Stranded Inventory and How to Fix It

Every Amazon seller must know what stranded inventory is and how to deal with it. Here you will find the basics of this concept.

According to Amazon, “Stranded inventory is an inventory at a fulfillment center that does not have an active offer on Amazon.” In other words, your product is hidden in the back of the store, and shoppers can’t see it or buy it.

Or, in some cases, your product is in the middle of the sea, and nobody knows.

And if this wasn’t stressful enough, that time is costing you money in storage fees, potential sales loss, and less cash flow during the stranded period. Stranded inventory also affects the IPI (Inventory Performance Index) and can limit your storage space in FBA.

Amazon gives sellers 30 days from the day it gets stranded to resolve the problem until it is removed or disposed from Amazon’s Fulfilment Center. It requires active action to find the main cause and fixing the problem.

In the Fix Stranded Inventory dashboard, you have all the SKU or ASIN information and the hints to solve the issue. Necessary fields (hints) to check: the date of stranded, stranded reason, and quantities. This information will help you understand the cause, the time you have to resolve it, and the affected quantities.

Top Reasons for Stranded Inventory

Merchant Fulfilled (DG info required) — this happens to all ASINs that require FBA dangerous goods (DG) review process. You need to fill a form to let Amazon know what kind of products they have in their warehouse.

Pricing errors — too high or too low prices can trigger an alert and get your ASINs stranded. It can be easily fixed by changing your listing’s minimum and maximum price. However, sometimes this is not enough. #Tip: Amazon stands for fair and lower prices, so try to price your products accordingly to the Buy Box and marketplace.

Listing errors — is when your listing has a mismatch of information. For example, the ASIN is not connected to an SKU in your inventory, the listing was deleted from your inventory, or listing quality issue. Review your listing and verify that all information is correct.

Suspended listing — this can happen for several reasons. It can be that your listing requires more information (description, images, bullet points, etc.) or that Amazon suspended your listing (e.g., poor voice of the customer performance). In this case, you need to review all the possible causes and address them.

There are many other reasons why your listings can go to stranded inventory, such as brand restrictions, expired products, item discontinued, listing closed, restricted ASINs, or incomplete listing. I will explain each of the reasons in the next story from the #FBAseries.

So next time you see some stranded inventory, don’t panic! Just find the clues of the root cause and get to work. Most cases can be resolved without help from Seller Support, but if you need, open a case and explain your issue.

If you want to know more about it, let me know in the comments and follow for more information about the topic. I will develop the #FBAseries with a lot of content to be one Amazon catalog savvy.