Amazon stranded inventory is stock sitting in FBA warehouses that customers cannot buy.

What works for a side hustle selling 20 items a month will not work when you hit 200 orders a week.

Your Amazon dashboard shows 500 units in stock, but customers can only buy 320. The other 180 units are reserved, stuck in pending orders, unfulfillable status, or FC transfer limbo.

FBA sellers lose 1–3% of annual revenue to unreimbursed inventory errors. For a business generating $2 million in FBA sales, that's $20,000–$60,000 left on the table.

FBA profitability in 2026 comes down to unit economics, not topline sales.

Dead stock is a silent margin killer. It does not just sit in the warehouse. It actively drains your cash flow through long-term storage fees and aged inventory surcharges.