To better manage your inventory and storage space in FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) fulfillment centers, Amazon enforces certain inventory retention policies, including limits and restrictions. We’ll cover how to store your Amazon FBA inventory in 2022 and all limits and restrictions from the Amazon administration.
Amazon FBA inventory: Storage limits
Firstly, storage limits are based on volume measured in cubic feet and are set for each type of storage. Your current and potential storage limits and usage are shown when you expand your storage. Secondly, you can view all this on the Inventory Performance dashboard and Shipping Queue.
Amazon FBA inventory retention criteria
Individual Selling Plan sellers have a set storage limit of 10 cubic feet and this value cannot be changed.
They simply cannot increase the storage limit of goods!
Meanwhile, Professional Selling Plan sellers may or may not have storage limits depending on the following criteria:
- Sellers who maintain an Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score at or above the required threshold across either of the two breakpoints will not be subject to storage limits for standard-size, oversized, apparel, and footwear items.
- New sellers who have been active for less than 26 weeks, or sellers who do not have enough sales data to qualify for an IPI score during both of the two weeks of results validation, will not receive a storage limit.
- Professional sellers who have storage limits will still have a minimum of 25 cubic feet for standard size, plus size inventory, apparel or shoes.
- Professional sellers can track their IPI in the Inventory Performance dashboard. The dashboard provides a hub for optimizing your FBA business, including customized recommendations to increase sales and reduce costs.
Your IPI score is updated weekly based on current inventory management
Storage limits are calculated based on several factors, including the following:
- Your sales volume, including periods of seasonal sales
- Your historical IPI scores
- Available fulfillment center capacity
- Sellers with consistently higher IPI scores will receive higher storage limits adjusted for sales volume and available capacity.
- When setting limits for the upcoming quarter, Amazon takes into account both your recent sales volume and the last year’s seasonal volume.
Amazon FBA warehouse storage types
In the meantime, storage limits apply to seven types of storage: standard size, oversized, clothing, footwear, flammable, aerosol, and extra large. To view storage types for your products and their capacity, go to Manage Inventory Health and Manage Inventory Health report.
Amazon determines your inventory storage type based on product characteristics. Storage type is not a category that sellers can customize. Products are not classified by more than one storage type.
- Multiply length x width x height in inches to get the volume.
- Divide the volume by 1728 which is 12 cubic inches.
- Example: Unit 47 x 12 x 10 inches divided by 1728 = 3.3 cubic feet.
Amazon may check the weight and dimensions of an item using representative samples. Amazon’s product weight and dimensions information will be used to calculate commissions if there is a difference between Amazon’s information and the seller’s information.
Meanwhile, Amazon may change its product weight and sizing information from time to time to reflect updated measurements. Use Amazon’s information on the weight and dimensions of that product to calculate storage limits.
FBA storage limit exceeds
Due to the FBA inventory storage limit policy, you will not be able to create a new shipment to Amazon for a storage type until your inventory level falls below your limit for that storage type.
For example, if your current limit for standard size inventory is 25 cubic feet, and you have 26 cubic feet of standard size inventory in a fulfillment center, you cannot create a new shipment for standard size inventory. However, if you have less than your oversized inventory storage limit, you can create oversized inventory shipments.
If you ship more inventory than your storage limit allows, the additional inventory may be rejected from the FBA warehouse.
You will be charged for excess storage if your existing inventory exceeds the storage limit for any type of storage on any day during a given month.
Amazon FBA inventory: Stock reduction
There are three ways to reduce inventory:
- First, request an inventory return by creating a disposal order.
- Second, sell more inventory. Manage Inventory Health provides recommendations to increase sales.
- Third, request inventory deletion by creating a deletion order.
When you submit a takedown order or make similar changes, the amount of storage will not reflect the change until your request is placed on hold, which usually happens the next day. Meanwhile, customer returns affect total inventory.
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