Inbound
Plans, labels and shipments that carry stock into Amazon's network.
Amazon FBA · US and UK marketplaces · Stock checked weekly
Amazon FBA Services — Inbound, Inventory Health and Reimbursements, Run by One Team
Fulfilled by Amazon means Amazon stores, picks, packs and ships. It does not decide what you list, when you send stock, or which claim to file. This page sets out the FBA work that does need an owner, and how we run it inside the Seller Central views you can already see.
- 35,000+
- ASINs of working context across our desks. Not a client count, and not a result.
- US and UK
- marketplaces covered by this service
- Weekly
- inventory-health check, reported monthly
- Plain mechanism, named views
- Claims with evidence
- Written scope
- Access you can revoke
The mechanism
What Does Amazon FBA Handle, and Where Does Your Work Sit?
Amazon runs the warehouse floor. You run the listing, the plan and the decisions about stock. Most FBA trouble comes from a gap between those two, where nobody owns the task.
Storage
Space in Amazon's centres, with the storage band set by how long and how much stock sits there.
Inventory health
The weekly score and the signals behind it, shown in Seller Central.
Stranded stock
Units with no active listing, which nobody can buy but which still sit in storage.
Removals
Orders that send unsellable or unwanted stock back, or dispose of it.
Reimbursements
Claims for lost or damaged units, decided by Amazon on its own valuation.
Who owns each part
| Task | Amazon | You | GrowithAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage and picking | Runs the centre | Chooses what to send | Plans the sends |
| The listing | Shows it | Decides what it says | Keeps it active |
| The stock plan | Publishes signals | Approves the plan | Drafts the plan |
| The claim | Decides the amount | Gives the evidence | Prepares the claim pack |
Amazon FBA services are only as good as the views they are checked against. Most of the work above can be seen in Seller Central, and that is deliberate. Each section on this page names the view where the task lives, so a seller can open that view and check what we say against what Amazon shows.
Three kinds of task need an owner every week: the plan that sends stock in, the signals that show whether it is selling, and the file of problems that Amazon will not fix by itself. When one of those three has no owner, the problem grows quietly. Stock sits, a score slips, and a claim window closes.
Full account work, across advertising, catalog and reporting, is covered on the account management service. This page covers fulfilment only.
Inbound
How Does an Inbound Shipment Move Through the Plan?
An inbound shipment is a plan made in Seller Central before a single carton leaves the warehouse. Each step has one owner and one check.
Plan
Create the inbound plan with the items, quantities and the way they are packed. Dimensions and case-pack data are checked against the catalog first.
Label
Print labels that match the plan. Prep and labelling follow Amazon's live rules for the category, checked on the day of shipment.
Ship
Send the cartons or pallets to the centre named in the plan. Keep the tracking reference with the plan record.
Reconcile
Compare received units with the plan. Differences go to a claim or a case, not into a guess.
A plan that is created in a hurry is the most common source of later trouble. Packing that does not match the plan, cartons that differ from the case-pack data, and units sent for an ASIN that is not active all show up later as discrepancies. Each of those is cheap to avoid at the planning stage and slow to untangle afterwards.
Amazon updates prep and labelling requirements from time to time. We read the live rule for the category before each shipment. If a rule has changed since the last plan, the plan is rebuilt rather than patched.
Inventory health
Which Inventory Health Signals Should You Watch?
Six signals describe how the stock is moving. They sit in Seller Central, and each one points to a different action.
IPI score
Inventory performance view, weekly
Amazon's overall score for how well the stock is managed. A low score can limit how much stock you can send in.
Sell-through
Inventory health report
How quickly stock turns into sales. Slow turns raise storage exposure before any other signal moves.
Excess stock
Inventory health report
Stock beyond what Amazon expects to sell in the coming months. It is the first place to look for a plan change.
Stranded
Fix Stranded Inventory view
Units with no active listing. They still carry storage. Each one needs a listing fix or a removal.
In-stock rate
Inventory health report, popular items
How often your top-selling items are available to buy. Gaps here lose the most sales for the least effort.
Days of supply
Restock and inventory tools
How long current stock lasts at the current sales pace. It is the working number for each restock decision.
The signals are read together, not one at a time. Our Amazon FBA services check them weekly for that reason. A healthy sell-through with a weak in-stock rate usually points to a planning gap: the stock is moving, but the replenishment is late. A rising excess figure with steady sales usually points to a plan that was sized for a peak that did not arrive. Reading them in pairs tells the seller which decision to revisit first.
We look at the signals once a week and report the direction in the monthly review. A single week rarely tells the story. Two or three weeks in the same direction do.
The dials above are shapes, not scores. They show what each signal measures, not a result for any seller.
