Lost Inventory
Units that Amazon received into FBA but can no longer locate — eligible for reimbursement at the unit's sale price.
Lost Inventory refers to units that were received into Amazon's fulfillment network but Amazon can no longer locate. Causes range from misplaced bins to internal transfers gone wrong to literal warehouse damage events. Lost inventory is the single largest category of FBA reimbursement opportunity for most sellers.
Amazon now auto-reimburses most lost inventory within 30 days through the Inventory Discrepancy Report (IDR) — but "most" is the key word. Some lost units slip through the auto-reimbursement system and require manual claim filing within the eligibility window (typically 60 days from the date the unit was reported lost). Sellers who don't audit for missed auto-reimbursements regularly leave money on the table.
The correct workflow: (1) check the IDR weekly for auto-reimbursements applied, (2) cross-reference inventory ledger adjustments against IDR records, (3) file manual claims for any unreimbursed lost units within the eligibility window, (4) attach the relevant inbound shipment evidence. SellerVault's reimbursement engine automates all four steps — see the Complete FBA Reimbursement Guide for the full filing procedure.