹54,766 | All |
| ReturnAdjustment | 28 | ₹18,504 | All |
| Reimbursement_Reversal | 7 | −₹19,951 | None |
| Lost_Warehouse | 1 | ₹614 | All |
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.
When a customer returns the unit
In the seller's report above, CustomerReturn was the largest reason by far (3,667 of 4,662 lines), and Amazon's customer return policy sets out how it decides what to do with the unit. A returned unit is unsellable when either of these is true:
- it is not in the same condition as when it was listed, or
- it is defective, damaged, opened, lacking required labelling, an FBA excluded product, or otherwise judged unsuitable by Amazon - including units that could be a health risk to the next customer, which the policy says may include consumables, personal care products and products with expiry dates.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, Fulfilment by Amazon customer return policy (amazon.in, read October 2026).
Amazon says a returned unit judged sellable is put back into your inventory automatically.
Source: Amazon sell.amazon.in, FAQ about Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) (amazon.in, read October 2026).
For refunded units, the customer return policy says Amazon usually decides whether you are owed a reimbursement after the buyer's return reaches the fulfilment centre, so it can judge the condition, and that payments for eligible units typically arrive within 45 days of the customer's refund. A return that does not arrive at all is the "lost in transit" row in the table above. The damaged inventory policy counts its own 45 days differently, from the shipment returning to the fulfilment centre, and Amazon does not say how the two counts fit together, so if a unit is still unpaid, ask before either runs out.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, Fulfilment by Amazon customer return policy (amazon.in, read October 2026).
Amazon can accept a return more than 30 days after the stated return window, as a case-by-case exception. When it does, the policy says it will reimburse you the replacement value of the item under the lost and damaged policy, and the returned unit is not added to your inventory - Amazon may dispose of it. The replacement-value rule does not apply where Amazon determines the return is related to a recall, a defect, a policy violation or a similar reason. The policy also says Amazon's decision to accept or decline a return, and its judgement of the unit's condition, is final.
Our reading, not Amazon's: because Amazon does not add a unit paid at replacement value back to your inventory, it should not appear as a customer return in your Inventory Ledger, so a refunded unit missing there may be this case rather than a loss.
Source: Amazon Seller Central, Fulfilment by Amazon customer return policy (amazon.in, read October 2026).
How to photograph and record the returns that reach your warehouse is a separate job, covered in the returns evidence checklist.
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).
You may have read that Amazon reimburses at your manufacturing cost. That is a policy Amazon introduced on other marketplaces, and it is not how amazon.in pays. As of September 2026 the Seller Central page for declaring your own cost opens on amazon.in but does not work, and the value Amazon uses is its own - you cannot see it before the payment lands.
What you can do is know what the unit would have earned you, so you can see how far below it a payment came in.
The FBA reimbursement calculator runs this formula for a batch of lost or damaged units, with your own estimate of the fair market value.
For a damaged unit the rate depends on the category and, where Amazon grades the unit, the grade. The damaged inventory reimbursement guide has the rates and what changed on 5 March 2026.
When you have to file
Every claim-based row in the table above has a filing 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 unlikely to be paid.
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:
- 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.
- Check the reimbursement report for the FNSKU, so you are not claiming something already paid.
- 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. The inbound shipment discrepancies guide walks through the reconcile steps and documents.
- 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 sale price, fees and tax, and flags the ones that came in short of the net proceeds. It leaves out a payment when the customer's return of that order came back in sellable condition, because you have the unit to resell. 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.
Unilytic finds and values claims; it does not file them. See FBA reimbursement tracking for the full set of views.
Questions sellers ask
Does Amazon reimburse lost FBA inventory automatically in India?
Only some of it. Under amazon.in's FBA lost and damaged inventory reimbursement policies, units lost in transit - on the way to a customer, or on the way back as a return - are reimbursed automatically if they are not back at the fulfilment centre within 45 days of the refund, and inbound shipments sent with Amazon's partnered carrier are reimbursed automatically if not received within 14 business days of pick-up. Units lost inside a fulfilment centre, missing from an inbound shipment, or lost on a removal order are claim-based: you have to raise them yourself.
How long do I have to file an FBA reimbursement claim?
It depends on the loss. On amazon.in: units lost in a fulfilment centre, 60 days from the inventory adjustment; units missing from an inbound shipment, 60 days (Amazon counts it from delivery in one place and from receipt in another, so go by the earlier date), and not before 14 days after it was received; a lost removal order, 30 days from when it shipped; a removal order delivered short, damaged, swapped or missing parts, 7 days from delivery. Appeals on a resolved case must be made within five business days.
How much does Amazon pay for a lost or damaged FBA unit?
On amazon.in, a fair market value that Amazon calculates itself, from factors that may include your current sales, past sales and category averages. Product taxes and the FBA and selling on Amazon fees are deducted from it, and the result is multiplied by an effective reimbursement rate. It is not your manufacturing cost: as of September 2026 there is no working way to declare that on amazon.in.
What makes a returned FBA unit unsellable on amazon.in?
Amazon's FBA customer return policy calls a returned unit unsellable if it is not in the same condition as when it was listed, or if it is defective, damaged, opened, lacking required labelling, an FBA excluded product or otherwise judged unsuitable - including units that could be a health risk to the next customer, such as consumables, personal care products and products with expiry dates. Amazon usually decides on reimbursement after the return reaches the fulfilment centre, and eligible units are typically paid within 45 days of the customer's refund. If Amazon accepts a return more than 30 days after the stated return window, it says it will pay the replacement value, unless the return relates to a recall, defect or policy violation, and if it pays replacement value the unit is not added back to your inventory.
What is a Reimbursement_Reversal line?
A line where Amazon takes back an earlier reimbursement, so the amount and quantity are negative. Amazon's policy allows it when lost inventory it paid for is later found, or when a reimbursement was issued by mistake. The original-reimbursement-id column points to the reimbursement being reversed. In one seller's report, 7 reversals took back ₹19,951 over 15 months.
Where do I find the FBA reimbursement report?
In the redesigned Seller Central it is the Reimbursements report under Supply chain, Supply chain reports. Through the Selling Partner API it is the report type GET_FBA_REIMBURSEMENTS_DATA, which Amazon describes as itemised reimbursement details, including the reason, updated daily.
How 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.
The returns evidence checklist
What to photograph and record on every returned unit, so a claim has evidence behind it instead of being reduced or refused for the lack of it. Set it up in about 30 minutes, on a phone you already own.
FBA removal orders in India
How to remove stock from an Amazon fulfilment centre: the two ways to create an order, the bulk file, what Amazon charges, how long it takes, and the 30-day and 7-day windows if units arrive short or damaged.
FBA inbound shipment discrepancies in India
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.
FBA damaged inventory reimbursement in India
What Amazon pays for a unit damaged in a fulfilment centre or by a buyer: the formula, flat and grade-based rates, what changed on 5 March 2026, worked examples, and how to check a payment.