Stranded and aged stock
What Do You Do About Stranded and Aged Stock?
Work the problem in this order. Each step tries the cheapest fix first, and none of them depends on advertising.
Check the stranded view every week
Stock with no buyable listing is listed by ASIN, with the reason it is stranded.
Fix the listing, or reactivate it
Most strands come from a listing error, a suppressed page or a missing detail. Fix it and the stock returns to sale.
Plan a removal when no fix exists
If the listing cannot come back, a removal order sends the stock out. Removal is a real step with its own terms, and this page says so.
Review aged stock on its own report
Aged units move to higher storage bands the longer they sit. The ageing report shows which ASINs are approaching those bands.
Choose the exit for each ASIN
Sell-through action, a liquidation option or a removal. The choice is written into the plan with a date to review it.
Stranded stock has a few common causes: a listing that was suppressed after a policy notice, a detail that went missing from the listing, an offer setting that stopped the item from being bought, or a variation that was split from its parent. Knowing the cause is what makes the first rung fast. Most of the work is in the listing, not the warehouse.
Storage continues while stock sits. A paid campaign does not clear a stranded unit, because the unit cannot be bought. That is why this ladder starts with the listing.
Reimbursements
How Do Reimbursement Claims Work?
Lost and damaged units can be claimed through the Reimbursements report, after Amazon's investigation window. The claim is only as strong as its evidence.
What a claim pack holds
- The inbound shipment reference and the plan it belongs to
- The discrepancy report, with the units expected and the units received
- The item identifiers and the listing reference
- Proof of value where the category requires it
- A short note of what was done before the claim was filed
Reimbursement work is one of the Amazon FBA services we handle directly. Claims are time-bound. Amazon sets the window and the evidence it accepts, and both can change. We track each open claim against its window and tell the seller, in writing, which evidence is still missing and when it is needed.
A claim that is filed with a full pack is easier to decide than one that comes back with questions. That is the reason for the checklist above, and the reason we prepare the pack before the claim is submitted rather than after.
Claims that sit alongside the rest of the account are covered on the account management service.
FBA or FBM
FBA or Fulfilled by Merchant: Which Fits Your Catalog?
Fulfilled by Merchant, or FBM, means the seller stores and ships each order. Some catalogs suit it well. Many catalogs use both, one ASIN at a time.
FBM in brief
The seller holds the stock in their own warehouse or a third-party logistics partner's warehouse, and dispatches each order. Amazon's delivery and return rules still apply, and the seller carries the dispatch work.
Our role on FBM
GrowithAmazon does not run warehouses. A 3PL or prep partner is the seller's own choice. We work on the Amazon side: listing data, delivery settings, order-flow checks and the reports that show where FBM is slipping.
| Situation | Leans FBA | Leans FBM | Depends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock turns quickly and sells steadily | Leans FBA | ||
| Large, heavy or fragile items | Leans FBM | ||
| High return volume on a few ASINs | Depends | ||
| You need dispatch control on specific orders | Leans FBM | ||
| Storage space is tight | Depends | ||
| Seasonal peaks with short lead times | Leans FBA |
Storage capacity is the factor that changes most often. A seller's choice here shapes the Amazon FBA services they need, so it is decided before any plan is built. A catalog that fits FBA in one quarter can strain storage in a peak, and a catalog that suits FBM for most of the year can still use FBA for a seasonal line. Many sellers settle on a split: FBA for the fast, light and steady items, and FBM for the rest, reviewed each quarter rather than once.
The choice is also about control. Under FBM the seller decides exactly how an order is packed and dispatched. Under FBA the seller gives that to Amazon, along with the speed and the returns process. Neither choice is wrong. The question is which one the seller can run well, every week.
A 3PL or prep network is a separate choice. This page does not rank providers, and it does not recommend one.
Reporting
What Should a Monthly FBA Report Show?
A report should match the Seller Central views you can open yourself. Anything that cannot be checked there does not belong in it.
Inventory health
Inbound status
Stranded and aged
Open claims and next actions
The report is a conversation starter, not a verdict. We walk through it with the seller on the monthly review call, and each open item has an owner and a date. Anything the seller disagrees with is noted, with the reason, rather than dropped.
- Inventory health: the six signals from the previous section, with their direction since the last report.
- Inbound status: each plan, its shipment reference and what is still open.
- Stranded and aged: each ASIN, the reason, and the exit chosen.
- Open claims: the claim pack status and anything Amazon has asked for.
- Next actions: what we do, what you do, and the date each is due.
Myths
Myths About FBA Management, Checked
Three beliefs that take sellers the most time, and what the mechanisms actually say.
Myth
FBA means Amazon handles everything.
