Analyze Aged FBA Inventory and Storage Surcharges

Learn how to review Amazon FBA inventory age buckets, evaluate surcharge costs, and plan promotional or removal actions.

September 1, 2026 By SellerPro Amazon Agency

Review Amazon FBA aged inventory reports in Google Sheets to identify high-cost excess inventory and decide whether to run price promotions, increase advertising, or create removal orders.

This guide applies to Amazon e-commerce managers, inventory planners, and operations teams during monthly FBA storage fee reviews and excess inventory audits.

Reviewing Sales Velocity and Pricing History

Before taking action on aged items, evaluate recent sales volume and pricing trends to forecast future demand.

Step #1: Click on "17.96 NoRestockExces" to examine the ASIN and sales velocity over the last 30 days. — Click on **"17.96 NoRestockExces"** to examine the ASIN and sales velocity over the last 30 days.

Review the 30-day unit sales to establish a baseline sales forecast. For instance, if an item sold 12 units in the last 30 days, anticipate a similar trajectory for the upcoming month when calculating how much excess stock remains.

Compare the current price against the lowest price recorded over the past 30 days to check if past promotional discounts were already applied.

Evaluating Amazon Recommended Actions

Amazon provides automated recommendations including suggested sales prices, duration, and inventory removal quantities to mitigate holding costs.

Step #2: Click on the recommended-sale-price header cell to inspect Amazon's suggested sale pricing and duration. — Click on the **recommended-sale-price** header cell to inspect Amazon's suggested sale pricing and duration.

Step #3: Click on header cell recommended-removal-quantity to review the suggested quantity of units to remove from fulfillment centers. — Click on header cell **recommended-removal-quantity** to review the suggested quantity of units to remove from fulfillment centers.

Step #4: Drag across estimated-cost-savings-of-recommended-actions to review estimated cost savings across listings. — Drag across **estimated-cost-savings-of-recommended-actions** to review estimated cost savings across listings.

Take Amazon's automated recommendations with discretion. Always calculate your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) to ensure suggested discounts do not lead to negative profit margins.

Filtering Aged Inventory Surcharge Buckets

To focus on items accumulating the highest fees, hide non-urgent age ranges and target units sitting for 331 days or longer.

Step #5: Click Hide columns AX - AY in the context menu to hide lower-priority columns. — Click **Hide columns AX - AY** in the context menu to hide lower-priority columns.

Step #6: Click header cell estimated-ais-271-300-days to review surcharges for inventory aged 271 to 300 days. — Click header cell **estimated-ais-271-300-days** to review surcharges for inventory aged 271 to 300 days.

Step #7: Click header cell estimated-ais-301-330-days to inspect fees for items in the 301–330 day age tier. — Click header cell **estimated-ais-301-330-days** to inspect fees for items in the 301–330 day age tier.

Step #8: Click header cell estimated-ais-331-365-days to isolate units incurring surcharges past 331 days. — Click header cell **estimated-ais-331-365-days** to isolate units incurring surcharges past 331 days.

Step #9: Click header cell estimated-ais-456-plus-days to locate critical excess inventory held over 456 days. — Click header cell **estimated-ais-456-plus-days** to locate critical excess inventory held over 456 days.

Action Plan Comparison for Excess Inventory

When choosing a strategy for aged units, evaluate potential paths based on unit margins and monthly fee exposure:

Action	Best Used When	Cost / Margin Impact	Execution Risk
Price Discount / Sale	Margin allows price reduction above COGS	Reduces gross margin per unit, stops recurring storage fees	Potential brand dilution or racing to the bottom
Advertising Push	Listing has good conversion and healthy margins	Incurs ad spend, but protects unit sales price	May not convert if product demand is low
Removal Order	Storage fee exceeds profit margin or item will not sell	Costs ~$1.00 per unit to return inventory	Logistics handling and lost sales channel availability

Prioritize the highest-cost offenders first. For example, if 135 units incur $40 per month in storage fees with negligible sales, a removal order or deep clearance sale should be executed immediately.

Q: How should we choose between running a sale and submitting a removal order?

A: Compare your unit COGS and gross margin against storage surcharges. If discounting the product still generates positive margin, running a promotional sale or ad campaign is preferable; if the unit would sell at a net negative margin, submitting a removal order at approximately $1.00 per unit is the more cost-effective option.

Q: What inventory age tier should be prioritized during an audit?

A: Focus primarily on inventory aged 331 days and older (particularly the 331–365 day and 456+ day buckets), as these units accumulate the highest monthly aged inventory surcharges.

Term	Definition
ASIN	Amazon Standard Identification Number, a unique 10-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to products on Amazon.
FBA	Fulfillment by Amazon, a service where Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships seller inventory while handling customer support.
Aged Inventory Surcharge (AIS)	A monthly fee charged by Amazon on inventory units stored in fulfillment centers for extended periods, typically beginning after 181 or 271 days.
Removal Order	A request submitted to Amazon to return or dispose of excess or unsellable inventory stored in FBA fulfillment centers.
Sell-Through Rate	The percentage of inventory sold within a given timeframe relative to the total inventory available.
COGS	Cost of Goods Sold, representing the direct costs attributable to the production or acquisition of the goods sold.