Amazon FBA removals and returns for sellers outside the U.S.
Updated
When you sell through Amazon FBA from outside the U.S., removal orders, customer returns and unfulfillable inventory raise one practical question: where can the units go? This guide explains how removals and returns work as of October 2026, what Amazon does if you don't decide, and how to set up a U.S. address that keeps your options open.
Why removals are harder when your business is abroad
Every FBA seller ends up with units that need to leave Amazon's fulfillment centers: slow sellers before storage fees climb, customer returns Amazon can't resell, damaged cartons, stock for another sales channel, or inventory left behind when a listing has a problem. A seller in the U.S. sends a removal order to their own warehouse. A seller abroad often has no U.S. address at all, and that is where the trouble starts.
Without a plan, the default outcome is often disposal. That means paying a fee to have your own goods destroyed, even when many of them could be inspected, relabeled and sold again. The sections below explain the options Amazon gives you, the rules on where units can go, and the settings that decide what happens when you don't act.
Amazon removal orders: return, dispose or liquidate
A removal order is a request in Seller Central to take specific units out of Amazon's fulfillment network. You choose the units, the quantity and what should happen to them. The main methods are:
| Method | What happens | What you get back | Fit for a seller abroad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return | Amazon ships the units to an address you give | The units themselves | Only with a U.S. address to receive them |
| Dispose | Amazon disposes of or recycles the units | Nothing | For units with no realistic resale value |
| Liquidate | Eligible units are sold to a wholesale liquidator through Amazon | A share of the recovery value, minus fees | For excess or returned stock you do not want back |
Fees
Removal and disposal are charged per unit. Amazon's FBA team says removal fees are based on your product's size tier and shipping weight (Amazon post on FBA removals), and Amazon lists removal, disposal and liquidation as per-item charges (Sell on Amazon, FBA costs). Amazon reviews these fees each year, and its 2026 U.S. fee update took effect on January 15, 2026. Check the current rates on Amazon's removal order fee page in Seller Central or in the Revenue Calculator before you decide, rather than relying on figures from earlier years.
Timing
Removals are not fast. Amazon's FBA team has said a removal can take 90 days or more to complete, plus about two weeks for the carrier to deliver (Amazon post on FBA removals). In its 2026 fee announcement Amazon said it would provide faster removals processing (Amazon's 2026 fee announcement), but as of October 2026 it is safer to plan with the longer figure. A large removal order usually arrives in several packages over a period of weeks, sometimes from different fulfillment centers. Plan for that before you count on the units for another order.
Removal orders need a U.S. address
This is the rule that matters most for international sellers. Amazon says it is currently unable to return imported inventory to an address outside the United States, so returns of that inventory must go to a domestic location such as your own warehouse, a third-party logistics provider or another U.S. address. Amazon also says FBA does not support international shipment pickups from its fulfillment centers (Amazon post, Importing 101 for FBA sellers).
There are further limits on the destination. Amazon staff have said removal orders cannot be shipped to U.S. territories, to PO, APO, FPO or DPO boxes, or to other fulfillment centers (Amazon staff reply on removal destinations). A friend's apartment or a mailbox service is rarely a good answer either: removals can be dozens of cartons arriving over weeks, and someone has to check each one against what Amazon says it sent.
If you have no U.S. address, set one up before you need it. Units that cannot be returned to you are, in practice, units you will dispose of or liquidate.
Abanro receives Amazon removal orders at its warehouse in Orange County, California. Tell us what to expect and what should happen to the units, and we check each delivery against your removal details and report back.
Automated removal settings
Seller Central has two groups of automated settings. If you sell from abroad, set both deliberately, because they run whether you are watching or not.
Automated unfulfillable settings
Unsellable units have to be removed from FBA. In the automated unfulfillable settings you choose whether those units are returned to you or disposed of. Amazon says that without a removal preference, the units are disposed of at Amazon's earliest discretion based on capacity (Amazon moderator post on automatic removal settings).
