Adding new variations to a parent causes “Qty box” to appear (showing 9 or 0) and mismatched FBA/FBM behavior — buyers ordering FBA but checkout goes FBM
Hi all, I’m hoping someone can explain what’s happening here (or point me to where to check the root cause).
Scenario
I have an existing variation parent with some FBA SKUs already active.
When I add new variations to the parent, I sometimes see a “Quantity” box appear on the product page / variation selection.
That quantity box often shows either “9” or “0” for the existing FBA variations.
Those numbers do not match my actual FBA inventory in Seller Central.
What I’m seeing
Sometimes the quantity box appears, sometimes it doesn’t (for the same parent listing, depending on when I check).
When the quantity box is hidden, the newly added variations default to FBA (even before I’m fully confident everything has synced correctly).
When the quantity box is shown and displays 9 or 0, it seems to create a channel confusion:
Buyers appear to be selecting an FBA offer/inventory, but the order can go through as FBM (or the listing behaves like FBM at checkout).
I’m worried this could lead to late shipment / cancellation risk and performance impact.
Questions
What does the “Quantity” box on the variation page actually represent?
(Is it a cached number, a per-offer purchase limit, a “available” estimate, or something else?)
Why would it show fixed values like 9 or 0 that don’t match Seller Central inventory?
Why does the quantity box appear/disappear intermittently? Is this an A/B test or different page template?
When adding new variations, is there a known sync delay where the fulfillment channel (FBA vs FBM) can temporarily mismatch between:
Manage Inventory / FBA inventory
Offer listing
Detail page variation UI
Checkout fulfillment path?
Where can I check logs/reports to confirm what Amazon thinks the offer is at the moment of purchase?
(e.g., Inventory Event Detail Report, Manage FBA Inventory reserved, Listing Quality/Offer tab, etc.)
What I’ve tried / checked
Verified actual FBA stock in FBA inventory pages (quantities are different from the 9/0 shown).
Issue happens right after adding variations (most noticeable during the first hours/day).
If anyone has seen this, I’d really appreciate:
what the 9/0 usually indicates,
how to prevent buyers ordering the “wrong channel,”
and what to tell Seller Support (keywords, screenshots, which report to attach) so they don’t give a generic answer.
Thanks in advance!
Adding new variations to a parent causes “Qty box” to appear (showing 9 or 0) and mismatched FBA/FBM behavior — buyers ordering FBA but checkout goes FBM
Hi all, I’m hoping someone can explain what’s happening here (or point me to where to check the root cause).
Scenario
I have an existing variation parent with some FBA SKUs already active.
When I add new variations to the parent, I sometimes see a “Quantity” box appear on the product page / variation selection.
That quantity box often shows either “9” or “0” for the existing FBA variations.
Those numbers do not match my actual FBA inventory in Seller Central.
What I’m seeing
Sometimes the quantity box appears, sometimes it doesn’t (for the same parent listing, depending on when I check).
When the quantity box is hidden, the newly added variations default to FBA (even before I’m fully confident everything has synced correctly).
When the quantity box is shown and displays 9 or 0, it seems to create a channel confusion:
Buyers appear to be selecting an FBA offer/inventory, but the order can go through as FBM (or the listing behaves like FBM at checkout).
I’m worried this could lead to late shipment / cancellation risk and performance impact.
Questions
What does the “Quantity” box on the variation page actually represent?
(Is it a cached number, a per-offer purchase limit, a “available” estimate, or something else?)
Why would it show fixed values like 9 or 0 that don’t match Seller Central inventory?
Why does the quantity box appear/disappear intermittently? Is this an A/B test or different page template?
When adding new variations, is there a known sync delay where the fulfillment channel (FBA vs FBM) can temporarily mismatch between:
Manage Inventory / FBA inventory
Offer listing
Detail page variation UI
Checkout fulfillment path?
Where can I check logs/reports to confirm what Amazon thinks the offer is at the moment of purchase?
(e.g., Inventory Event Detail Report, Manage FBA Inventory reserved, Listing Quality/Offer tab, etc.)
What I’ve tried / checked
Verified actual FBA stock in FBA inventory pages (quantities are different from the 9/0 shown).
Issue happens right after adding variations (most noticeable during the first hours/day).
If anyone has seen this, I’d really appreciate:
what the 9/0 usually indicates,
how to prevent buyers ordering the “wrong channel,”
and what to tell Seller Support (keywords, screenshots, which report to attach) so they don’t give a generic answer.
