A couple weeks ago Chris wrote a post about how he bought Ryan Grant’s book on getting the reimbursements that Amazon owed him. He spent $30 and got back $445 in a couple days and so quite a few people were interested in that. I’m glad to see that people are paying more attention to this and making sure they get what they’re paid. One of the mistakes that I’ve seen some people make is that they’re not making sure that Amazon hasn’t already reimbursed them. So, for example, when you look at items that customers returned, you shouldn’t just send that whole list to Amazon. Instead, you need to compare that list to the list of items that have been returned (Reports > fulfillment > returns) and to the list of items you’ve been reimbursed for (Reports > fulfillment > reimbursements). If it isn’t on either of those, then submit the item for a reimbursement.
This gives me the opportunity to tease something that the folks here at FBAMaster have been working on behind the scenes for a long time. Soon, we’re going to introduce you to a way to simplify this entire process. No more generating a bunch of reports, copying data to excel, cross referencing with other spreadsheets, etc. So, if you want to make sure Amazon is paying you everything they owe you, stay tuned for more information on this. (One reason we’re doing this is that we believe EVERY solution on the market is currently prohibitive. There is a software that generates cases automatically and has caused people to get multiple policy violations and no reimbursement is worth your account. There are other options that take 25% of everything that they recover and still others that charge a prohibitively high amount per item. We wanted to come up with a solution that didn’t involve you spending hours to get your reimbursements, wouldn’t get your account shut down, and didn’t have prohibitively high expenses. We’re getting close to having that for you, so I’m getting excited. I hope you will be excited, too!)
But, my blog isn’t just to rehash Chris’ post and it isn’t merely to tease something that’s coming down the FBAM pipeline. I want to use those as a starting point to look at an under-utilized reimbursement option. One of the most maddening things about FBA is that a customer can buy an item, open it, damage it, return it, and you’re stuck with the costs. Not only do you lose money on the transaction (because you still paid fees), but now you have junk inventory (that Amazon charges you to remove!). According to Amazon, these items are NOT eligible for their reimbursement policy:
That said, I have found that in many cases, if the product was actually damaged, then Amazon will issue a reimbursement if you give them what they want:
- A description of the Damage
- A photo of the Removal Label
- A photo of the Actual Damage
Here is the template that I use when I create cases:
Reimbursement Request for Damage Items in Removal Request:
Attached you will find [HOW MANY] pictures:
1. Removal Receipt for damaged items (Shipment ID [NUMBER])
2. Damaged [ITEM DESCRIPTION]
3. Damaged [ITEM DESCRIPTION]
[DESCRIPTION OF FIRST DAMAGED ITEM]
[DESCRIPTION OF SECOND DAMAGED ITEM]
As these items were either accepted in a condition different than sent in OR damaged in transit during the request for removal, I request that you submit a reimbursement request for the following ASINs:
[ASIN 1]
[ASIN 2]
Thank you for your assistance!
Then I make sure I attach the relevant pictures. That’s it. There’s nothing magical about it, but I’ve had really good success with it. Sometimes they can’t tell what is actually damaged and I have to clarify. Occasionally they just say no. If they say no, I just give up on it, because as far as I can tell, this isn’t money that they owe me (per their policies). That’s pretty rare, though.
So, if you’ve bought Ryan’s book (or not) and have gotten all of the money back that Amazon currently owes you for lost items, warehouse damaged items, customer returns that were never returned, etc., and you just want some more money, here’s an option for you to consider and the exact way that I go about the process. Of course, your mileage will vary, but I hope some of you can find it helpful! Until next time…
I have two items sitting g here right now, and I will use your template. Thank you so much!
I was given a 25% reimbursement for a damaged doll box, because the doll itself was not damaged. It was a customer damaged item. I didn’t argue about it, but wasn’t very happy with it. It can be sold on eBay, I guess, it’s pretty large though.
Thanks for the template, I can put it to use!