Amazon’s New Inventory Defect and Reimbursement Portal: What Sellers Need to Know
Amazon has introduced the Inventory Defect and Reimbursement (IDR) portal, a centralized tool that streamlines the process of tracking, managing, and claiming reimbursements for lost, damaged, or unreturned customer returns. For FBA sellers, this update is a game-changer, providing greater transparency, automation, and control over inventory claims—ultimately helping sellers recover more money faster and reduce the manual work required for tracking missing inventory.
This discussion breaks down the key features of the IDR portal, including the Manage Sourcing Cost page, which ensures sellers receive the correct reimbursement value for their lost inventory.
Why the IDR Portal Is a Big Deal for Sellers
Before this update, tracking missing and damaged inventory was a tedious process. Sellers had to manually pull data from multiple reports—including the Inventory Ledger, Customer Returns, and Reimbursement Reports—to determine if they qualified for a claim. This process often resulted in missed reimbursements or duplicate claims that slowed down Amazon’s response time.
With the new IDR portal, everything is consolidated into one dashboard. Sellers can now easily track claim eligibility, status updates, and resolutions with categorized defect insights:
Additionally, the IDR portal includes filters and search tools that allow sellers to analyze defect trends by SKU, ASIN, date range, and event type. This helps sellers identify warehouse damage trends and make data-driven improvements, such as adjusting packaging to reduce damage rates.
The Manage Sourcing Cost Page – Ensuring Proper Reimbursements
A major update within the IDR portal is the Manage Sourcing Cost page, which allows sellers to update their product sourcing costs. This is critical because Amazon calculates reimbursements based on its own sourcing cost estimates, which may be inaccurate—especially for products with fluctuating import costs or premium pricing.
What can sellers do with the Manage Sourcing Cost Page?
✅ View Amazon’s estimated sourcing cost for each SKU
✅ Manually update costs for individual products
✅ Bulk upload cost adjustments for multiple SKUs at once
If Amazon’s cost estimation is too low, sellers could be losing money on reimbursements. By submitting a sourcing cost update, sellers ensure accurate compensation for lost inventory.
Important: Amazon may require proof of value documentation, such as invoices, to approve cost adjustments. Once accepted, the new sourcing cost will be used for all future reimbursements.
What This Means for Amazon Sellers
The Inventory Defect and Reimbursement portal significantly improves how sellers manage lost or damaged inventory. With automated claim tracking, better reporting, and SKU-level insights, sellers can:
✔ Recover more money from missing or damaged inventory faster
✔ Reduce time spent manually tracking and filing claims
✔ Improve inventory management decisions based on real data
Additionally, the Manage Sourcing Cost page ensures sellers receive fair reimbursements, preventing unnecessary financial losses due to Amazon’s cost underestimations.
Final Thoughts: How Will You Use the IDR Portal?
This new tool is a major step forward for FBA sellers, making inventory claims and reimbursements more efficient and transparent. If you haven’t already, check out the IDR portal to see how much money you might be missing out on.
What do you think about this update? Have you started using the IDR portal yet? Let us know in the comments!
Watch the full video below for a step-by-step walkthrough, and don’t forget to subscribe for more Amazon seller updates! 🚀
Amazon has introduced the Inventory Defect and Reimbursement (IDR) portal, a centralized tool that streamlines the process of tracking, managing, and claiming reimbursements for lost, damaged, or unreturned customer returns. For FBA sellers, this update is a game-changer, providing greater transparency, automation, and control over inventory claims—ultimately helping sellers recover more money faster and reduce the manual work required for tracking missing inventory.
This discussion breaks down the key features of the IDR portal, including the Manage Sourcing Cost page, which ensures sellers receive the correct reimbursement value for their lost inventory.
Why the IDR Portal Is a Big Deal for Sellers
Before this update, tracking missing and damaged inventory was a tedious process. Sellers had to manually pull data from multiple reports—including the Inventory Ledger, Customer Returns, and Reimbursement Reports—to determine if they qualified for a claim. This process often resulted in missed reimbursements or duplicate claims that slowed down Amazon’s response time.
With the new IDR portal, everything is consolidated into one dashboard. Sellers can now easily track claim eligibility, status updates, and resolutions with categorized defect insights:
- Eligible for Claim → Items flagged by Amazon as potentially reimbursable, requiring seller action.
- In Progress → Claims currently under Amazon’s review—no action needed from the seller.
- Resolved → Items Amazon has either reimbursed or rejected, with clear reasons for their decision.
Additionally, the IDR portal includes filters and search tools that allow sellers to analyze defect trends by SKU, ASIN, date range, and event type. This helps sellers identify warehouse damage trends and make data-driven improvements, such as adjusting packaging to reduce damage rates.
The Manage Sourcing Cost Page – Ensuring Proper Reimbursements
A major update within the IDR portal is the Manage Sourcing Cost page, which allows sellers to update their product sourcing costs. This is critical because Amazon calculates reimbursements based on its own sourcing cost estimates, which may be inaccurate—especially for products with fluctuating import costs or premium pricing.
What can sellers do with the Manage Sourcing Cost Page?
✅ View Amazon’s estimated sourcing cost for each SKU
✅ Manually update costs for individual products
✅ Bulk upload cost adjustments for multiple SKUs at once
If Amazon’s cost estimation is too low, sellers could be losing money on reimbursements. By submitting a sourcing cost update, sellers ensure accurate compensation for lost inventory.
Important: Amazon may require proof of value documentation, such as invoices, to approve cost adjustments. Once accepted, the new sourcing cost will be used for all future reimbursements.
What This Means for Amazon Sellers
The Inventory Defect and Reimbursement portal significantly improves how sellers manage lost or damaged inventory. With automated claim tracking, better reporting, and SKU-level insights, sellers can:
✔ Recover more money from missing or damaged inventory faster
✔ Reduce time spent manually tracking and filing claims
✔ Improve inventory management decisions based on real data
Additionally, the Manage Sourcing Cost page ensures sellers receive fair reimbursements, preventing unnecessary financial losses due to Amazon’s cost underestimations.
Final Thoughts: How Will You Use the IDR Portal?
This new tool is a major step forward for FBA sellers, making inventory claims and reimbursements more efficient and transparent. If you haven’t already, check out the IDR portal to see how much money you might be missing out on.
What do you think about this update? Have you started using the IDR portal yet? Let us know in the comments!
Watch the full video below for a step-by-step walkthrough, and don’t forget to subscribe for more Amazon seller updates! 🚀