Operator glossary
FBA Donations
The default charitable path for disposed inventory — sellable returns and overstock route to charity partners instead of destruction — write-offs with paperwork instead of landfills.
Since 2019, FBA disposal defaults to donation where possible: sellable-condition disposed inventory routes to charity networks (Good360 and partners) rather than destruction. Sellers can opt out; almost none should — the unit exits either way, and donation converts it into deduction paperwork and avoided-destruction optics.
It matters at the margins of the dead-stock decision tree: when liquidation values collapse below removal costs, disposal-as-donation is the dignified exit. US tax treatment of donated inventory has real value for some entity types — a question for your accountant armed with the donation certificates Amazon provides.
The numbers
- Default since 2019: sellable disposed inventory routes to charity partners (opt-out exists).
- Donation certificates support potential tax deductions — entity-dependent, ask an accountant.