Amazon's 2025 FBA Reimbursement Changes: Cost-Based Payouts, Automatic Claims and Tighter Deadlines

In brief: the Amazon FBA reimbursement policy was rebuilt for 2025: across four notices between October 2024 and February 2025, Amazon overhauled how lost and damaged stock is repaid. From 15 January 2025 stock lost inside its warehouses is reimbursed automatically, and most customer-return cases are too. From 9 January 2025, manual claims must be filed within set time windows. And from 31 March 2025 (moved back from 10 March), stock lost or damaged before a customer ordered it is reimbursed at your manufacturing cost — what you paid to buy or make it — rather than a sale-based value.

How the 2025 FBA reimbursement policy pays out

When the item was lost or damaged	What Amazon pays (from 31 March 2025)
In Amazon's warehouses, before a customer ordered it	Your manufacturing cost for the item
After a customer ordered it	The sale price on that order, less the fees that would have applied

"Manufacturing cost" means the price you paid a manufacturer, wholesaler or reseller for the item — or your cost to make it — and not shipping, handling, customs duty or other extras. Amazon estimates it from comparable products unless you enter your own figures on the Manage your sourcing cost page of the Inventory Defect and Reimbursement portal, which every seller could use by 28 February 2025.

Claim deadlines for manual claims (from 9 January 2025)

Type of claim	When you can file
Item lost or damaged in a fulfilment centre	Within 60 days of Amazon reporting it
Customer return not received or not reimbursed	Between 45 and 105 days after the customer was refunded or sent a replacement
Removal shipment lost on its way back to you	Between 15 and 75 days after you created the removal
Any other removal problem	Within 60 days of the removal arriving back with you

Removal claims always need filing by hand; most warehouse and returns cases no longer do.

A worked example

A seller loses 40 units of a product in an Amazon warehouse. It sells for £24.99, and the seller paid £7.50 each to the manufacturer. Under the new rules the reimbursement is about £300 (40 × £7.50) — far less than the sale value. If the seller had never entered a cost, Amazon's estimate would apply instead, which may be higher or lower.

What it means for your bookkeeping

• Enter your real costs. Your reimbursement now depends on the cost figure Amazon holds. An accurate, up-to-date cost per product protects what you receive — and it's the same figure your stock records should already hold.

• Reimbursements broadly replace the stock you lost. At cost, a warehouse reimbursement is closer to recovering the stock value than to a sale. Many sellers post it against the cost of the lost stock (writing the stock off and crediting the reimbursement) rather than as sales income; agree the treatment with your accountant.

• Keep them off the VAT return. Reimbursements are compensation, not payment for a supply, so they're normally outside the scope of VAT — see Amazon sales on your VAT return.

• Diarise the deadlines. Missed windows mean lost money. A monthly check of the Reimbursements report against your stock records catches cases Amazon didn't settle automatically.

• Expect timing gaps. Automatic reimbursements arrive in whichever settlement is open when Amazon records the loss, which may be a different period from the original stock purchase.

• Where it shows up. Reimbursements are settlement lines, not bank transfers — see reconciling an Amazon settlement.

How TrueBooks helps

TrueBooks posts inventory reimbursements from every settlement to their own account, with no VAT, so you can see exactly what Amazon paid back for lost and damaged stock in Xero. See the Amazon Xero integration.