€18 million in revenue and return packages under control: IGLM recovers €48,000 in FBA Reimbursements
The story of IGLM
"For me it's essential to know how much merchandise is coming back." — Tonino, warehouse manager, IGLM (translated from Italian)
At a Glance
IGLM is an Italian online multistore, based in Puglia, with over €18 million in revenue per year, of which about €6 million on Amazon FBA. It started with consumer electronics and today sells a bit of everything: home, gardening, tools, toys, and much more. Gaetano is the CEO and founder, Tonino is the warehouse manager.
With such a wide catalog, IGLM sends Amazon a huge number of shipments from its warehouse. And return packages also come back to IGLM's warehouse. This inbound traffic adds up with the incoming goods from suppliers. A full-on logistics concert!
For two years IGLM has relied on Eagle Eye, the service specialized in recovering Amazon's FBA Reimbursements, and its warehouse checks return packages with Eagle Eye's Return Scanner. The result: nearly €48,000 recovered in FBA Reimbursements.
The Challenge
When you sell a bit of everything, every shipment is one more thing to keep an eye on.
IGLM sends Amazon a huge number of shipments and, with Pan-EU FBA, its goods move between warehouses across all of Europe. The more the goods travel, the more chances there are that something doesn't add up. And the more the catalog grew, the more checking everything became complicated, not to say impossible.
Before Eagle Eye, checking was occasional. A shipment doesn't close in a day: sometimes it takes two weeks, so you have to go back to it. If the numbers don't add up, you have to open the case with Amazon support and keep pushing until the reimbursement is obtained. Some things seem to get lost and then reappear, and to figure that out you had to search for them across the entire inventory in different reports, not to mention the nerve-wracking experience with Amazon seller support.
Meanwhile, in the warehouse, the return packages never stop: at least 100 a month, often whole pallets. IGLM is already very organized and sorts every return by condition: new items get promptly sent back into FBA, damaged ones get resold on secondary channels. But being organized isn't enough when the volume is this high.
What remains are the most awkward cases: fraudulent returns and those with missing parts. Each one should be disputed with Amazon, but every dispute takes time: verifying, documenting, following up. With these volumes there wasn't time to chase them all, and these returns were simply left alone, one unclaimed reimbursement after another.
With a process like that, you end up chasing the problem instead of dealing with it in an orderly way, and the workday still only has so many hours. When you can't keep up with everything, the question isn't whether something gets lost anymore, but how much.
The Solution
IGLM has worked with Eagle Eye for two years, with the full FBA Reimbursement recovery service across the entire account, including returns. Every discrepancy becomes a case that the Eagle Eye team follows up with Amazon through to reimbursement.
On the returns side, Tonino's warehouse uses the Return Scanner, Eagle Eye's smartphone app for physically checking return packages and Removal Shipments. As Amazon starts shipping, the app shows what's about to come back, so the warehouse can plan ahead. When the packages arrive, Tonino scans them one by one and checks the contents on screen, confirming the quantities received.
Every unit gets checked, even the ones that used to be left alone for lack of time: fraudulent returns and those with missing parts. Every discrepancy comes up right away, gets photographed, and becomes a case that the Eagle Eye team goes on to dispute.
Getting FBA Reimbursements for fraudulent returns means turning a problem into revenue.
But as if that weren't enough, there's an additional benefit Tonino has noticed. It's knowing in advance that a removal package is about to arrive:
"For me it's essential to know how much merchandise is coming back. […] If 10 packages arrive and you stack them one on top of the other and the products are new, the last package gets damaged […] and the product is no longer new. So you need to know how much goods is coming, and however it arrives it needs to be put away right away to avoid further damage." — Tonino, warehouse manager, IGLM (translated from Italian)
The Results
In two years IGLM has recovered nearly €48,000 in FBA Reimbursements, close to €2,000 a month on average. Money that, without a dedicated team following up on every case, stays with Amazon.
The most awkward cases, the ones there used to be no time to chase, are no longer left alone: every fraudulent return becomes an open case, documented with photos and carried through to reimbursement.
Every shipment with missing units, every unit lost or damaged in an Amazon warehouse, gets disputed through to reimbursement. With continuity and the assurance of constant oversight of FBA issues.
For Gaetano, the point is automating processes:
"Having a tool that helps you with management was vitally important for us. I have to be honest, anything that streamlines the work is always welcome at the company. […] As long as we manage to make the inbound goods work easier, it's important to automate the processes. The results in terms of the money from the reimbursements speak for themselves." — Gaetano, CEO and founder, IGLM (translated from Italian)
Could This Work for You?
If you sell a wide catalog, ship a lot to Amazon and, with Pan-EU, your goods travel around Europe, it's possible you've silently accepted something: part of what Amazon owes you will stay there, because there's no time to follow up on every case. But it doesn't have to be that way anymore, there's another path!
You need a partner that oversees the entire FBA account, someone who carries every case through to reimbursement, with method and continuity. Your team keeps doing its job, without having to fight with Amazon support.
"Very positive. I definitely recommend it […] It saves you a ton of time […]. So highly recommended." — Tonino, warehouse manager, IGLM (translated from Italian)
How many of your shipments can you really check? And how much of what doesn't add up do you leave with Amazon for lack of time?
You don't have to take our word for it. The fee for the first two months is free and the commission is only paid on what's recovered: if there's nothing to recover, you pay nothing to find out.