Amazon Says It Never Received It: Building the China-Side Evidence Packet for FBA Inbound Shortages (Checklist and FAQ)

When Amazon reports fewer units than you shipped from China, the first question is usually whether those units can still be recovered. The honest answer: it depends on Amazon's own investigation rules and on whether you can produce shipment-level records that line up with what was received. Of everything in that packet, the China-side outbound records — photographed, weighed, counted, and documented at handover — are the layer merchants can influence most directly. This guide covers what to collect, roughly when the clock starts running, and the most common reasons a shortage case gets pushed back.

This is not legal advice and not a claims service. Requirements, deadlines, and case flows are set by Amazon and can change. Confirm the current wording in Seller Central before relying on any specific deadline or document list. WooliiPorter does not file claims on your behalf, does not handle product payments, and never takes ownership of your goods.

The clock usually starts with the shipment status, not your dispatch date

Amazon-side shortage research and reconciliation requests are generally anchored to a shipment's lifecycle in Seller Central, most commonly the point at which the shipment is closed, rather than the day your cartons were handed to a forwarder. For China-based replenishment that gap is substantial: production, consolidation, ocean or air transit, customs clearance, and appointment scheduling all sit between dispatch and receiving, and they consume time from whatever window applies. By the time a variance becomes visible in the dashboard, part of that window may already be gone.

Reported window lengths vary between seller communities, and policies and case flows do change. That is why we do not publish a fixed day count here. The practical move is to read the current policy in Seller Central, note its effective date, and work backwards from your own shipment close dates instead of planning around a number seen in a forum thread.

What a usable inbound shortage packet typically contains

Requirements differ by case type and by shipment, so not every item below is needed every time. These are the documents commonly requested in inbound shortage scenarios.

What a China warehouse can actually document at outbound

This is the layer WooliiPorter operates in, and the one merchants can shape most directly. On inbound to our China warehouse we can photograph, weigh, and count parcels and cartons. Before outbound consolidation or repacking we can record quantities and billing weight. At handover we can document the carton count and handover details for the consignment leaving the warehouse. Together these form a pre-dispatch baseline that later reconciliation can be compared against.

Two caveats matter. First, billing weight and volumetric weight are not the same as physical net weight; dimensional weight is a carrier pricing mechanism, and consolidation or repacking may change the dimensional result, but it does not automatically reduce what you pay. Whether it changes depends on the commodity, the packing method, and the service level. Second, weight and piece counts are a baseline, not proof of contents: a carton can weigh exactly what it should and still be short. An evidence chain holds up because box-level counts, photos, and SKU-level packing lists corroborate one another.

The merchant-facing capability details, including inbound photo records, box-level counting, and consolidation, are described on the for merchants pages. If you want to know whether your current flow would hold up before a shortage happens, a workflow review is the right starting point.

Reading shipment status: when to open a case

Shipments generally move from planning and dispatch, through receiving, to closed, with research states appearing when Amazon agrees to look further. Two practical rules:

• If the policy for your case type requires a settled status, do not submit while the shipment is still being received. Early submissions are frequently merged or closed outright.
• Once the shipment has reached the required status and the variance is documented, submit, rather than waiting until the window may have expired.

Reconcile on a schedule instead of in a quarter-end rush. The earlier a variance surfaces, the more of your original records are still retrievable.

Why shortage cases get pushed back

• Wrong case type. Missing units, damaged units, and shipment-level misroutes follow different flows and require different attachments.
• Duplicate submissions. Opening several cases for the same shipment ID can slow the process or reset progress.
• Quantity and value mismatches. Claimed units that conflict with COGS, supplier invoices, or declared box content are a frequent reason for rejection.
• Evidence that is hard to verify. Blurry photos, missing time information, or packing lists that disagree with box content records.
• Records that were never captured. Some records become difficult to reconstruct once the outbound moment has passed, which is why capturing them at handover beats reconstructing them later.

A weekly reconciliation rhythm that keeps evidence usable

1. Export received quantities for every shipment that is open or closed, and compare them against your declared box content.
2. Flag variances and label them by type: not yet received, partially received, or closed with a shortage.
3. For each flagged shipment, assemble the China-side baseline: outbound photos, weights, carton counts, handover receipt, and packing list.
4. Check the current policy and case type, then submit once, with as complete an attachment set as you have.
5. Keep one living log per shipment ID: case number, date filed, attachments, and Amazon responses.

FAQ

Does a carrier POD prove the cartons contained the right units?

No. A POD or BOL generally documents that a number of pieces was handed over and delivered. It supports the carton-count baseline; on its own it does not prove SKU-level contents.

Can box-level records be reconstructed after a shipment closes?

Sometimes, but not reliably. Weights and photos captured during outbound handling can usually be pulled from system records. Handover paperwork and pre-repacking photos that were never captured are considerably harder to recreate.

Do I need supplier invoices for a shortage case?

Depending on the case type and value, proof of value and ownership may be requested. Store supplier invoices and payment confirmations under a consistent naming convention per shipment so they can be attached quickly.

What if the shipment was consolidated from several suppliers?

This is where a China-side record set earns its place. Document what arrived from each supplier, which carton it was consolidated into, and what actually left the warehouse. Consolidation and multi-supplier notes are covered on the for merchants pages.

Does the outcome depend on using WooliiPorter?

No. We provide fulfillment and outbound evidence at our China warehouse. We do not file claims and we make no promises about results. Claim decisions are Amazon's.

Where this fits in your flow

The outbound evidence chain is not a standalone step. Upstream sits inbound evidence and shortage handling from your suppliers to our China warehouse; downstream sit delivery windows and later removal or returns processes. This article covers the middle segment only: from China warehouse outbound to an Amazon-side reconciliation. If you want dispatch and order data to flow into your systems in a more structured way for automated reconciliation later, the integrations page describes the currently verified states; on WooCommerce our plugin is currently listed in the WordPress.org directory rather than the WooCommerce Marketplace, and Shopify and Amazon channel claims are stated only to the extent they have been verified. For early estimates on weight and billing weight, the shipping calculator is a reasonable starting point.

If a shipment is sitting on a variance right now, do two things: gather that shipment's China-side outbound records, then confirm the case type and timing against the current Seller Central policy. Request a merchant workflow review and we can look at whether your outbound records would support a complete reconciliation; or sign up as a Merchant and start capturing the baseline on your next shipment.