SHORTAGE CLAIMS: avoid problems and maximize sales

100 vendors - 367 vendor centers - 11 countries - 15 product groups. This is the basic data that we used as the basis for an analysis to determine where vendors on Amazon are losing their margins. The shocking result: on average, shortage claims amount to 1.65% of sales. With a turnover of €10 million per year, that would mean a loss of €165,000!

Shortage claims occur when not as many units are delivered as promised during the ordering process. We took a closer look at the most common reasons for shortage claims, and the following 6 reasons were found most frequently:

Incorrect item labeling leads to incorrect postings
Goods disappear on the way to the warehouse
Incorrect packaging unit / incorrect ASIN "6pack"
Goods are booked in incorrectly
Goods were not actually shipped
Goods are overlooked at goods receipt

This is where vendors should start first if they are looking for shortages. Revise and improve internal processes to avoid claims from Amazon.

If a vendor receives a shortage claim from Amazon, we recommend waiting 35 days before filing an objection, as Amazon will continue to add goods to the shortage claim during this period. If not all of the goods have been found by the end of this period, it is worth lodging an objection.

If parts of the delivery are found, this amount will be credited to the vendor. Now it starts all over again and the rest of the delivery is also searched for. The cycle below shows how this can work for a shortage claim of €1,000. The "game" of search & find is played up to 15 times by Amazon in extreme cases. Shortages are therefore usually very dynamic.

The objection is step 1 of 3 possible escalation steps. If the objection does not lead to the desired result and the vendor has the relevant evidence, it can open a case in the 2nd step. Experience has shown that a shortage claim can be contested for up to one year. However, recovery via Amazon Vendor Central takes some time.

As a result, many vendors do not pay much attention to recovering shortage claims, thus losing money and reducing their margin. Many hope for a solution in the annual meeting with the vendor manager. However, only those who can provide an overview of the cases and corresponding justifications can have any hope here.

It is time to reduce costs effectively in order to achieve attractive margins again.

With the help of a single tool, automatically file appeals against shortage claims, obtain an overview of successfully recovered and unresolved claims and thus make the Amazon vendor business more profitable. An interface to the forwarder and all proofs of delivery directly assigned to the cases.

Our BAROS.CLOUD can do all this and much more. Recover thousands of euros over the year and be optimally prepared for the annual meeting.