Shipped 500, Amazon received 480: claiming missing inbound units before the window closes
When Amazon receives fewer units than you shipped, you often have to ask to be paid. How the count works, what Amazon pays, and the deadline teams miss.
Take an illustrative example. You shipped 500 units to Amazon. A few weeks later, the shipment page says 480 were received. Twenty units are missing, and nobody at Amazon is going to email you about them. If no one on your team opens that page and asks, the gap stays a gap. With Q4 stock landing at Amazon right now, a shortfall from this month can pass its deadline while everyone is busy with Black Friday.
How Amazon counts what arrived
When you send stock into FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon, where Amazon stores your inventory and ships your orders), you create a shipment in Seller Central, Amazon's seller dashboard, and declare how many units of each product are inside. When the cartons arrive, the fulfillment center scans the units in. The shipment page then shows two numbers: the units you said you shipped and the units Amazon located.
Those numbers often disagree for a while. Receiving a large shipment can take weeks. Units get counted under the wrong product, or turn up later. A shortfall you see in week two is often smaller by week six. That's why Amazon waits until a shipment is closed, meaning receiving is finished, before it investigates. The shipment's Contents tab tells you whether it is eligible for investigation yet.
One rule comes before everything else. Amazon's reimbursement policy requires that you sent the exact items and quantities stated in your shipping plan. If the plan was wrong, the claim is weak from the start.
When Amazon pays on its own, and when you have to ask
Since November 1, 2024, Amazon proactively reimburses almost all items lost or damaged inside its fulfillment centers. Those payments show up in the Reimbursements report. If a unit lost in the warehouse is not paid automatically, you can file a manual claim, no later than 60 days after it was reported lost or damaged.
Inbound shortfalls are a separate track. Amazon's automation announcement covered warehouse losses and customer returns. It did not list units that never made it from a shipment into your inventory. In our experience, those gaps still need someone to ask. You do it from the shipment itself, with the Shipment Reconciliation tool: compare units expected against units located, then request an investigation on the products that are short.
Amazon says these investigations usually take 2 to 30 days and can run up to 60. Either the units are found and added to your stock, or you are reimbursed. Some discrepancies end with neither.
How long do you have? On the accounts we run, the window to request an inbound investigation has closed roughly nine months after the shipment went out. The exact cut-off varies by shipment, and the Contents tab shows "no longer eligible" once it has passed. Don't plan around the far end of that window. Plan around the week the shipment closes.
If you sell in both countries, check both. Canadian shipments only appear when Seller Central is switched to Amazon.ca, so they are easy to miss. In our experience, Canadian inbound claims follow the same steps from the shipment page.
What Amazon actually pays
Since March 31, 2025, Amazon's U.S. policy reimburses lost inbound units at your sourcing cost: what you paid a manufacturer or supplier for the item, or your cost to produce it if you make it. Shipping, handling and customs duties are excluded. The maximum is $5,000 per unit.
If you don't enter a cost, Amazon uses its own estimate. You can see and update both on the Manage Your Sourcing Cost page. Leave it blank and you accept a number you never checked.
Expect Amazon to ask for proof of ownership. That usually means the original supplier invoice with the date, the quantity, and the names and addresses of both buyer and seller. If you manufacture the product yourself, Amazon accepts a signed packing slip with the date, shipment or purchase order ID, product names, quantities and a signature or stamp. If a reimbursed unit turns up later, Amazon can reverse the payment.
Where the money really goes
From what we see on real accounts, the biggest losses on inbound shortfalls come from claims nobody filed in time. Someone notices the gap, plans to look after the holidays, and the window closes. Amazon does refuse claims. The ones that cost the most never reached Amazon at all.
The second leak is paperwork. When whole cartons or pallets go missing on a truck shipment, Amazon will want carrier proof of delivery: the signed bill of lading or delivery receipt showing carton count, weight and an Amazon receiving stamp. Public tracking expires, and signed copies can take weeks to get from a freight broker. We have watched valid claims run out of time while waiting on one document. Ask your carrier for the signed proof of delivery as soon as the freight lands, before you know whether you need it.
Two more lessons from our own checks. Confirm a gap on the shipment page before you file. Reports and data feeds can lag behind units Amazon later locates. And if a product is short by almost exactly half, look at the case pack first. That pattern usually points to a quantity entry error on a multi-pack. Filing it wastes a case and your credibility with the reviewer.
Missing inbound units are one of the few places where Amazon owes you money and waits for you to ask. The deadline is long enough to forget and short enough to lose. Put a monthly check on the calendar, collect the paperwork when the freight lands, and file while the shipment is fresh.
