- A shortage is a deduction Amazon applies when it records fewer units than you invoiced.
- You dispute it with proof of delivery (POD, carrier paperwork, an accurate ASN) and within time windows Amazon has tightened over the years.
- Many shortages start with upstream mistakes: ASNs, labels, mixed cartons, wrong codes.
- Spot checks lose you money: you need to reconcile every invoice.
If you’re an Amazon Vendor, chances are that every month you’re paid less than you invoiced. Part of that gap is shortages: units Amazon says it didn’t receive and therefore doesn’t pay for. Here’s how they work, how to dispute them and where most of the money gets lost.
What shortage claims are
When you ship a purchase order (PO) to Amazon, you raise an invoice for the units sent. Amazon matches that invoice against what the fulfilment centre logged at receiving. If the warehouse counts fewer units, Amazon only pays for what it received and opens a deduction for the difference. In Vendor Central you’ll see it as a shortage claim, linked to the invoice and the PO.
The catch is that receiving isn’t always accurate. A carton can be scanned wrongly, a pallet can end up in the wrong place, an unreadable label can make a whole case disappear. In all these cases the goods arrived, but as far as Amazon is concerned they don’t exist. And if nobody disputes it, the deduction stays.
Shortages, PQV and other deductions
Don’t confuse shortages with other items that reduce your payments:
- Shortages (or PQV, purchase quantity variance): the difference between invoiced quantity and received quantity.
- Price claims (PPV): the difference between the invoiced price and the price Amazon considers correct.
- Operational chargebacks: penalties for shipping, labelling or prep errors.
- Co-op and marketing funds: deductions set out in your commercial terms.
Each has its own rules and its own evidence. Lumping them together in one spreadsheet is the main reason recoveries stall halfway.
Why Amazon deducts from your payments
Amazon doesn’t send you a debit note to approve. It simply offsets: it pays the invoice minus the missing quantity. So a shortage never shows up as an explicit cost, just as a smaller remittance. If your finance team reconciles by total payment rather than invoice by invoice, the gaps go unnoticed for months.
Some shortages do resolve themselves: the stock turns up later and Amazon releases the payment. It happens, but don’t count on it. In the accounts we review, we regularly find old shortages that were never resolved and never disputed.
How to dispute shortages
You open a dispute in Vendor Central on the invoice in question, or through Vendor Support. Amazon asks you to prove the goods were delivered in the invoiced quantity. The evidence that matters:
- POD (proof of delivery): the delivery receipt signed by the Amazon fulfilment centre, or carrier tracking with date, time and number of cases.
- Delivery note or BOL (bill of lading): showing the number of pallets or cartons and the weight, consistent with what you declared.
- An accurate ASN: the advance shipment notification sent to Amazon must match the invoice and the goods. A wrong ASN weakens any dispute.
- Packing list and carton contents: which codes are in which case, useful when only part of the shipment is missing.
If Amazon rejects the first dispute, you can dispute again, adding evidence or explaining the discrepancy. Many claims are won at the second attempt, once the paperwork is more complete.
Time windows
This is where you need to be careful. Amazon has tightened the windows for opening or reopening shortage disputes over time, and the rules aren’t the same in every marketplace. In some regions Amazon has introduced a maximum of two years from the invoice date, but disputes raised a few weeks after payment are far more likely to succeed than late ones. Our advice is simple: check the windows that apply to your account in Vendor Central and work on this month’s shortages, not last year’s.
The most common mistakes
Many shortages aren’t Amazon’s fault. They come from shipping errors that make receiving difficult and disputing impossible. The most frequent:
- ASNs sent with quantities that differ from what was actually shipped, or not updated after a last-minute change.
- Mixed cartons without proper labels or clear contents information.
- Wrong EAN codes, or codes not linked to the right ASIN in Vendor Central.
- Invoices with quantities that differ from the confirmed PO.
- Missing PODs because the carrier doesn’t provide signed proof of delivery, or doesn’t provide it in time.
- Disputes raised with generic evidence, without tying together invoice, PO, ASN and number of cases.
Fixing these reduces future shortages and makes your disputes on the remaining ones far more likely to succeed.
Why you need a systematic check
Many vendors only dispute the biggest shortages, or look at a few when someone notices an odd payment. That approach leaves a lot of money on the table, because shortages are often small and numerous: three units here, a carton there, across hundreds of invoices.
A systematic check works like this:
- Download every invoice, payment and deduction for the period.
- Reconcile each invoice against the payment received and split the differences by type.
- For each shortage, pull the evidence automatically: POD, ASN, delivery note.
- Open disputes in order of value and deadline.
- Track outcomes, re-dispute rejections with extra evidence and log what you’ve recovered.
Done by hand, this takes hours every month and someone who knows Vendor Central inside out. That’s why we use Bettershop Analytics, which matches invoices, payments and deductions and shows what can be disputed and what can’t.
| Approach | What happens | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| No checks | Shortages become costs | Constant, invisible losses |
| Spot checks | Only the large items get recovered | Many small items expire |
| Full reconciliation | Every invoice gets checked | Takes time or a dedicated tool |
How to work out what you’re losing
You can do a first check in a few hours. Take the last three months of payments, add up the deductions classed as shortages and compare them with your invoiced sales to Amazon. Then look at how many were disputed and with what result.
Example: if you invoice Amazon 200,000 euros a quarter and undisputed shortages are 1%, that’s 2,000 euros a quarter coming straight off your margin. The real figure depends on your account, but the sum tells you straight away whether it deserves attention.
If shortages are few and you win almost all of them, handling them in-house is enough. If there are lots of them, recurring at the same fulfilment centres or on the same codes, there’s an upstream problem to fix together with your logistics provider.
What to do now
Start with the invoices from the last 90 days and see how many have an open shortage. Check that every shipment has a matching POD and ASN. Set up a monthly reconciliation routine, not an annual one. If volumes are high or the evidence is scattered across carriers and warehouses, consider a Vendor recovery service that works through every invoice, not just the obvious ones.
Frequently asked questions
How long do you have to dispute an Amazon Vendor shortage?
The windows depend on the marketplace and Amazon has tightened them several times. In some regions the maximum is two years from the invoice date, but the chances of success drop sharply after the first few weeks. Check the rules active in your own Vendor Central and dispute every month.
What evidence do you need to dispute a shortage?
You need proof of delivery (POD) showing the number of cases, the delivery note or BOL, an ASN consistent with the invoice and the goods and, ideally, a breakdown of carton contents. The more closely the evidence ties to the specific invoice and PO, the easier it is to win.
Do shortages resolve themselves?
Sometimes Amazon finds the stock and releases the payment, but not always. Many shortages stay open until the vendor disputes them. That's why you need a regular check across all your invoices.