Overview

Amazon's FBA Damaged Inventory Ownership program allows sellers to opt out of the standard damage-fault evaluation process for their fulfilled inventory. By enrolling, sellers accept ownership of all damaged units—regardless of who caused the damage—in exchange for simplified inventory management. This program has significant implications for how damaged goods are handled, reimbursed, and removed from Amazon's fulfillment centers.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Voluntary enrollment — The program is entirely opt-in, and sellers can unenroll at any time without penalty. Participation is governed by supplemental terms that work alongside Amazon's existing FBA policies.
• All damages become seller-fault — Once enrolled, damaged products will no longer be evaluated to determine whether Amazon or the seller caused the damage. All damage is automatically marked as seller-fault.
• No damage reimbursements — Enrolled products are ineligible for damage reimbursement from Amazon, even if the damage occurred during transit or handling at a fulfillment center.
• Eligibility requirements apply — Only products meeting specific eligibility criteria can be enrolled. Amazon reserves the right to change these criteria at any time.
• Automated removal applies — Damaged enrolled products are removed according to your automated unfulfillable inventory settings, giving you control over how unsellable units are handled.

How the Program Works

When a seller enrolls eligible products in the FBA Damaged Inventory Ownership program, Amazon bypasses its normal damage-fault ownership evaluation process for those items. Under standard FBA operations, when inventory is damaged, Amazon investigates whether the damage was caused by the seller (seller-fault) or by Amazon during warehousing, handling, or transit (Amazon-fault). Amazon-fault damages typically qualify for reimbursement. However, under this program, that evaluation step is skipped entirely. All damaged units are automatically classified as seller-fault, and the unsellable inventory is added back to the seller's FBA inventory for removal through available channels.