Units lost during Warehouse Transfer
I've recently noticed a recurring issue that's been very troubling.
We have had several items in FBA where the units in stock are off from what's expected. I've been combing through transactions in the Inventory Ledger to find where the discrepancy happened, and sometimes I find nothing. The numbers just don't add up.
Upon looking at the Ledger in "Summary View", I was able to find the issue- it seems to be a LACK of transaction.
It happens the same every time. Quantities will be listed under "In Transit Between Warehouses" (which are not counted in the "ending warehouse balance", so are harder to track.) Usually, when items go in/out of the "In Transit" state, they're accompanied by a transaction under "Warehouse Transfer In/Out".
I've found several (30+ already) instances where items disappeared from "In Transit" without an accompanying transaction. Some mysteriously reappeared (without transaction) later, but no shorter than 21 days. We have many SKUs, some missing since late August, that still have not reappeared.
I understand that these are warehouse transfers, and they can take time to reappear. My issues are this:
1. It makes our Amazon Inventory inaccurate, making it hard to know our true inventory levels, and impossible to trust the data. Finding these cases is tricky and very time intensive, so it's not like we can easily check. (I should also clarify, these units are counted NOWHERE, including reserved inventory, etc.)
2. There is no accountability. How are we supposed to keep track of whether or not the units actually reappear? I've tried opening multiple cases for items that have been missing over a month. All I get is the same reply- that they need a specific transaction ID to investigate. I keep telling them that the issues is that there IS NO TRANSACTION. I've sent screenshots, I've broken down the math- I've even seen THEM break down the math, which clearly shows a discrepancy, and then tell me that there's no discrepancy.
Has anyone else been noticing things like this? I was shocked that I couldn't find anyone else talking about this.
Is there any sort of recourse here? The lack of transparency and accountability is truly frightening.
(Screenshots for reference- the Ledger Summary, and a failed case to reconcile.)
Units lost during Warehouse Transfer
I've recently noticed a recurring issue that's been very troubling.
We have had several items in FBA where the units in stock are off from what's expected. I've been combing through transactions in the Inventory Ledger to find where the discrepancy happened, and sometimes I find nothing. The numbers just don't add up.
Upon looking at the Ledger in "Summary View", I was able to find the issue- it seems to be a LACK of transaction.
It happens the same every time. Quantities will be listed under "In Transit Between Warehouses" (which are not counted in the "ending warehouse balance", so are harder to track.) Usually, when items go in/out of the "In Transit" state, they're accompanied by a transaction under "Warehouse Transfer In/Out".
I've found several (30+ already) instances where items disappeared from "In Transit" without an accompanying transaction. Some mysteriously reappeared (without transaction) later, but no shorter than 21 days. We have many SKUs, some missing since late August, that still have not reappeared.
I understand that these are warehouse transfers, and they can take time to reappear. My issues are this:
1. It makes our Amazon Inventory inaccurate, making it hard to know our true inventory levels, and impossible to trust the data. Finding these cases is tricky and very time intensive, so it's not like we can easily check. (I should also clarify, these units are counted NOWHERE, including reserved inventory, etc.)
2. There is no accountability. How are we supposed to keep track of whether or not the units actually reappear? I've tried opening multiple cases for items that have been missing over a month. All I get is the same reply- that they need a specific transaction ID to investigate. I keep telling them that the issues is that there IS NO TRANSACTION. I've sent screenshots, I've broken down the math- I've even seen THEM break down the math, which clearly shows a discrepancy, and then tell me that there's no discrepancy.
Has anyone else been noticing things like this? I was shocked that I couldn't find anyone else talking about this.
Is there any sort of recourse here? The lack of transparency and accountability is truly frightening.
(Screenshots for reference- the Ledger Summary, and a failed case to reconcile.)
24 respuestas
Dougal_Amazon
Hello @Seller_780S4v8bJE16Z,
My name is Dougal from the Community Manager Team and I can take a deeper look into what you are talking about here. Please, can you share at least 1 of the multiple cases you have opened?
I would like to take a closer look and hopefully advise or escalate this issue accordingly.
Best, Dougal
Seller_780S4v8bJE16Z
Are any mods able to look into this??
Update: I've found a little over 100 SKUs with this issue so far.
38 of the items eventually returned, ranging from 4 days missing to 60. (?!)
One item has been missing for 116 days, and a handful for ~60-85 days.
I've opened cases for 8 items so far. Two have been closed with no resolution. One resulted in a reimbursement. (Oddly, right after I said I wasn't looking for reimbursement? The reason listed was "customer service issue".)
I've been struggling to keep the other cases open so that a mod can help me with them, but there's been no help yet.
Responses on cases have varied. I've been told I have to open the case within 60 days of the item being "reported as lost or damaged". (The whole point of this issue is that they AREN'T being reported at all!)
I've also been told I need to wait AT LEAST 60 days before opening a case (because warehouse transactions can take up to 60 days.)
