Let’s forget for a second about the way we identify unfulfilled Amazon FBA reimbursements and focus instead on how to actually manage them. Because, sometimes, clicking the submit button on your cases means your real work has only just begun…
1. Reopening Cases
An unfortunate misconception about Amazon FBA reimbursements is that seller support will automatically solve your request in a correct manner. When the answer is no, most will move on to the next request. Unfortunately, that is sometimes a mistake. I cannot stress this enough: if you believe that Amazon did not solve your FBA reimbursement claim properly, do not hesitate to re-open the case. This will redirect your request to a different representative who will reexamine the situation. The reason why this is good is simple. There are times when Amazon FBA specialists are inconsistent when enforcing the company’s reimbursement policy. While one rep could deny your claim, another may find that it should be fulfilled.
When sending FBA reimbursement cases in written form, you are also more likely to receive a half-automated response that does not provide an elaborate explanation for the decision. Should you experience multiple reimbursement rejections, I highly recommend picking up the phone and calling seller support. In my experience, most specialists are quite helpful and do end up solving the issues you are having. While direct contact may seem unpleasant compared to the comfort of written cases, taking the time to do this is really worth it. Moreover, if you have multiple unsolved issues, you should run all of them to the same rep. At one point, I recall going through 12 different cases with the same person on the phone.
2. Checking Amazon’s Work
This used to be a larger issue in the past, particularly because of the way the FBA reimbursement approval policy worked. However, this could theoretically still happen. Imagine going through all the trouble to have your cases approved and not get the money you are rightfully owed. Even though nowadays this happens very rarely, doing a simple check will not only give you peace of mind, but also help you organize the issues you are trying to solve.
Say you have 20 FBA reimbursable discrepancies and take them up with one of Amazon’s reps. Whichever way you decided to do that, it is possible that you missed one or two issues in the process. Checking that your reimbursements were processed can therefore also serve as an excuse to check your own work. If anything, this part is pretty easy. Simply take the order IDs pertaining to your cases and paste them in the Payments report.
3. Verifying the Amounts
When it comes to FBA reimbursements, the devil’s in the details. I have sometimes encountered situations where Amazon issues a reimbursement, but the amount is less than it should be. Specifically, this came up when reviewing items refunded by Amazon, but not returned by the customer. A client was issued a reimbursement of $0.01 for a set of expensive wine glasses that were damaged on the way back to the warehouse. The actual amount was almost $120, and it never would have reached the seller’s pocket. The good news is that Amazon has a pretty good track record of processing these FBA reimbursements automatically. But that still leaves us with the bad news. Doing this detective work can be tedious when dealing with many cases. Fortunately, you can always connect with an FBA Refund Finders case manager to take care of this for you at no upfront cost!
If anything, the conclusion to draw from all this is that the proper recovery of FBA reimbursements can be messy and frustrating, but greatly alleviated by a little discipline. Think of this as your body. If left unchecked, it withers, festers, gets sick. To avoid that, you have periodic doctor appointments to keep the boat afloat. Just remember, you owe it to yourself to make your Amazon business as lucrative as it should be.
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