Amazon is short-paying your invoices, and leaving you to prove it.
Shortage deductions come off your remittance automatically. We audit up to five years of them, build the evidence and claim the money back.
Free, no obligation, and we work on a success fee basis. If we recover nothing, there is nothing to pay.
Example figures. Modelled on an Australian vendor shipping around $12m of COGS a year, at roughly 1.7% in shortages. In Australia we find 0.5% to 2.5% of shipped COGS. Not a real client and not a projection of your result: an audit figure moves daily as Amazon reimburses and re-deducts.
Amazon specialists for established consumer brands since 2016
Shortage fees are triggered by machines, and machines make mistakes
A shortage fee is not an invoice Amazon sends you. It is a deduction taken straight off what Amazon pays you, decided by an automated system, and the burden of proving it wrong sits entirely with the vendor.
Amazon knows the systems get it wrong, which is why the Shortage Dispute Process exists. What Amazon does not have is much incentive to fix the underlying errors, or to make disputing them easy. The INV and SC/SCR numbering you have to reconcile against is complex enough that most vendors give up.
Ask your Amazon account manager or AVS contact when they last reminded you to dispute your shortages. Almost nobody has been told.
The audit is free and there is no obligation. We work on a success fee basis, so we only get paid out of money we actually recover for you.
In Australia we are finding 0.5% to 2.5% of shipped COGS in shortages
That is before the accruals you already agreed to. Australia is still cheaper than elsewhere: the USA and UK/EU average around 5.9% across all fees including chargebacks, which have not arrived here yet.
Every percentage point matters when Amazon is already taking accruals off the top. Between the base accrual and the extras that get stacked on it, a vendor can be giving up close to a fifth of the invoice before a single shortage is deducted.
Eight ways vendor money stays with Amazon
Most of it is not malicious, and almost none of it surfaces in a way you would notice from a remittance. Open any file below to see what tends to go wrong and how we approach it.
Shortage deductions on invoicesVendor Central · the main event
Amazon's systems decide fewer units arrived than you invoiced for, and the difference comes off your payment automatically. No request, no approval, and no obligation on Amazon to show its working.
We doReconcile shipped against received, build the evidence pack and dispute in batches through the Shortage Dispute Process.
Historic shortages still inside the windowUp to a 3–5 year look-back
Most vendors only ever look at the current period, if they look at all. Years of deductions sit behind that, and a good proportion of it is still claimable today.
We doAudit the full claimable history and put the oldest deductions into the first batches, because those are the ones that expire first.
Price discrepancy claimsCost price disputes
Amazon pays against a cost price that does not match what was agreed, or applies a change retrospectively across orders already shipped.
We doMatch POs, invoices and agreed pricing, then claim the difference alongside the shortages.
Disputes dropped after one rejectionPersistence
A first rejection is not a verdict. Vendors are rarely persistent enough to see results, and a claim that would have paid on the third attempt gets written off on the first.
We doRe-file with additional evidence, multiple times, until the claim is genuinely exhausted.
Death by a thousand cutsThe amounts nobody chases
Many vendors set an internal threshold and only dispute the big deductions. Every immaterial amount below that line compounds quietly into a very material one.
We doClaim the small ones too. Batched together they are often worth more than the headline cases.
Open statement balancesNegotiated, not filed
Where the history is large or messy, the route is an open statement: the whole outstanding position put to Amazon and negotiated, rather than claim by claim.
We doRequest the open statement when it is the better route and negotiate it directly with Amazon. Batch claims usually recover a higher percentage, so this is the second lever, not the first.
Manual disputing in Vendor CentralComplex by design
The INV and SC/SCR numbering system makes reconciling a deduction to a shipment genuinely difficult by hand. That difficulty is doing a job for somebody, and it is not you.
We doConnect your vendor account to ChannelEngine and run the matching, tracking and filing there, with little or no input from your team.
Treating it as a cost of doing businessThe expensive assumption
Most vendors do not realise the size of the problem, and even the ones who think they have it under control usually have substantial amounts owing. Chargebacks are next: they are already standard in the USA and UK/EU.
We doPut a number on it first, free, so the decision is made against a figure rather than a feeling.
Selling 3P as well? FBA reimbursement claims run on a completely different process, and we handle those through a specialist partner platform rather than in-house. Mention it on the call and we will point you to it.
Real recoveries, brand names withheld
Every one of these started as a vendor who assumed the deductions were either correct or not worth chasing.
This tends to be surprise money. Your CFO will like you more for it.
Claiming the money back matters, and so does making sure it keeps coming back
Shortages are not a one-off event. They are generated every period by the same automated systems, so a single clean-up buys you about a year before the problem rebuilds.
The look-back
A full audit of your shortage history, then every viable claim disputed and chased through to payment.
- Vendor account connected to ChannelEngine, with a 3 to 5 year look-back
- Potential shortages identified automatically, then manually reviewed where needed
- Disputed in small batches rather than dumped in as one filing
- Multiple attempts per claim, with the evidence strengthened each time
- Open statement requested and negotiated with Amazon where that is the better route
Recovered money lands as credit to your vendor account.
The monthly claim
Shortage claims filed every month from then on, so new deductions are disputed while they are still fresh and still claimable.
- New shortages caught each period instead of once a year
- Price discrepancies picked up as cost prices change
- Patterns fed back so the underlying causes can be reduced at the source
- Hours of your team's time saved, because we do the work
- Money coming back every month rather than in one lump
Plug the gaps, and keep plugging them.
How much might Amazon be holding?
Shortages scale with the value of goods shipped, not with how tidily you run the account. The two things that decide the number are how much COGS goes through Amazon and how far back we can still claim.
