Amazon Excess Inventory Management

Finding aged and excess FBA inventory, optimizing sell-through and disposal options

Mercantile Commerce identifies excess and aging FBA inventory, builds the case for what should happen to each unit, and executes the disposition directly in the seller's account. That includes liquidation and donation of excess FBA inventory, removals back to the brand, or enrollment in Amazon's resale programs. Excess inventory is usually discovered late, when a storage fee or an aged-inventory surcharge appears. The work is more valuable earlier, so we monitor for it continuously rather than reviewing it once a quarter.

Aging and Excess Analysis

The decision on any given unit depends on what it costs to keep, what it would recover, and whether it will sell through at a price you would accept.

  • Inventory age profiled against Amazon's aged-inventory surcharge tiers

  • Sell-through projected at current and discounted velocity

  • Holding cost quantified, including storage fees and surcharges

  • Recovery compared across each available disposition path

  • Slow movers separated from seasonal items that will turn

Disposal Options

Every unit has more than one exit, and they are not equally good. We put the options side by side with the numbers attached.

  • Price and promotion action to sell through at full or reduced margin

  • Liquidation of excess FBA inventory through Amazon's programs

  • Donation of excess FBA inventory where that is the better outcome

  • Removal back to the brand or to a 3PL for other channels

  • Disposal where recovery does not justify the freight

  • Grade and Resell for customer-returned units in resalable condition

Execution in Seller Central

We do the execution rather than handing over a recommendation and a spreadsheet.

  • Removal, liquidation, disposal, and donation orders created and submitted

  • Program enrollment configured, including Amazon Outlet where eligible

  • Orders tracked through completion and reconciled against expected recovery

  • Reimbursements pursued when units are lost or damaged in the process

Demand Planning Feedback Loop

Out of stock products are a missed opportunity and overstocked products tie up cash. We feed these signals back into our demand planning algorithms to drive increased efficiency over time.

  • Aged-inventory exposure reported alongside your ongoing inventory metrics

  • Replenishment quantities adjusted where excess traces back to inbound decisions

  • Assortment reviewed where the same items age repeatedly