Are your Storage Limits in Jeopardy?

Running out of inventory on Amazon as a seller can be one of the worst things you can do, especially during the busy selling season. Amazon made an announcement yesterday that could have an equal, if not more damaging, effect on many sellers across their marketplace.
Here is that announcement:

US Inventory Performance Index (IPI) threshold change and free removals promotion

Effective January 1, 2020, we are changing the IPI threshold for storage limits to 400 (previously 350). Storage limits will continue to be evaluated each quarter. If your IPI score is less than 400 during the next evaluation week of November 11, 2019, you will be notified of your potential storage limits for Q1 2020. You will then have six weeks to improve your IPI score. If your IPI score is still below 400 during the week of December 23, 2019, storage limits will apply for Q1 2020.

Sellers who maintain an IPI score of 400 or greater will have unlimited storage for standard-size and oversized items (monthly storage fees and long-term storage fees still apply).

To provide a head start on improving inventory health, we are offering a limited-time, free inventory removal promotion for all sellers with an IPI score of 350 or above at any point in October 2019. Sellers without an IPI score are not eligible for this promotion. If you qualify, beginning October 14, 2019, we will waive your removal fees for any removal order that you submit for inventory in our US fulfillment centers. This promotion ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on October 31, 2019.

Amazon is cleaning up their warehouse space and making sure that sellers are being much more calculated with their inventory. Gone are the days of just sending anything and everything into an Amazon fulfillment center. Getting hit with storage limitations during Q1 of 2020 could be a difficult pill to swallow and may even have an impact on next years sales goals. Here are a few tips and tricks to make sure you don’t lose out on precious storage space during the newest update:

1. Free Removals Promotion: Amazon is providing sellers with a window of free removals during the month of October to help clean out unwanted or old inventory prior to the holidays. Take advantage of this opportunity and remove items that you know won’t sell during this holiday season and/or have been sitting so long they are hurting your IPI score.
2. Set Automated Removals: There is a feature within your FBA settings in Seller Central that will automatically remove inventory that is approaching long-term storage fees. Enable this feature to prevent getting hit with fees and lowering your IPI score.
3. FBA Donations Program: Amazon recently launched a new program that allows you to donate unwanted or overstock items to a non-profit charity. Amazon will handle all the delivery arrangements on your behalf. You just pay the normal disposal fees. Here is a link to that program: FBA Donations Program.

If you need help with your inventory or just want to discuss some more options for preventing your storage limits from being hit, feel free to reach out, and one of our Amazon marketing consultants can give you a free consult and analysis of your current strategy.