Jump right in: Amazon Will Auto-Liquidate Unsold FBA Inventory

• What’s Amazon changing, in plain English
• Why this matters (beyond warehouse cleanup)
• What happens if you do nothing?
• Keep control: the settings to review
• A quick, do-it-this-week checklist
  
• Where a prep/3PL partner makes this painless
• Summary & Key Takeaways

Mark your calendar: September 30, 2025. On that date, Amazon will change how unsold FBA inventory is handled in the U.S. and Canada. Liquidations become the default route for unsold stock unless you’ve set your own rules, and Donations become required for eligible goods. Amazon says fees aren’t changing. The company frames this as a push to extend product lifecycles and cut waste.

What Amazon’s changing, in plain English

• Liquidations become the default for unsold inventory if your automated settings are blank. If you haven’t told Amazon to return or dispose, Amazon will attempt to liquidate through secondary markets so you might recover a portion of value. You can still turn Liquidations off in your settings.
• Donations become required for eligible items. You will not be able to turn Donations off after Sept 30. If you previously turned it off, Amazon will switch it back on.
• No fee changes associated with these programs, according to Amazon’s announcement.

If you’re thinking, “So what?” here’s the thing: letting liquidators or donations handle your lingering ASINs can be good for the planet and even your storage bill, but it also means less control over branded goods and where they end up.

Why this matters (beyond warehouse cleanup)

This is partly about sustainability, sure. It’s also about brand hygiene and cash recovery. Liquidators can move volume, but they don’t guard your pricing like you would. That can undercut your listings elsewhere.

Donations help communities and keep goods out of landfills, but they can also give away low-value items you might have repurposed, bundled, or refurbished with better returns. Amazon’s message is consistent: if you don’t set preferences, Amazon will set them for you.

What happens if you do nothing?

Here’s what you can expect:

1. Unsold inventory flows to Liquidations by default if your automated fulfillable/unfulfillable settings aren’t configured.
2. Eligible items get donated with no way to disable that path after the deadline.
3. You still pay normal program fees, there’s no fee update tied to this change per Amazon’s notice.

Small but useful note for accountants: Amazon makes donation certificates available in Seller Central for tax season. If you rely on charitable documentation, build that into your year-end workflow.

Keep control: the settings to review

Let me explain how to keep the steering wheel:

• Automated fulfillable settings: tell Amazon what to do with aged, sellable units (return to you, liquidation, or disposal) at time thresholds you choose. If you leave this blank, Liquidations becomes the fallback.
• Automated unfulfillable settings: same logic for customer returns and damaged stock, decide whether units come back to you or get cleared.
• Liquidations toggle: you can turn off Liquidations as the default route. Do it if you don’t want branded goods entering secondary channels without your say-so.

Honestly, most teams know these pages exist, then forget to revisit them after a catalog change or a new launch. Don’t wait until Q4.

A quick, do-it-this-week checklist

• Open Seller Central → FBA settings → automated fulfillable + unfulfillable. Set clear rules for return vs liquidation vs disposal. If you want returns, pick the inventory age and have a delivery address ready.
• Decide on Liquidations. If you don’t want it, switch it off now, then confirm your removal rules point to a real receiving dock.
• Scan your Inventory Age report. Flag anything teetering on long-term storage or aged-fee tiers. Move first on SKUs with high return-to-sale potential.
• Segment by brand sensitivity. House-brand? You might tolerate liquidation. MAP-sensitive branded goods? Route to returns.

Prebuild a “return + rework” plan. Where will boxes land, who inspects, what gets repackaged, what gets bundled for other channels?

Where a prep/3PL partner makes this painless

You know what? You don’t need to build a mini-warehouse just to catch return removals. That’s where we come in.

eFulfillment Service (EFS) can serve as your receiving dock for removal orders and your workbench for what happens next:

• Receive and reconcile returns from FBA. 
• Inspect and rework: relabel, rebag, or rekit to meet FBA standards. 
• Bundle or refurbish for higher recovery on Shopify, Walmart Marketplace, or wholesale. 
• Hold and stage inventory while you decide whether to relaunch, part out, or run a channel-specific promo. 

And because we’re built for sellers who need flexibility, EFS has no setup fees, no minimum order requirements, and no long-term contracts, so you can react fast to this policy shift without locking yourself into something that doesn’t fit. If you want help, send your current removal addresses and the ASIN list that’s at risk; we’ll map a clean flow.