Mostly, I've been told repeatedly that there is no discrepancy, ignoring all evidence that there IS. I am also told that I need to provide an exact transaction. (The problem is NO TRANSACTION.)
I was asked in one case to download and send reports from my Inventory Ledger. I provided both Summary and Detail Views, and was told the "transshipment history for inventory transfers between fulfillment centers is whole". They are NOT. The Detail View shows a sum of warehouse transfers of -12 from time of loss to present. We currently show 0 units under reserved/In Transit Between Warehouses. In the Summary view, it's extremely clear where the units went missing (with no transaction). Screenshot with ASINS, etc. removed: (The rest of the report above that is the same as the top couple of rows)
This is happening so much now that it can't possibly just be us.
I'm not necessarily looking for reimbursement (unless the units are truly lost). I understand that the items are probably still in transshipment.
I am looking for someone to address the issue in reporting! I am essentially trying to make a bug report! This need to be addressed. This is a huge lack of transparency and accountability that makes it impossible to truly track our inventory.
Any help would be appreciated, as well as any word from anyone else who's noticing the same problem.
Seller_780S4v8bJE16Z
@Dougal_Amazon@Dominic_Amazon@KJ_Amazon@Bryce_Amazon
I would really appreciate ANY insight on this issue.
As I said in my last update, I’m struggling to keep some of these cases open. I haven’t received any assistance yet.
Case 16651043281 is repeatedly being shut down, no matter what I try to explain. I keep getting this:
“60 days have been passed from the event date. Hence, [FNSKU] is not eligible for the reimbursement.”
I keep explaining that there IS no “event date” (or at least, not one that they’ve been willing to recognize), and that this isn't really a reimbursement case.
At the same time, back in case 1652735762, I was told “Warehouse transfer may take up to 60 days to complete so we will be able to investigate on the warehouse transfer event after 60 days.”
So which is it? They won’t look into an item missing in transfer BEFORE 60 days, and they won’t investigate missing items AFTER 60 days? And because there’s no transaction event, they usually won’t usually acknowledge that anything is wrong at all? (But they’ll still tell me I’m too early/late to investigate!)
ANYTHING to show that this is being looked into would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Seller_780S4v8bJE16Z
@Dougal_Amazon
Hello,
It's been 4 weeks since your initial reply, so I wanted to check in. (I understand we're entering the holidays now, but I want to post this now anyway.)
I've still received no assistance and made no headway with this issue. See my other replies on this thread for case numbers.
I've made a new screenshot laying out the issue, because the inventory ledger is tricky to read in terms of Warehouse Transfers.
This has still been an ongoing issue. Some more items have come back, but I'm still missing units that disappeared as far back as late July/August, and new instances are happening all the time.
Also, I'm getting more and more inconsistent answers from Seller Support on timeframe for investigations into this. (Less than 60 days, More than 60 days, between 30 and 90 days, between 60 and 120 days)
I just want to know that this issue is actually being looked into, and that there's a recourse for it if it keeps happening. It's unacceptable for our items to disappear like this with Amazon taking no accountability. Even if they're in transit, they still need to be accounted for.
Thanks.
Seller_pyCNvcu4niexi
@Dougal_Amazon @Dominic_Amazon @KJ_Amazon @Bryce_Amazon @Seller_ZdAkrc421R8lP
Guys. this is happening to me as well and yes, it is very troubling. I've caught 2 so far, but I'm sure there's many more. For example, in the daily inventory ledger, one day it says 70 units in transit between warehouses and the next it says 0 units in transit. Like Hyatt said, this occurs WITHOUT an accompanying transaction.
This is indeed a big issue that needs to be corrected as it's next to impossible to reconcile inventory like this.
The issue here is not just seller support looking at individual cases. That's just a bandaid and the underlying problem will keep happening. This is an apparent accounting GLITCH (I hope nothing nefarious. I mean amazon's a huge, accountable company, right?) that needs to be fixed.
Any updates from anyone regarding their experience/new developments would be greatly appreciated. We will do the same.
Seller_780S4v8bJE16Z
Hi @Dougal_Amazon,
It's been two months now, and I have yet to get ANY insight into the situation.
This continues to be an ongoing issue with no real solution so far. Please see the others giving their accounts as well. This is a technical issue that's really messing with our inventory and ability to restock correctly. It also erodes any trust in the data we get from Amazon.
Please check my previous posts on this thread- I've tried to provide a lot of examples. I can show more if needed.
If you'd like to see some currently ongoing cases, here are some:
16820187851, 16852203411, 16728317821, 16851934861
I had one item finally pop back into inventory after being unaccounted for for 139 days. (??!!) This is unacceptable. Please understand, I'm not talking about missing/lost units here. I'm talking about units becoming completely unaccounted for, for indefinite periods of time. It doesn't matter if our items are stuck in warehouse transfer- we still need to know they exist.
Thanks for any insight, anyone who can help.
@Dominic_Amazon@KJ_Amazon@Bryce_Amazon
