How to Fix Error 18015: Negative Tax Adjustment Values in Order Feeds
Error 18015 occurs when Amazon order‑adjustment feeds contain negative tax values (e.g., "-5.00" in <Tax> or item-tax-adj). The feed must use positive numbers, and the corrected file must be re‑uploaded via the Seller Central Feed Processing tool.
Overview
Amazon sellers encounter Error 18015 when they submit order‑adjustment feeds that contain negative amounts for tax or shipping‑tax fields. The platform’s validation engine rejects such entries, preventing the refund from being processed. Correcting the feed format is essential to avoid refund delays and maintain healthy buyer‑seller metrics.
Key Points
- Root cause — The error is triggered when a tax‑adjustment or shipping‑tax‑adjustment value is entered as a negative number, which Amazon’s system does not accept for refunds.
- Feed types impacted — Both XML adjustment feeds (negative
<Tax>elements) and tab‑delimited adjustment files (negativeitem-tax-adjorshipping-tax-adjcolumns) can generate the error. - Required format — Refund amounts must be supplied as positive numbers that represent the exact amount to be returned to the customer.
- Charging customers — Negative values cannot be used to bill a buyer; any additional charge must be handled outside the adjustment feed, typically through direct buyer contact and Amazon’s recharge process.
- Validation best practice — Implementing a pre‑upload check that flags any negative tax fields eliminates the error and speeds up bulk refund processing.
How the Error Occurs
- Create adjustment feed — A seller builds an XML or tab‑delimited file to refund a portion of an order, including tax components. Example: a seller prepares a file to refund $5.00 tax for order #112‑3456789‑0123456.
- Enter negative tax value — The seller mistakenly places “‑5.00” in the tax or shipping‑tax column, assuming a negative sign indicates a deduction. Example: the
item-tax-adjfield reads “‑5.00” instead of “5.00”. - Amazon validates feed — During upload, Amazon’s feed processor checks each numeric field. Negative numbers in tax‑adjustment fields violate the schema, so the system returns Error 18015 and rejects the entire file.
Analysis & Recommendations
Why This Matters
Negative tax entries block refunds, causing multi‑day delays and hurting buyer satisfaction. Sellers risk lower performance metrics and potential A‑to‑Z claims if refunds are not processed promptly.
Key Takeaways
- Error 18015 is triggered by any negative value in tax‑adjustment fields of XML or tab‑delimited feeds.
- Refund amounts must be entered as positive numbers; the feed processor rejects the entire file otherwise.
- A pre‑upload check that flags "-" in item-tax-adj, shipping-tax-adj, or <Tax> can prevent the error.
- After correction, re‑upload the file through Seller Central’s “Upload your inventory file” and verify the Feed Processing Report.
Recommended Actions
- →Open the adjustment file in Excel, filter the item-tax-adj, shipping-tax-adj, and <Tax> columns for "-" and replace with the absolute value.
- →In Seller Central, go to Inventory > Add Products via Upload > select the corrected XML or tab‑delimited file and submit.
- →After upload, navigate to Reports > Fulfillment > Feed Processing Report to confirm no Error 18015 appears.
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