I recently noticed that the new tool introduced by Amazon for entering sourcing costs has proven to be quite ineffective. It appears that, rather than improving the reimbursement process, it may be designed in a way that results in lower reimbursements for sellers.
Previously, when an item was lost in an FBA warehouse or a customer failed to return it, the reimbursement was typically around 80–85% of the sourcing cost. While not ideal, it was manageable and allowed me to absorb such losses.
However, since the introduction of the new tool, the reimbursed amounts have sometimes dropped to below 50% of the actual sourcing cost.For instance, one of my SKUs costs £5.32 to source. It used to be reimbursed at £4.88, which was reasonable. Now, however, the tool shows a value of £3.60.
Attempts to update this value have been automatically denied. I currently have around 60 SKUs and have tried updating several, but only one was flagged for review.
Even after providing a valid invoice from the manufacturer - a reputable brand that meets Amazon's documentation guidelines - it was still rejected with the message: "Proof of value document does not meet requirements."
It seems that Amazon has created a system where cost updates are consistently denied and cannot be reattempted for another 30 days, at which point they are likely to be rejected again. Has anyone had success in updating their sourcing costs to reflect the actual values?
Additionally, after reaching out to Seller Support, I was informed of a new fee called the “Item Fee,” which is now deducted from the reimbursement value.
This fee is not mentioned in any policies or tax documents. In one of my cases, the “Item Fee” was £2.99 on a total order value of £5.74.
When I followed up for clarification, I was told that this “Item Fee” is a combination of the FBA fee and the referral fee. However, Amazon’s own refund and returns policy states that
" for a full refund on a non-BMVD product, 80% of the original order-related fees (up to a maximum of £5 per item) should be credited back to the seller, minus a refund administrative fee."
Despite this, it appears that these fees are still being deducted, effectively reducing reimbursements without clear documentation or transparency.
I even reached out to John Boumphrey's office, but unfortunately, the case was redirected to Seller Support, and I received another generic response.
Seems MD office does not look into a cases as closely as it did few years ago.
If others are experiencing similar issues, it may be worth considering a collective letter to Amazon UK’s office requesting an official explanation and greater clarity on these changes.