Move the sliders for a sense of scale. It is modelled on the 0.5% to 2.5% range we see across Australian vendor accounts, so the only way to get a real number is to audit yours.
- Shipped COGS sets the scaleThe deduction rate is a percentage of what you ship.
- The look-back sets the sizeEvery year we can still reach multiplies the total.
- Evidence sets the recovery rateWe collect from 75% up to 95% of what gets disputed.
Example only. This is a planning figure built on the 0.5% to 2.5% range we see in Australian vendor accounts, not a quote and not a forecast for yours. An audit figure also moves daily, because Amazon keeps reimbursing and re-deducting while you look at it.
Five steps, and only the first one needs your time
Step one is a conversation and an account connection. After that we do the work and report back with money attached.
Audit
Vendor account connected to ChannelEngine. Potential shortages identified across a 3 to 5 year look-back, with manual review where the data needs it. Free and no obligation.
Review
We show you the recovery potential, historical and recent, and agree the process for disputing from here. The figure is fluid, not fixed: it changes day to day as Amazon reimburses.
Dispute
Claims filed in small batches and tracked in ChannelEngine, historical and ongoing, with multiple attempts each. Open statement requested and negotiated where that suits the account better.
Collect
Money comes back as credit to your vendor account. First recoveries usually land within the first couple of weeks of disputing. Larger disputes and open statements run closer to six months.
Repeat
Monthly shortage claims continue, saving your team hours and plugging the gaps, so money keeps coming back each month instead of once.
Whether this is worth doing for you
It tends to be worth it if
- You sell 1P through Vendor CentralThis is a vendor service. Shortages are deducted from vendor remittances, which is where the recoverable money sits.
- Nobody really owns shortage disputesOr someone does, in between everything else, and only for the amounts big enough to notice.
- You have never been walked through the dispute processMost vendors tell us their account manager has never raised it.
- You ship meaningful COGS to AmazonThe rate is a percentage of goods shipped, so volume decides the size of the prize.
A few things worth being straight about
- It isn't a loopholeEvery claim goes through Amazon's own Shortage Dispute Process, with the evidence to support it.
- We won't quote you a fixed numberAn audit figure moves daily as Amazon reimburses and re-deducts. Anyone promising a fixed total is guessing.
- It isn't instant on the big onesFirst money usually comes back within a fortnight, but larger disputes and open statements take around six months.
- 3P reimbursements are a different jobFBA claims run through a specialist partner platform, not through this team.
A vendor fee recovery team inside Sell Global
Shortage recovery is forensic, repetitive work, so it sits with a dedicated team rather than being squeezed in around account management. Same Amazon-only focus we have had since 2016, pointed at the money your vendor account is owed.
We use ChannelEngine to match, track and dispute, which is what lets us claim the small deductions as well as the large ones with minimal input from your team.
- Since 2016Working with Amazon sellers and vendors, and nothing else
- 75% to 95%Of disputed shortages collected
- Success feeFree audit first, then we are paid out of what comes back
The practical detail
Will this upset our Amazon manager or make negotiations harder?
No. Disputing shortages uses Amazon's own Shortage Dispute Process, which exists precisely because Amazon knows its automated deductions get things wrong. We file evidenced claims through the proper channel, in batches, rather than flooding anyone with noise. Vendor managers deal with this every day.
What paperwork do you need to dispute a shortage?
Usually proof that the goods went and were received: purchase orders, invoices, bills of lading and proof of delivery, matched back to the relevant INV and SC/SCR references. Most of it we pull once your vendor account is connected. Where a claim needs a document only you hold, we tell you exactly which one.
What is the likelihood of recovery?
Across the accounts we run, we collect from 75% up to 95% of what we identify and dispute. Batch claims tend to recover a higher percentage than open statements, which is why we lead with batches and use the open statement route where the history makes it the better option.
How long does this all take?
Initial recoveries usually start landing within the first two weeks of disputing. It is a time-consuming process and claims go in batches, so money comes back in instalments rather than all at once. Larger disputes and open statement negotiations typically run around six months.
How far back can you claim?
We audit up to a three to five year look-back, depending on what the account exposes and what is still inside the dispute window. The oldest deductions are the ones that expire first, which is the main argument for doing the look-back sooner rather than at the end of the financial year.
What can be done to reduce shortages in the first place?
Realistically the automated systems are not going to stop making mistakes, and Amazon has little incentive to improve them, so the goal is catching the errors every month rather than eliminating them. What the audit does give you is the pattern. If particular sites, SKUs or shipment types keep recurring, that points at where a process is breaking, and that part your supply chain team can act on.
What about price discrepancies?
They sit in the same audit. Where Amazon has paid against a cost price that does not match what was agreed, or applied a change retrospectively, we claim the difference alongside the shortages.
What does it cost?
The audit is free and carries no obligation. Recovery work runs on a success fee basis, agreed in writing before we start, so we are paid a percentage of what actually comes back to your vendor account.
We sell 3P as well. Can you claim FBA reimbursements?
FBA reimbursement claims are a different process and we handle them through a specialist partner platform rather than in-house. Raise it on the call and we will point you at it. Our own team is focused on the vendor side, which is where the larger recoverable amounts sit.
Are the figures on this page real?
The recovery results are real, with brand names withheld. The hero ledger and the estimator are examples, modelled on the 0.5% to 2.5% of shipped COGS we see across Australian vendor accounts, and shown to give a sense of scale rather than to predict your number.
Find out what Amazon owes you. The audit costs you nothing.
Connect the account, see the number, decide from there. Every month that passes, the oldest deductions quietly stop being claimable.