Inside a marketplace warehouse your goods live a life of their own: they are received, moved around, picked into orders, returned - and at every stage a unit can go missing or get broken. The platform compensates part of the losses on its own; the rest only comes back if the seller files a claim. Below: how to find shortages and get compensation.
If the losses are linked to incidents at the warehouses, see the separate breakdowns: compensation for goods at a Wildberries warehouse and how to protect your goods at Wildberries warehouses.
Where losses come from
- Inbound acceptance: any discrepancy between the actual quantity and the waybill is recorded in the acceptance report, and everything that follows depends on that report - how a Wildberries shipment works.
- Storage and movements: goods get lost between bins and warehouses and are damaged during handling.
- Order picking: a unit ends up in the wrong order or "disappears" during assembly.
- Returns: the buyer sent the item back, the money was deducted, but the unit never returned to stock - the most common hidden loss: how returns work.
How to detect them: the goods movement balance
Losses do not arrive as a notification - they only show up in reconciliation:
Shipped − sold − returned to stock − removed = the stock figure in the platform's data.
If the equation does not balance and the difference is not covered by compensation, you have a shortage. Calculate it monthly as part of your regular reconciliation; once a quarter, run a full stock count for every SKU. Some losses are acknowledged and compensated automatically as a line in the report - check that the amount matches the real value of the goods rather than a token sum.
The compensation procedure
- Put the calculation together: SKU, quantity, period, documents (waybills, acceptance reports, platform reports).
- Check the automatic compensations - part of it may already be covered; then the dispute is only about the remainder and about how the value was assessed.
- File the claim through support in your seller account: one subject per ticket, specific figures, documents attached.
- Valuation. Platforms compensate according to their own valuation method (usually based on the selling price with deductions, or on a confirmed cost price) - if the valuation is too low, back up your case with purchase documents.
- Refusal means escalation: quote the clause of the offer agreement on liability for storage, file again following the dispute procedure, and for material amounts move to a pre-court claim and then to court.
Prevention at shipment
- Photograph the labeled boxes before handing them over to the warehouse or the carrier.
- Accurate waybills: a discrepancy "caused by you" in the documents kills any future claim - labeling and shipment rules.
- Expensive goods need separate control: an item-by-item inventory list, serial numbers in your records.
- Do not keep excess stock in the warehouse: the more units and the longer the storage, the higher the background losses - turnover.
Related reading: short shipments and mis-sorting at acceptance., litigation with a marketplace
Related reading: Marketplace support for sellers.
Related reading: Inventory accounting on a marketplace.
How to recover warehouse losses is covered in the breakdown of compensations for sellers.
FAQ
"The marketplace lost my goods - what should I do?" Establish the shortage with the goods movement balance, gather the documents (waybills, acceptance reports) and file a claim through support with a specific calculation. Part of the losses is compensated automatically - dispute the remainder.
"How do I calculate a warehouse shortage?" The formula: shipped − sold − returned − removed = what should be left. Compare that with the stock figure in your seller account; the difference minus the acknowledged compensations is your shortage.
"How much does the platform compensate?" According to its own valuation method - usually tied to the selling price or to a confirmed cost price. Dispute an undervaluation with purchase documents.
"Is there a deadline for filing a claim?" Yes, the offer agreements set limited deadlines - a matter of months, and less for some types of loss. That is why reconciliation and stock counts have to be regular, not annual.
"Is damage to goods during a return compensated?" Yes, if the return arrived damaged through the fault of the courier or the warehouse and this was recorded when the return was accepted. Without a record of the condition there is almost no chance.
