Amazon FBA customer returns report: dispositions and statuses explained
Every row of the FBA customer returns report has a detailed-disposition — the condition Amazon gave the unit when it came back — and a status. Here is what each one means for you: back in stock, stuck as unsellable, or something Amazon should compensate you for.
By Vedant Agarwal, who builds WidenMargin's toolsUpdated
Every disposition at a glance
| Disposition | What it means | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| SELLABLE | The unit was returned to stock and is available for purchase. | Back in your sellable stock |
| DAMAGED | Amazon takes responsibility for the damage, and ownership of the unit is transferred to Amazon. | Amazon compensates you under its FBA inventory reimbursement policy — look for it in the Reimbursements report |
| CUSTOMER_DAMAGED | Returned to stock in unsellable condition. The item itself is not necessarily damaged — the outer packaging may have been opened, for example — but it cannot be sold again in this condition. The customer is refunded. | Stays in your inventory as unsellable — you can ask for it back with a removal order |
| DEFECTIVE | Returned to stock in unsellable condition. The unit is either obviously damaged or the customer said it is faulty. The customer is refunded. | Stays in your inventory as unsellable — you can ask for it back with a removal order |
| CARRIER_DAMAGED | Amazon takes responsibility for the damage, and ownership of the unit is transferred to Amazon. | Amazon compensates you under its FBA inventory reimbursement policy — look for it in the Reimbursements report |
| EXPIRED | Units within 50 days of their expiration date may be set aside as unsellable and eventually removed for disposal by Amazon. Once disposed of, they can't be returned to you. | Stays in your inventory as unsellable — you can ask for it back with a removal order |
These are the condition codes Amazon publishes for this report; some sources write them with a space instead of an underscore ("CUSTOMER DAMAGED"). If your file shows a disposition that is not listed here, Amazon doesn't publish a definition for it — check the unit in Seller Central before acting on it.
What the status column says
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Unit returned to inventory | The unit has been returned to your sellable or unsellable inventory — the disposition says which. |
| Reimbursed | A reimbursement has been approved for the unit and the unit has not been returned to your inventory. Allow 5 days for the reimbursement to post. |
| Pending repackaging | The unit is being repackaged. |
| Repackaged successfully | The unit was repackaged and returned to your sellable inventory. |
| To be autoremoved, Immediate disposal | These also appear in the status column. Amazon doesn't publish a definition for them. |
Reason vs disposition
The reason column is what the customer said; the disposition is what the fulfillment center found. A customer can return an item as DEFECTIVE and the unit can still come back SELLABLE, so read the disposition first. A few of the reason codes, with the descriptions published for this report:
| Reason | Description |
|---|---|
| DEFECTIVE | Item is defective |
| DAMAGED_BY_CARRIER | Product was damaged or defective on arrival |
| DAMAGED_BY_FC | Product became damaged or defective after arrival |
| NOT_AS_DESCRIBED | Not as described on website |
| SWITCHEROO | Amazon sent me the wrong item |
| MISSING_PARTS | Shipment was missing items or accessories |
| QUALITY_UNACCEPTABLE | Product performance or quality is not up to my expectations |
| UNWANTED_ITEM | Unwanted item |
| UNDELIVERABLE_REFUSED | Undeliverable: Refused |
How this report pairs with refunds
A refund shows up in your settlement report; the matching return shows up here only once the unit is back at a fulfillment center. A refunded order with no return and no reimbursement is the case worth checking: Amazon normally reimburses it on its own at around day 45, and if it doesn't, you can claim from day 45 to day 105 after the refund — see FBA reimbursement claim deadlines.
The refunded-but-not-returned finder does that match in your browser: it takes the FBA refunds from your settlement report, looks each one up in this report by order-id and SKU, and subtracts reimbursements Amazon made against the order. A row here counts as returned whatever its disposition — so for DAMAGED and CARRIER_DAMAGED returns, check the reimbursements report separately for the compensation. Keep in mind that a refund Amazon gave without asking for the item back never appears in this report either.
Every column in the report
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| return-date | The date the returned unit was processed at the fulfillment center — not the day the customer asked to return it. |
| order-id | The ID of the original order, if available. |
| sku | Your SKU for the item. |
| asin | The item's ASIN. |
| fnsku | Amazon's fulfillment network SKU for the item. |
| product-name | The product's name as it appears on Amazon. |
| quantity | How many units of the item were returned. |
| fulfillment-center-id | The fulfillment center where the return was processed. |
| detailed-disposition | The condition Amazon gave the returned unit — see the first table. |
| reason | The customer's reason for the return. |
| status | Where the return stands — see the status table. |
| license-plate-number | A unique serial number that identifies the unit throughout the fulfillment process. |
| customer-comments | The customer's comments about why they returned it, when there are any. |
Questions about the customer returns report
Where do I download the customer returns report?
In Seller Central go to Reports, then Fulfillment, and open Customer Returns (listed under Customer Concessions). Amazon describes it as customer-returned items received at an Amazon fulfillment center, including the return reason and disposition; it is a tab-delimited file updated daily.
What is the difference between the reason and the disposition?
The reason is what the customer said when they asked to return the item. The disposition is the condition Amazon's fulfillment center gave the unit after it came back — and that is the column that decides whether the unit is sellable, unsellable, or something Amazon compensates you for.
What is the difference between DAMAGED and CUSTOMER_DAMAGED?
With DAMAGED (and CARRIER_DAMAGED) Amazon takes responsibility, ownership of the unit transfers to Amazon and Amazon compensates you under its FBA inventory reimbursement policy. With CUSTOMER_DAMAGED the customer is refunded and the unit stays in your inventory as unsellable — you can have it sent back to you.
A customer was refunded but the order isn't in the report. Why?
A return only appears once Amazon has received and processed it at a fulfillment center. And Amazon sometimes refunds a customer without asking for the item back — those refunds never appear in this report. That is why refunds with no matching return are worth checking against the reimbursements report.
What happens to EXPIRED returns?
Units within 50 days of their expiration date may be set aside as unsellable and eventually disposed of by Amazon. You can ask for expired units to be returned to you as long as they have not been disposed of yet.
Related free tools
- Refunded-but-not-returned finder — refunds where the item never came back and Amazon hasn't reimbursed you.
- FBA reimbursements analyzer — everything Amazon has already reimbursed, by reason and SKU.
- Lost & damaged inventory finder — units lost or damaged in Amazon's warehouses that were never reimbursed.
Sources: Amazon SP-API report type values (FBA); Openbridge: FBA Customer Returns Report; Sellercloud: FBA returns and reimbursements; Gorilla ROI: Amazon FBA returns condition codes. Checked October 2, 2026.