Since September 9, 2021, you can also choose two value recovery options for unfulfillable inventory: refurbishment, for eligible customer returns in new condition that need light work to become sellable again, and liquidation. Units that don't qualify for either are then removed according to your return or dispose choice (Amazon announcement on automated removal options).
Automated fulfillable inventory settings
For sellable stock, the automated fulfillable inventory settings let Amazon return, liquidate or dispose of aging and slow-moving units. Once enabled, Amazon says this covers fulfillable inventory that has been in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days, and units of ASINs that have gone six or more consecutive months without a sale and have been in a fulfillment center for more than 180 days.
There is a catch for seasonal products: after such a removal, Amazon says the ASIN may not be shipped back into FBA for a waiting period of up to 90 days. If your product sells mainly in one season, a removal in the off season can keep it out of FBA when demand returns.
For a seller abroad, the safest default is usually: unfulfillable units set to return to a U.S. address, and fulfillable automation enabled only if you have a plan for the units when they arrive.
Unfulfillable and stranded inventory
Unfulfillable inventory
Units become unfulfillable when Amazon cannot sell them as new: customer-damaged returns, items damaged in a warehouse or by a carrier, defective units, or expired products. They sit in your inventory but cannot be sold, and they must eventually leave FBA. Some of these units are worth recovering. A returned item in its original packaging with a damaged outer box, for example, may only need inspection and new packaging. Others are not worth the removal fee, and disposal or liquidation is the honest answer. The point is to decide by product, not by default.
Stranded inventory
Stranded inventory is sellable stock at Amazon that has no active offer, usually because of a listing problem, a pricing issue or a compliance hold. Amazon's storage fees apply to units held in its fulfillment centers whether or not they are selling, so stranded stock costs money every month. Fix the listing first, check the reason Amazon gives in Seller Central, and remove the units only if the problem cannot be solved in time.
Excess stock at Amazon also affects your capacity. Our guide to inbound placement fees and capacity limits explains how inventory performance shapes how much you can send.
Customer returns in FBA
With FBA, Amazon handles customer service and returns for the orders it fulfills (Sell on Amazon, FBA). Customers send returns to Amazon, not to you. Amazon evaluates each returned unit: sellable units can go back into your inventory, while unsellable ones become unfulfillable and follow your automated unfulfillable settings.
Returns can carry a returns processing fee. Amazon describes it as charged on orders where Amazon provides the customer with free return shipping. From June 1, 2024, Amazon expanded the returns processing fee to high return-rate products in all categories except apparel and shoes, applying it only to products with the highest return rates relative to others in their category (Amazon fee announcement for 2024). Check the current returns processing fee rules for your category in Seller Central, since Amazon reviews them each year.
Two practical consequences for sellers abroad:
- Returned units accumulate quietly. Without a U.S. address and a return setting, many end up disposed of. Review your returns and unfulfillable reports monthly.
- A high return rate is a product signal. Read Amazon's return reasons. Packaging that fails in transit, a missing size chart or an unclear listing can often be fixed at the source.
Returns from your own website or other channels work differently and are covered in handling U.S. customer returns as an overseas ecommerce brand.
Removal orders arriving with nowhere to go? Abanro receives them in California, inspects each unit and sends sellable stock back to FBA or on to your other channels.
Set up a U.S. receiving addressFBA Liquidations
FBA Liquidations lets you sell excess or customer-returned inventory to a wholesale liquidator through Amazon instead of removing or disposing of it. Amazon's FBA team describes it this way (Amazon post on FBA Liquidations):
- Recovery: expect roughly 5 to 10 percent of the product's value as gross recovery.
- Fees: a processing fee based on item size and weight, plus a liquidation referral fee of 15 percent of the gross recovery.
- Payment: the net amount usually arrives within 90 days.
- Timing: storage fees and aged inventory surcharges stop when you submit the order, and a confirmed liquidation order cannot be canceled.
