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By Vanessa Hung · August 30, 2025 · Curated by George's Blog
Amazon will decide what happens to your unsold inventory, unless you set your own rules
Starting September 30, Amazon is updating how sellers manage excess and unfulfillable inventory in the US and Canada, introducing new defaults that affect recovery value, reporting, and donation handling. This is what’s changing:
⚠️ FBA Liquidations becomes the default
If you don’t configure your automated fulfillable or automated unfulfillable settings, Amazon will automatically enroll your inventory into FBA Liquidations.
• Unsold or returned inventory will be liquidated through Amazon’s partners
• You’ll receive a net recovery value of roughly 5% to 10% of the average selling price
• You can still opt out manually
🚨 FBA Donations becomes mandatory
Previously optional, FBA Donations will now automatically apply to all eligible inventory disposals.
• No opt-out option as of September 30, 2025
• Inventory that qualifies for donation will go to Amazon’s nonprofit partners
• Disposal fees remain the same
• Donation certificates will continue to be issued annually
This matters because Amazon is changing who makes the final decision about unsold inventory. Sellers still have options, but only if they proactively manage their FBA settings. Otherwise, Amazon decides:
• Liquidate it through secondary markets
• Donate it through its nonprofit network
• Dispose of it if it’s ineligible
This shift means the cost of not managing your settings extends beyond fees, potentially affecting your recovery value, reporting, and tax strategy. So yeah, Amazon is prioritizing catalog control by creating consistent, predictable pathways for excess inventory, keeping its fulfillment network lean and its data clean.
• Reducing stranded inventory
• Improving storage optimization
• Standardizing reporting for sustainability initiatives
It’s also a sign of where the marketplace is heading: sellers are expected to operate within Amazon’s ecosystem, not around it.
My take is that this isn’t just an operational update. It’s a reminder that Amazon is redesigning the end-of-life strategy for your products, and unless you set your own rules, Amazon will set them for you.
#Amazon #FBA #EcommerceStrategy #InventoryManagement