Amazon Europe to Adjust Unfulfillable Inventory Handling Rules
Starting October 28, 2026, Amazon Europe will handle unfulfillable inventory after providing notice to sellers that have not enabled automated settings.
What are the key facts?
- 1Directly effective from October 28, 2026
- 2Without configured settings, Amazon may destroy or donate unfulfillable inventory after notice
- 3Covers multiple European marketplaces
- 4Mainly affects cross-border sellers using FBA and storing inventory in multiple European countries
- 5Sellers must confirm unfulfillable inventory handling options
What happened?
Amazon Europe’s inventory handling rules will directly affect sellers that have not configured automated handling settings starting October 28, 2026. The marketplaces involved include the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Ireland. If a seller has not enabled automated unfulfillable settings on the relevant marketplaces, Amazon may destroy or donate unfulfillable inventory after providing 14 days' notice.
The rule mainly concerns cross-border sellers using FBA and storing inventory in multiple European countries, especially categories with high return rates, products that are easily damaged during transportation, products that cannot be resold after packaging damage, or products involving compliance, recalls, or quality issues. Sellers need to check the default unfulfillable inventory options on each marketplace, explicitly choose return, disposal, or donation, and calculate return fees, cross-border return VAT, storage fees, and residual-value recovery. If sellers do not set their preferences, Amazon’s handling method may not match their inventory recovery strategy.
What does this mean for cross-border sellers?
Sellers using FBA and storing inventory in multiple European countries need to reconfirm the handling path for unfulfillable inventory. If **automated unfulfillable settings** are not enabled, Amazon may destroy or donate inventory after providing 14 days' notice. Risks in inventory recovery and cost estimation are higher for products with high return rates, products that are easily damaged, products with damaged packaging, and products involving compliance or recalls.
What should sellers do now?
- 1This week, log in to the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Ireland marketplaces, check and enable **automated unfulfillable settings** on each marketplace, and create a checklist covering the default option for each marketplace.Listing character checker
- 2For categories in European FBA with high return rates, products that are easily damaged, or products with damaged packaging, separately calculate the fees, VAT, storage costs, and residual value associated with return, disposal, and donation, and produce a comparison table of handling options for each category.Profit calculator
- 3Export unfulfillable inventory from each European marketplace, mark high-risk SKUs by compliance, recall, quality issue, and inability to resell, and complete a list containing the SKU, marketplace, quantity, and recommended handling method.Procurement List