If you sell on Amazon, the way you get paid back for lost and damaged inventory changed twice in quick succession, and most sellers I talk to are still operating as if neither change happened. The result is the same in every case: money that was recoverable expires quietly, sixty days at a time.
Here is what actually changed, why the recovery services taking 20-25% of your refund are running the old playbook, and what the new playbook looks like.
Change one: payouts moved from sale price to manufacturing cost
For years, when Amazon lost or damaged a unit in its network before a customer ever ordered it, the reimbursement was based on an estimate of what you would have sold it for. That was a generous basis. In 2025 Amazon moved to a manufacturing-cost basis for these claims: you get paid what the product cost to source, not what it would have earned.
Two details matter more than the headline:
- Amazon estimates your manufacturing cost for you unless you tell it otherwise. The estimate is built from comparable products and Amazon's own data, and sellers routinely find it lands below their real landed cost.
- You can override the estimate by providing your own per-SKU sourcing cost documentation. If you do not, you are accepting a discount on every future reimbursement by default.
This turns reimbursement from a filing problem into a documentation problem. The seller with clean, current, per-SKU cost records gets paid their real number. The seller without them gets paid Amazon's guess.
Change two: the windows collapsed
The second change is about time. Claim eligibility windows that used to be measured in many months, with lookbacks stretching up to 18 months, were compressed to roughly 60 days for most claim categories. And 60 days is the friendly version: some claim types carry a mandatory waiting period before you are even allowed to file, then close again a few weeks later. Account for the waiting period and the usable filing slot on those claims is in the 15-to-45-day range.
| Old regime | New regime |
|---|---|
| Payout based on expected sale price | Payout based on manufacturing cost (Amazon's estimate unless you document yours) |
| Lookbacks up to 18 months | ~60-day windows on most categories |
| File whenever, in bulk | Some claim types effectively open for 15-45 days |
| Audit quarterly, recover annually | Detect within days or forfeit |
The practical consequence: reimbursement recovery is no longer something you can batch. A quarterly audit now misses two thirds of what it would have caught. The discrepancy has to be detected close to when it happens, the evidence has to already exist, and the claim has to go in while the window is open.
Why the 25%-commission services are running the old playbook
The reimbursement-service industry was built on a specific arbitrage: sellers did not audit their own inventory ledgers, lookback windows were long, so a service could connect to your account, mine 18 months of history, file everything it found, and take 20-25% of the recovery. That was a fair trade when the alternative was zero.
Both legs of that trade are now broken:
- The backlog is gone. With 60-day windows there is no 18-month goldmine to dig through. Whatever was not claimed in the window is not recoverable by anyone, at any commission.
- The payout shrank. Recovery at manufacturing cost is a smaller number than recovery at sale price. Take 25% off an already smaller payout and the seller's net falls twice.
- The differentiating work changed. Under the new rules, the value is not in finding old claims. It is in (a) having your real manufacturing costs documented with Amazon so payouts are correct, and (b) detecting and filing fast. Most commission services do neither; they were built to mine, not to monitor.
This is the loudest operational pain I found anywhere when researching what Amazon sellers are actually struggling with right now. The threads on Seller Central about the manufacturing-cost regime run to hundreds of upvotes per comment. Sellers are not confused about whether they are losing money. They are stuck on the mechanics of stopping it.
Reimbursement recovery is one of the first systems I look at in an AI Operations Audit, because it is usually the fastest place to find money a brand is leaving behind: undocumented costs, expired windows, and a 25% commission going out the door for work that should be automated.
See the AI Operations AuditWhat a documentation-speed system looks like
I run my own software company on 130+ automated systems, so when I describe this, it is the same architecture I use everywhere: data in continuously, discrepancies surfaced automatically, humans only at the decision points. Applied to reimbursements, the system has four parts.
1. Cost documentation in place before the loss
Every active SKU has a current, defensible sourced-cost record, and that figure is filed with Amazon proactively. This is the single highest-leverage move under the new policy, and it is one-time setup plus maintenance when costs change, not ongoing labor.
2. Daily reconciliation, not quarterly audits
Inbound shipments, the inventory ledger, customer returns, and removal orders get reconciled every day. A unit that went missing surfaces as a discrepancy within 24-48 hours, not at the end of the quarter when its window may already be closed.
3. Evidence assembled at detection time
The moment a discrepancy is flagged, the supporting record gets pulled together automatically: shipment IDs, ledger entries, cost documentation, return scans. When a human reviews the claim, the packet already exists.
4. Filing inside the window, with a human approving
Claims go in days after the event, reviewed by a person before submission. That keeps you compliant with how Amazon expects sellers to interact with its systems, and it means the 60-day window is never the constraint.
None of this requires a 25% commission. It is a build-once system: data pipelines, reconciliation logic, and an approval queue. The recurring cost is a fraction of what a commission service takes from a brand doing meaningful FBA volume, and unlike a commission service, it also fixes the payout basis by getting your real costs on file.
Questions sellers ask about the new rules
Does Amazon still reimburse FBA losses at the sale price?
No. For inventory lost or damaged before a customer order, Amazon now reimburses based on the product's manufacturing cost, not its expected sale price. Amazon estimates that cost itself unless you provide your own sourcing documentation, and its estimate is frequently lower than your real landed cost.
How long do I have to file an FBA reimbursement claim?
Most claim categories now run on roughly 60-day eligibility windows, down from lookback periods that used to stretch as long as 18 months. Some claim types are effectively narrower, with mandatory waiting periods before you can file and a closing date a few weeks later, leaving a usable slot in the 15-to-45-day range.
Are 20-25% commission reimbursement services still worth it?
The economics have changed against them. Their model was built on mining long backlogs of old discrepancies, and the shortened windows eliminated the backlog. When recovery happens at manufacturing cost and the service takes 20-25% of an already smaller payout, the net to the seller shrinks twice. Speed and cost documentation now matter more than claim-mining.
Can I give Amazon my own manufacturing cost instead of using its estimate?
Yes. Amazon allows sellers to provide their own per-SKU sourcing cost documentation, and that is the single highest-leverage move under the new policy. If your real cost is above Amazon's estimate and you never file the documentation, you accept a discount on every future reimbursement by default.