What is true. Amazon stores, picks and ships. The listing, the stock plan and the claim still need an owner, and the seller is the one Amazon looks to.
Myth
A low IPI only matters when you want to restock.
What is true. It can limit the space you have for inbound stock and affect the storage bands on what is already held, even when you are not sending anything.
Myth
Reimbursements are automatic.
What is true. Some are handled without a claim. Many need a filed claim with evidence, and Amazon sets the value it pays.
Glossary
Amazon FBA Terms, Defined
The words used on this page, in the way Seller Central uses them.
- FBA
- Fulfilled by Amazon. Amazon stores, picks, packs and ships the seller's stock.
- FBM
- Fulfilled by Merchant. The seller stores and ships each order.
- Inbound shipment
- A planned delivery of stock to Amazon's fulfilment centres, created in Seller Central.
- IPI
- Inventory Performance Index. Amazon's overall score for inventory management, updated weekly.
- Sell-through
- How quickly stock turns into sales over a set window.
- Stranded inventory
- Stock with no active, buyable listing. It cannot be sold but still sits in storage.
- Aged inventory
- Stock that has sat in Amazon's centres for a long period, and so sits in higher storage bands.
- Removal order
- A request to send unsellable or unwanted stock back to the seller, or dispose of it.
Preparation
What Should You Bring to the First Call?
Exports you can pull yourself. Nothing needs to be cleaned up first.
Send the exports as they come out of Seller Central. We would rather see the raw file with its messy columns than a version that someone has tidied. The first call is a reading exercise, not a clean-up job.
- An inventory export from Seller Central, covering every ASIN you sell
- Your most recent inbound plan, with the shipment reference
- The current stranded and aged lists
- Any open reimbursement cases, with the evidence you already hold
- Your catalog list, with case-pack dimensions where you have them
- Your FBA or FBM question, in one sentence
Why GrowithAmazon
Why GrowithAmazon for FBA Work
Six commitments we make on every FBA engagement. Each one can be checked against the reports you receive.
Plain mechanism
Every task names the Seller Central view it lives in, so you can check our work.
Written scope
What we do, what Amazon does and what stays with you are written before work starts.
Claims with evidence
We say what a claim needs and what Amazon decides. We do not promise a recovery.
Working context
35,000+ ASINs of working context across our desks. That describes our experience. It is not a client count, and not a result.
Account control
Access is granted by you and can be revoked at any time, in Seller Central.
An honest fit
If a different fulfilment model, a 3PL or a narrower service suits your catalog better, we will say so.
We start every engagement the same way: the first call reads the views on this page against the seller's own account, the scope is written down, and the first two weeks are spent on the stranded and aged lists, because those are the fastest to show whether the work is landing.
These are commitments, not a sales pitch. Each one applies to every Amazon FBA services engagement. The same principles run through our wider work.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Amazon FBA management include?
Amazon FBA services cover inbound planning and labelling checks, a weekly inventory-health review, handling of stranded and aged stock, removal orders, reimbursement claim packs and a monthly report. The written scope names each task, the Seller Central view it lives in, and who owns it.
Do you run a warehouse?
No. GrowithAmazon does not operate warehouses or third-party fulfilment. Amazon fulfils FBA stock. For FBM, the seller's own warehouse or a partner the seller chooses handles storage and dispatch. We work on the Amazon side of both.
Do you cover the UK as well as the US?
Yes. The service covers the US and UK marketplaces. Requirements differ between them, so each plan is checked against the live rules for the marketplace the stock ships to.
Can you get my lost stock back?
We prepare the claim pack and file it through the access you grant. Amazon decides the outcome and the amount, and it values lost and damaged stock on its own basis. We cannot promise a recovery.
Is Fulfilled by Merchant covered?
Yes, as a section of this page. It sets out the FBA and FBM decision and the Amazon-side work for FBM. FBM does not have its own page, by design.
Will this fix my inventory health score?
We cannot promise a score. The work targets the causes behind the signals: stranded listings, late replenishment, excess stock and missing inbound detail. The monthly report shows the direction of each signal.
How is this different from full account management?
This page covers fulfilment. Full account management covers advertising, catalog, reporting and the rest of the account, and it is described on the account management service page. Many sellers need both, and the two scopes are written separately.
How quickly are stranded items fixed?
It depends on the cause. Some are fixed by a listing edit the same day, while others need a case with Amazon or a removal. The stranded view is checked every week, and each item carries a written next step and a date.
Start here
Book the FBA Review
A read of your Seller Central views against the mechanisms on this page, with the stranded and aged lists first.
Get an FBA ReviewNo promise of a score, a recovery or a date. The review shows what your own views say, and what we would do about it.