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Amazon SAFE-T claims in 2026: the filing window shrank, and the inspection step now decides eligibility
SAFE-T is how a seller-fulfilled Amazon seller is reimbursed when Amazon refunds a customer at the seller's cost. In 2026 Amazon cut the filing window from 60 days to 30 on its US store and tied eligibility to a four-day inspection step. Amazon.in sellers should read their own SAFE-T policy page for the window that applies, and act as if it is 30.
What SAFE-T is for
Seller-fulfilled orders only (not FBA). When Amazon grants a customer a full refund under the A-to-z Guarantee or a return policy, and the seller believes the loss should not be theirs (the item came back damaged, used, different, or not at all), the seller files a SAFE-T claim and Amazon decides whether to reimburse from its own funds. A partial refund, or a refund the seller issued, is not a SAFE-T case.
What changed on the US store in 2026
| Rule | Before | From |
|---|---|---|
| Filing window | 60 days | 30 days, effective 16 February 2026 |
| The clock starts | Refund date | The later of the return delivery scan at your warehouse and the refund date |
| Inspection before an automatic refund | 2 business days | 4 calendar days, effective 26 January 2026, through the Guided Refund Workflow |
| If Amazon auto-refunds after the inspection window | Claim possible | SAFE-T eligibility is lost, except for items lost in transit |
The announcement is for Amazon's US store. Amazon.in's SAFE-T policy page in Seller Central states the window that applies to Indian sellers; we have not found an Amazon.in announcement of the same change and do not claim one. The safe operating assumption is 30 days from the later of return receipt and refund, because a process built for 30 also meets 60.
How to file
- Seller Central: the Manage SAFE-T Claims page (under Orders, or from the Performance menu's A-to-z Guarantee Claims page, depending on the store); find the order; File a SAFE-T claim.
- Attach evidence tied to that order id: the invoice, the shipping label and tracking record, the pack-out video or photos for that order, and your inspection of what came back.
- Write what happened in three sentences: what was shipped, what was returned, what the difference cost.
Why the inspection step matters more than the window
A missed filing window loses one claim. A missed inspection window loses eligibility: once Amazon issues the automatic refund because nobody acted on the return within the inspection period, there is no claim to file. The return has to be opened, inspected and decided through the Guided Refund Workflow inside the inspection window, every time.
ezmarketplaces records the return's receipt scan and drafts the SAFE-T claim with the pack-out evidence for that order id, and the Recovery ledger orders cases by deadline with the window stored per channel and editable, because Amazon changed it once this year and will again. The Amazon connector is in Amazon's solution-provider review; until it is listed, this runs in sandbox.