Overview

Amazon’s ongoing platform upgrades have left the FBA Recommended Packing Method Incentive report inaccessible since mid‑April. While the underlying discount engine continues to apply fee reductions automatically, sellers can no longer view the line‑item breakdown that normally confirms eligibility. The outage matters because high‑volume merchants rely on the report to audit compliance and ensure they receive the full program benefit.

Key Points

• Report offline since April 15 — The dedicated incentive report vanished when the system upgrade launched, removing the usual daily view of packing‑method discounts.
• Discount calculations still active — Backend processing kept applying reductions, evidenced by an average 2.3 % fee cut across a sample of 1,200 shipments processed last week.
• Bug fixed on May 2 — The initial data‑feed error that caused miscalculations was resolved, and subsequent tests confirmed the discount logic now aligns with program specifications.
• One‑time reimbursements issued — Sellers who received incorrect incentive amounts during the glitch were credited between $45 and $1,200 via email on May 5, 2024.
• Payments dashboard as fallback — The Payments section and transaction‑level reports still list fee adjustments, allowing merchants to manually verify discount application.
• Eligibility unchanged — Amazon has not altered the qualifying criteria or discount percentages; the only impact is the temporary loss of the specialized reporting view.

How the Packing Method Incentive Report Works

1. Shipment creation — A seller packages inventory according to Amazon’s recommended dimensions (for example, a 12‑inch cubic box weighing under 1 lb for small items) and creates an inbound shipment plan.
2. Compliance verification — When the cartons arrive at a fulfillment center, scanners compare each unit to the packing guidelines; units that meet the criteria are flagged for incentive eligibility.
3. Discount calculation — The system’s back‑end engine applies a preset reduction—typically 2 % to 5 % of the standard FBA fee—to every flagged unit, creating a line‑item entry for the incentive.