Miscounting of received FBA inventory

#1

I’ve seen discussion of this topic before, but wanted to ask again. Is there anything that can be done about miscounting of received inventory in FBA fulfilment centres?

The inventory that is problematic is Small & Light. I’m typically sending in mixed SKU boxes of between 2 and 5 SKUs with between 20-40 of each SKU. When they are received they are often miscounted by a 2 or 3 items for 1 or more SKUs. This also happens sometimes for Case packed boxes of 100 items. I am certain there are very few if any errors as I am packing the boxes myself.

I could accept this as a cost of doing business on Amazon if it was only the odd one here and there, especially since these are Small & Light products, but sometimes it can be as many as 10% of the contents of a single box which obviously impacts my profits at that level.

I haven’t challenged any of the shipments yet. Some are available to be investigated, although some are not with the shipment report stating “Investigation completed – shipment contents counted and confirmed”.

What is the recommended information to capture and send in to challenge these issues, and how likely is the outcome to be favourable?

#2

I challenge all missing units, regardless of whether they say they have been investigated or not.
But the same documentation is required, regardless of the reason.

POD, Invoice and sometimes weights of parcels from collection, to delivery.

#3

I only challenged one that was out by about 40 units - the only information they asked me for was an invoice to prove I had the stock I sent in

They found some and refunded me for the others

My other shipments that are 2 or 3 short (out of 400/500 items) I just write off

#4

I’m trying to raise an investigation request, but failing miserably.

When I view the shipment contents, the line item for with the missing items states “Investigation completed – shipment contents counted and confirmed” This was not initiated by me, it was done automatically.

When I try to upload an invoice anyway and then click Preview Request I get a message “Status / Action not provided. Please select an option for each product under the “Status / Action Required” column in order to submit this request.” and I cannot move forward. There is no option to select.

If I then try to open a case and enter the Shipment ID I am told the shipment is eligible for investigation and I should open a case. This then puts me in an infinite loop, as each time I enter the shipment ID through the open case flow I get told the same thing and presented a link to open a case again.

Is it not possible to request the investigation if it’s already been supposedly done automatically, or is there some other way of requesting it?

#5

They do run their own investigation if the contents differ from what they were expecting

I only remember doing it once, but I didn’t have any problems.

Are you trying to open a case directly? Or are you asking for an investigation on the contents tab of the shipment ?

From memory before I had to select a file, then click on upload - and I put a little paragraph in the box about how my items were double and triple checked before sending and I would appreciate if they checked again.

Then I clicked on preview and send.

maybe a screenshot of the screen where you are having the error would help?

#6

If you have “Investigation completed”, then you can still open a case via support, just use FBA/Other.
Make it clear why you are doing so. It will probably get bounced around a few times, but you should be able to get through eventually.
If they still won’t cooperate, then you need to escalate to the MD’s team.

At the end of the day, it depends very much on how much time you want to spend on it.

#7

Budget for a percentage of losses with FBA.
If they were in your own shop you’d have some losses and breakages, just think of it the same way.
The FCs bad maths actually works both ways, they overcount some items and then think they’ve lost them somewhere and reimburse you, and they undercount others.

It really depends on what the wholesale value of the products are, as to whether it’s worth your time chasing them to get it right (which often they don’t anyway).

#8

Not nearly as often as they undercount! :slight_smile:
And never on the more expensive items…