Thanks in advance!
6 replies
Lola_Amazon
Hi @Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J,
Thanks for posting on Forums! If you haven't already as a first step I would recommend opening a case with Seller Support. When you open the case include this information:
- Provide the specific child ASIN(s) affected, not just the parent
- Include your Merchant SKU and FNSKU for the affected variations
- Attach screenshots of the quantity box showing 9/0 vs. your actual FBA inventory
- Reference the Inventory Event Detail Report and note the order ID(s) where the wrong channel was used
- Ask specifically: "Was this order fulfilled via AFN (FBA) or MFN at the time of purchase?" and "Was the fulfillment channel on this SKU changed, and if so, when?"
If you're still not seeing the resolution you need or have questions about their response, please circle back and share that case ID with me, and I'll be glad to take a closer look.
Thanks!
Lola
Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J
Thank you, Lola.
The difficulty is that this does not appear to be limited to just a few listings.
I have more than 1,000 listings, and the problem appears randomly across different SKUs. That is why I believe this is more likely a system-level catalogue or fulfillment-channel issue, rather than an isolated listing defect.
In many cases, the behaviour changes without any deliberate edit from my side. For example:
the quantity box may appear or disappear
the quantity shown may be 9, 0 or random numbers, which does not match actual FBA inventory
some listings seem to route incorrectly between FBA and MFN
variation families can also change unexpectedly, with parent data no longer matching the children
Because the affected SKUs are not fixed and the issue appears randomly, it is very difficult to treat this as a small number of listing-specific cases.
I can open a case with Seller Support, but I want to stress that the main concern is whether Amazon can investigate this as a broader system issue affecting catalog structure and fulfillment-channel behaviour, rather than asking sellers to keep reporting individual SKUs one by one.
Has Amazon identified any known issue involving:
copied parent listings
variation families breaking apart
parent titles changing after creation
FBA listings showing incorrect quantity boxes
orders appearing to go through the wrong fulfillment channel
That is the part I really need clarification on.
Dougal_Amazon
Hello @Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J,
The best way for you to resolve the issue is to start with opening a case with Seller Support. I understand this is showing up across many ASINs in your catalog, but the only way for an investigation to happen is to start with reporting the problem through the initial troubleshooting channels and in this case, that is Seller Support.
If you are unable to provide the full scope of the issue when you create your case, start with several ASINs and screenshots that will show exactly what you are describing here. The Support team can then deep dive those ASINs to identify what may be happening and then can provide next steps. Once you have a resolution on the initial ASINs, you can either apply the fix to the rest of your catalog or continue working with Seller Support in batches of your ASINs (this will be dependent on the next steps provided in that case).
While we Community Managers do want to help, we need specific info and cannot escalate anything unless it has gone through the standard path first.
Please feel free to share the case ID when you create it and of course if that case resolves, but the issue remains, let us know.
Best, Dougal
Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J
Thank you for your reply.
I understand that Seller Support is the official first route, but I would like to explain why I raised this here as well.
I am a small seller. I have to manage procurement, product preparation, photography, listings, stock control, logistics, and customer service myself. I am not a trained IT technician, and I do not think sellers should be expected to diagnose random system behaviour on a platform that is supposed to be reliable.
The main reason I posted in the forum is that these issues do not look like normal isolated listing mistakes. They appear randomly and inconsistently, which makes them very difficult to understand or track as a seller.
I have already raised cases with Seller Support. I also tried to explain the issue as clearly as possible, including using AI to help structure the problem properly. However, the case message box is limited, so in many situations I had to use chat instead. In my experience, a lot of the replies I received were generic, not technically convincing, and the cases were often marked as answered before the underlying problem was properly explained.
That is why I came to the Seller Forums. I hoped that more experienced sellers, or people who have seen similar behaviour before, might share practical knowledge from their own experience.
I am still willing to open and continue cases with Seller Support, but I want to be clear that the reason for posting here was to seek informed discussion about behaviour that does not seem normal on a stable system.
If other sellers have seen similar issues involving variation families, copied parent listings, incorrect quantity display, or FBA/MFN channel mismatch, I would genuinely appreciate their insight.
Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J
Hi, I raised a case with all the details.
The case ID is 12219284542.
Thanks
Dougal_Amazon
Hi @Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J,
Thank you for including the case ID, I know it is still being investigated now and I will try to keep an eye on it, but if the case is resolved and the issue remains, please let me know here (just in case I miss it). and I will see what else I can do to help.
Best, Dougal
