How to File an FBA Inbound Shipment Claim (15–60 Day Window, Step by Step, With Template)

You shipped 30 units. Amazon checked in 21. The other nine are somewhere between a loading dock and a fulfillment center shelf — and unless you file an inbound shipment claim inside Amazon's 15–60 day window, that inventory becomes a write-off. Missing inbound units are among the most frequent complaints on Amazon's own seller forums, and roughly 40% of all reimbursements trace back to inbound shipment errors. This is the claim type most worth doing well.

Here is the full process: finding the discrepancy, timing the claim, assembling proof, and the exact case text to paste.

Step 1 — Find the discrepancy

In Seller Central, open the shipment's Contents tab and compare shipped vs. received per SKU. Roughly 1 in 5 FBA shipmentsshows some discrepancy between what was sent and what was checked in, so "scan everything at close" beats "check when something feels off."

Doing this by hand across many shipments is exactly the tedium that makes sellers skip it — the free shipments.fyi scanner reads your FBA shipment CSV in the browser and lists every short-received unit with its estimated value in seconds.

Step 2 — Wait for the right moment (15–60 days, status Closed)

• Not before day 15 after delivery — units genuinely keep turning up during receiving, and early claims are rejected or parked.
• Not after day 60 from delivery — the claim is gone, with no appeal path.
• Status must be Closed— a claim against a still-receiving shipment gets "research in progress" and burns days.
• One claim per shipment — bundle every short SKU into a single, complete case.

Note the clock runs from delivery, not from Closed status or from when you noticed. Slow check-ins (sellers report 3–4 weeks at busy FCs) can consume half your window before the discrepancy is even visible — full deadline math in our 60-day windows guide.

Step 3 — Gather the two proofs

Amazon asks for two things, and cases stall without them:

• Proof of ownership — a supplier invoice or receipt covering the missing units: date, product names matching your listings, and quantities. Since the March 2025 move to cost-based reimbursement, this document also anchors how muchyou're paid, so use the real invoice, not a pro-forma.
• Proof of delivery — for small parcel, the carrier tracking showing delivered; for LTL/FTL, the bill of lading (BOL) with box/pallet counts and, ideally, a signed proof of delivery.

Step 4 — File with case text that answers everything up front

Open Help → Get support → Fulfillment by Amazonand start a case against the shipment (or use the shipment's reconcile flow where offered). The difference between a two-reply case and a two-week case is whether your first message contains every identifier an investigator needs. Template:

Subject: Missing units from inbound shipment [SHIPMENT-ID] — reimbursement request

Shipment [SHIPMENT-ID] was delivered on [DELIVERY-DATE] ([CARRIER], tracking/BOL [NUMBER]) and now shows status Closed. Receiving shows the following shortage:

SKU [SELLER-SKU] (FNSKU [FNSKU], ASIN [ASIN]): [X] units shipped, [Y] received — [X−Y] units unaccounted for.
[repeat one line per short SKU]

Attached: supplier invoice covering the missing units (proof of ownership) and [tracking confirmation / signed BOL] (proof of delivery). Requesting investigation and reimbursement for the [TOTAL] missing units per the FBA inbound shipment reimbursement policy.

Keep the tone factual — investigators process volume, and cases that read like a checklist get resolved like one. If a SKU total involves multiple boxes, give the per-box breakdown too.

Step 5 — Handle the common responses

"Research in progress"

Usually means the shipment wasn't fully closed, or units moved during an internal transfer. Wait for Closed status, then reply on the same case with updated numbers — don't open a duplicate, one claim per shipment includes its follow-ups.

Partial reimbursement at a value you don't recognize

Since March 31, 2025, Amazon reimburses at your sourcing cost— and if you haven't entered costs in the "Manage Your Sourcing Cost" page, it uses its own estimate, which sellers widely report as low. Reply with your invoice and ask for the value to be reviewed against it.

Units "found" after payment

Amazon can reverse a reimbursement if stock turns up later. Keep your reconciliation records; if the found units never actually re-enter your sellable inventory, that reversal is itself worth a case.

The part nobody tells you: this repeats every single shipment

One claim is a task; a claims process is what actually recovers money. Every shipment needs the same loop — reconcile at close, check the window, file complete, follow up — and every open claim carries its own expiry date. That cadence is what the shipments.fyi deadline tracker automates: the scanner finds the shortages free, and every tracked claim gets a live 60-day countdown, T-14/7/3 email alerts, and case text pre-filled with your real shipment data — you review, file, and keep 100% of the recovery.

Related guides: Every FBA claim deadline in 2026 · What changed in Amazon's reimbursement policy