- Eligibility: it depends on legal, safety and regulatory rules. Hazmat (see our guide to the Amazon dangerous goods review), recalled items, face masks, jewelry and expired, defective or warehouse-damaged items are not eligible.
You create a liquidation the same way as a removal order, choosing liquidation as the method. Automated liquidation can also be set for fulfillable and unfulfillable inventory. Confirm current fees and eligibility on Amazon's FBA Liquidations page before you rely on the program.
Liquidation suits stock you do not want back at any price. If the units are new and your brand sells through other channels, a removal to a U.S. address often recovers more, at the cost of handling them yourself or through a partner.
What a U.S. receiving address lets you do
With a U.S. address that can receive, inspect and act on removals, the choice is no longer between disposal and liquidation. Here is what you can do with units that come out of FBA:
- Inspect and sort. Count each delivery against the removal order, then sort units into resellable as new, needs repacking, and not resellable. Photos give you a record for any claim with Amazon.
- Relabel and repack. Replace damaged poly bags or outer boxes and apply fresh FNSKU labels so units meet Amazon's requirements again. See Amazon FBA prep requirements in 2026.
- Re-send to FBA. Send corrected units back to Amazon in a new shipment, sized to your capacity and, if Amazon's automated settings removed the ASIN, after its waiting period.
- Sell elsewhere. Fulfill orders from your own online store, sell to U.S. wholesale buyers, or use units as samples.
- Store until the season returns. Keep seasonal stock out of Amazon's storage fees and send it back when demand picks up.
- Ship back abroad, if it pays. Returning goods to your country is a new export shipment, with freight and possibly duties at home, so it usually only makes sense for high-value items.
Abanro does this from Orange County: receiving and inspection, relabeling (label-only service from $0.45 per unit), storage (from $8 per carton per month), forwarding back to Amazon (from $5 per carton) and ecommerce fulfillment for other channels (pick and pack from $4.50 per order). These are starting prices; see the pricing page for what each includes.
Checklist for sellers outside the U.S.
- Set up a U.S. address that can receive removal orders, ideally before your first FBA shipment.
- Set your automated unfulfillable settings to return units to that address, and decide on refurbishment and liquidation.
- Decide whether to enable automated fulfillable removals, keeping the up to 90-day waiting period in mind for seasonal ASINs.
- Review stranded, unfulfillable and aging inventory every month.
- Before each removal, compare the per-unit removal fee with the likely resale value, and choose return, disposal or liquidation per SKU.
- Tell your receiving partner what is coming: order IDs, SKUs, quantities and what to do with each grade of unit.
- Allow 90 days or more for a removal to complete, plus transit.
- Use return reasons to fix packaging, listings or product issues at the source.
If you are still planning how goods reach Amazon in the first place, start with how to send inventory to Amazon FBA from overseas and FNSKU labels vs manufacturer barcodes.
Sources and further reading
- FBA removal order fees (help page, sign-in required), Amazon Seller Central
- Importing 101 for FBA sellers: Part 3 (returns of imported inventory to U.S. addresses), Amazon Seller Forums
- Removal order destinations (Amazon staff reply), Amazon Seller Forums
- FBA inventory removals: a comprehensive guide, Amazon Seller Forums
- FBA automatic removal settings (Amazon moderator post), Amazon Seller Forums
- Refurbishment and liquidation are now automated-removal options, Amazon Seller Forums, News and Announcements
- FBA Liquidations: everything you need to know, Amazon Seller Forums
- FBA Liquidations (help page, sign-in required), Amazon Seller Central
- 2026 Updates to US Referral and Fulfillment by Amazon Fees, Amazon Seller Forums, News and Announcements
- Update to US referral and Fulfillment by Amazon fees (returns processing fee, 2024), Amazon Seller Forums, News and Announcements
- Fulfillment by Amazon: costs and fee pages, Sell on Amazon
Sources checked on