Two key upgrades could reduce invoice disputes and give Vendors more control over payment timelines…
Amazon has rolled out new transparency features inside Vendor Central, designed to tackle two of the biggest pain points Vendors face – unclear shortage deductions and limited visibility into payment timelines.
Together, these updates mark a small but meaningful shift toward greater accountability from Amazon, with Vendors gaining more data, faster dispute resolution and a clearer understanding of how operational decisions translate into financial outcomes that affect Vendor accounts.
1. Clearer Shortage Reasons
Vendors have long struggled with vague shortage codes that left them guessing why Amazon had deducted or delayed payment, so it’s great news to find that the Invoice Management page will now display detailed shortage reasons, root causes and recommended fixes.
You’ll now be able to see specific categories like:
- Duplicate or overbilled invoices, where invoiced quantity exceeds PO totals.
- Deleted or missed appointments, where delivery windows not met.
- Product or ASIN mismatches, with catalogue errors or unmapped variants.
- Late shipping, where items have arrived more than 14 days after PO due date.
- Price variances, where invoiced prices don’t align with POs.
Each shortage type now links to an explanation and suggested corrective action, accessible directly through the “More Info” tab.
Offering the data Vendors need to interpret their Financial Scorecards more easily, the result should be less ambiguity and faster root-cause identification, which should in turn lead to fewer manual disputes – good news now that shortage disputes are limited to two years, putting the onus on Vendors to stay proactive.
2. Invoice Payments Report brings end-to-end traceability
In Financial Reports, the second update – a new Invoices Payments Report – promises to be just as useful, allowing Vendors to:
- Track every invoice and see when and how each one was paid.
- Filter and analyse payments, customising by store, payee code or date range.
- And export bulk data to CSVs to reconcile payments at scale.
This new visibility means you can now link shortages, deductions and payment delays in one place, making it much easier to spot and solve issues like systemic overbilling, catalogue mismatches or late carrier deliveries.
The Bottom Line
For Amazon Vendors, payment transparency has long been a sticking point – so these updates represent a step towards resolving that…
… they also raise the bar for internal discipline.
With detailed shortage reasoning and traceable payment data available, Amazon is signalling a shift: the responsibility for accuracy is now shared.
And that means that Vendors who want to protect their cashflow need to:
- Tighten their catalogue data to avoid ASIN and product mismatches.
- Align their invoicing and shipping schedules with PO accuracy.
- And use the new reports proactively to spot recurring defects before they compound.
But the ultimate reward for smart Vendors? Cleaner ops, more accurate data and stronger financial governance.
If you want to understand how to turn these updates into gains for your Amazon business, our Vendor experts are on hand to help you take full advantage – speak to the team today.