Your IPI score doesn't decide whether you can sell — it decides how much inventory you can put into Amazon warehouses. Understand it, and your replenishment rhythm won't get locked up.
What This Rule Is About
IPI (Inventory Performance Index) is a score Amazon gives sellers for inventory health.
It weighs several things together: inventory turnover, sell-through rate, share of slow-moving inventory, inventory with no listing information, and more.
The score is assessed quarterly. Meet Amazon's threshold and your storage capacity isn't subject to extra limits; fall below it and you may face replenishment limits or a storage cap.
For the specific threshold and assessment cycle, per Amazon Seller Central's current policy and threshold.
What a Low Score Brings
The most direct effect is squeezed storage capacity. Goods you want to replenish can't get in, and you just have to wait.
Next is higher storage cost: goods sit in the warehouse without moving, but storage fees keep accruing.
Third is stockout risk: fast-selling SKUs can't be replenished, and ranking and sales drop together.
These losses are often far more expensive than freight.
How Logistics Can Support
Treating a US overseas warehouse as a "reservoir" is the most practical way to handle storage limits.
The approach: ship the First Leg in bulk to Huaqiutong's US overseas warehouse instead of pushing straight into FBA.
Once storage capacity opens up or sales pick up, replenish into Amazon warehouses in small batches from the overseas warehouse.
This way you neither occupy FBA storage capacity nor risk a stockout.
The overseas warehouse can also do relabeling, labeling and repacking to match your replenishment rhythm.
Before replenishing, do the math: remaining FBA storage capacity + overseas warehouse stock = how many days you can hold out.
Choose overseas warehouses near the states where your sales concentrate for faster, cheaper Last Mile delivery.
| Method | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Direct to FBA | First Leg straight to Amazon warehouse | Ample storage capacity, fast turnover |
| Overseas warehouse transit | Store in overseas warehouse first, replenish in batches | Limited storage capacity, hot-seller replenishment |
| Overseas warehouse direct ship | Overseas warehouse ships to buyers | Slow-moving tail stock, long-tail SKUs |
Action Checklist and Common Misjudgments
Checklist: review IPI and storage cap once a month — don't wait until you're restricted to react.
Clear slow movers first: remove or dispose of non-moving goods to free up storage capacity.
Replenish in batches: hot sellers get small, high-frequency replenishment — don't fill up all at once.
Prepare an overseas warehouse: keep a channel for hot sellers that doesn't occupy FBA storage capacity.
Misjudgment one: looking only at the IPI score, not the storage cap. What actually blocks you is the storage cap.
Misjudgment two: only looking for an overseas warehouse after being restricted. Arranging the First Leg on short notice costs you both time and money.
