What counts as a shipment discrepancy
A discrepancy happens when the number of units declared in the shipment plan doesn't match what Amazon physically received and processed at the fulfillment center — fewer units (missing), more units (overage), or units damaged during receiving. Any SKU with a gap between the expected quantity and the located quantity is worth investigating.
Where to check: Shipment Reconciliation
In Manage FBA Shipments, the Shipment Reconciliation tool compares "Units expected" (set when the shipment was created) with "Units located" (units Amazon has already located or received). Amazon only opens reconciliation once the shipment status changes to Closed — full processing at the fulfillment center has to be finished first.
Reconciliation Report and Reimbursements Report
Under Reports > Fulfillment, the Inventory Reconciliation Report compares the inventory sent to fulfillment centers with what Amazon actually received, period by period. The Reimbursements Report shows the cases where Amazon has already acknowledged the loss or damage and reimbursed you — if there's a number in the reimbursed units column, Amazon has already taken responsibility for that discrepancy.
The claim deadline changed — and got shorter
Until October 2024, the deadline to manually open a reimbursement case for a lost or damaged item was 18 months. As of October 23, 2024, Amazon cut that window to 60 days from the date the item was reported lost or damaged, for most fulfillment center operations cases. Customer return claims have their own window, 60 to 120 days after the customer refund or replacement. Shipment-to-Amazon claims — when the discrepancy shows up at receiving, the topic of this article — follow their own separate policy, with the deadline described on Amazon's official page for that claim type (see sources below).
In practice: if you only check shipments once in a while, without a recurring process, you run a real risk of missing the deadline before you even notice there was a gap.
When Amazon reimburses you on its own
Since November 1, 2024, Amazon proactively reimburses items lost in the fulfillment center as soon as the fulfillment center itself reports the loss — no manual case required, and visible directly in the Reimbursements Report. That doesn't cover every case: discrepancies you find yourself through Shipment Reconciliation, without the fulfillment center having reported the loss internally, still require a manual case within the current deadline.
Documentation to open a case
When you open a reconciliation case, Amazon usually asks for proof of ownership and proof of delivery, plus specific details: whether more or fewer units were sent than expected, a description of the shipping boxes (color, size, markings), and confirmation that the product codes (UPC, EAN, or JAN) match the listing in Seller Central. The more specific the case, the fewer back-and-forths with Seller Support before it's resolved.
How EcomVision helps
EcomVision's FBA Shipment Reconciliation automatically matches expected and located units per shipment, flags discrepancies as soon as they appear, and alerts you before the 60-day deadline runs out — no more checking shipment by shipment by hand.
