How to Improve Your Amazon IPI Score in 2026
To improve your Amazon IPI score, start with the inventory problems that are easiest to fix. These usually include stranded listings, dead or excess stock, poor 90-day sell-through, and avoidable stockouts on products that normally sell well.
Check these problems every week instead of trying to find tricks to improve one dashboard number.
One important correction for 2026: older IPI guides may still describe Amazon’s former weekly restock-limit system. Amazon replaced that system in 2023 with monthly FBA capacity limits. IPI can still influence capacity, but Capacity Manager and the monthly capacity-limit system are separate from the IPI score itself.
However, your IPI can still affect your available FBA capacity. Amazon also looks at factors such as expected sales, shipment lead time, and available space in fulfillment centers. Understanding this difference is important when planning how much inventory to send to Amazon.
What’s Changed Since This IPI Page Was Last Updated?
The previous version of this page was published in December 2024 and still used older “restock limit” language. That wording is outdated. Amazon has used a monthly FBA capacity-limit system since 2023, with capacity measured in cubic feet.
Capacity Monitor shows upcoming limits and estimated future capacity. Capacity Manager is a separate tool sellers can use to request additional capacity.
Amazon’s current FBA capacity guidance says IPI can influence capacity for established Professional FBA sellers, alongside factors such as sales performance, sales forecasts, shipment lead time, and available fulfillment-center space.
What Is the Amazon IPI Score?
The Inventory Performance Index, or IPI, is Amazon's way of measuring how well an FBA seller manages inventory over time.
The goal is to reward sellers who keep useful inventory in Amazon's fulfillment centers and to identify inventory problems that waste space, increase storage costs, or prevent products from selling.
Amazon does not publicly share the complete formula used to calculate the IPI score.
Instead, Seller Central shows different inventory performance signals and suggestions that can help sellers improve their inventory management.
Always treat your Inventory Performance dashboard in Seller Central as the main source for your current IPI score and any threshold Amazon applies to your account.
What Affects Your Amazon IPI Score?
Amazon’s Inventory Performance dashboard highlights four main inventory-management areas: excess inventory, stranded inventory, sell-through, and availability of popular replenishable products. They do not all affect the score in exactly the same way.
The easiest way to use these areas is to treat them as warning signals. Find where your inventory is not performing well, fix the biggest problem first, and then watch how your score changes during future weekly updates.
1. Excess and Aged Inventory
Excess inventory means you have more FBA stock than your expected sales can justify.
Amazon's public IPI guidance has used more than 90 days of supply as a sign that inventory may be excessive.
Reducing inventory that isn't selling can improve inventory efficiency. It can also lower the risk of paying extra storage and aged-inventory fees.
2. Stranded Inventory
Stranded inventory is stock physically stored in Amazon FBA but not connected to an active, buyable listing.
This can happen because of listing errors, missing product information, compliance problems, or catalog issues.
These products can still create storage costs even though customers cannot buy them. Because of this, stranded inventory is usually one of the first IPI-related problems sellers should check and fix.
3. FBA Sell-Through Rate
FBA sell-through compares how many units were sold and shipped during the last 90 days with the average number of sellable units stored in Amazon fulfillment centers during the same period.
A low sell-through rate usually means inventory is entering or staying in FBA faster than customers are buying it.
4. FBA In-Stock Rate and Popular-Item Availability
The FBA in-stock rate helps you understand whether regularly replenished products stay available to customers.
Amazon's public IPI FAQ explains that the in-stock rate itself does not directly remove points from your IPI score.
However, running out of stock on a popular product can cost you sales. It can also reduce your opportunity to improve your overall inventory performance.
What Is a Good Amazon IPI Score in 2026?
Amazon doesn't publish a single public page for 2026 stating that an IPI score of 400 is the required cutoff for every seller.
Treat the threshold shown in your Seller Central account as the correct threshold for your business.
If your dashboard currently shows 400 as the action line, try to stay comfortably above it. This gives you some protection if your score drops during a weak week.
As a practical operating buffer, many sellers may prefer to stay comfortably above the threshold shown in Seller Central rather than manage inventory right at the cutoff. Older Amazon IPI guidance described scores above 450 as performing well and 550+ as top-performing, but those figures should not be treated as a current universal requirement.
These numbers are useful as general guidance, but your current Seller Central threshold should always come first.
| Signal | How to interpret it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Current Seller Central threshold | This policy line matters for your account and storage type. | Check it before making important inbound, storage, or peak-season inventory decisions. |
| Around 400 | Treat this as a warning line only if your account currently shows 400 as the threshold. | Fix stranded and excess inventory and protect sell-through before the next score update. |
| 450–700 | Gives more operating buffer than managing directly at the cutoff. | Focus on inventory efficiency rather than chasing a specific score. |
| 550+ | Older Amazon guidance described 550+ as top-performing. | Treat this as historical context, not a current universal target. |
How Does IPI Affect FBA Capacity and Storage Costs?
IPI can affect your FBA capacity, but IPI and Capacity Manager are not the same thing.
Amazon's current FBA capacity system sets monthly inventory limits in cubic feet. How those limits apply depends on the account type and FBA history; for example, Amazon currently treats new Professional FBA accounts differently from established Professional accounts.
For established Professional FBA sellers, Amazon says IPI and sales performance can influence available capacity. Amazon may then adjust capacity based on other factors, such as available space inside fulfillment centers.
Capacity Manager is a separate tool that sellers can use to request additional storage space.
A strong IPI score can help support better capacity results, but it does not mean Amazon will give you unlimited storage.
IPI also doesn't directly determine your normal FBA storage fee rate.
However, poor inventory management can still increase your total storage costs because excess, aged, and stranded inventory may stay in Amazon's fulfillment centers longer.
If storage costs are your main problem, review your FBA storage fees separately from your IPI score. This makes it easier to tell whether the problem comes from fees or poor inventory performance.
How to Improve Amazon IPI Score: Fix the Fastest Problems First
For a seller making $50,000 or more per month, inventory limits can become a revenue problem, not just a warning on the Seller Central dashboard.
The fastest way to improve is to fix problems that stop sales or waste storage capacity before focusing on slower-moving IPI factors.
1. Resolve Stranded Inventory First
Start with inventory that Amazon currently cannot sell.
Open the stranded inventory section and find the affected SKU or ASIN.
Next, identify why the product became stranded. Assign someone to fix the problem, correct the listing or compliance issue, and confirm that customers can buy the product again.
Keep checking the issue until the stranded quantity reaches zero or you have a clear, documented next step.
2. Clear Dead and Excess SKUs
Sort your slow-moving inventory by age, days of supply, and inventory value.
Stop sending more units of products that already have too much stock.
For products that still have sales potential, review pricing, promotions, advertising, listing quality, and customer demand before sending additional inventory.
If a SKU is no longer profitable, consider liquidating or removing the excess stock instead of continuing to pay Amazon to store it.
3. Improve 90-Day Sell-Through
Do not try to improve your sell-through rate by sending more inventory to Amazon.
Instead, improve the ratio by selling more of the stock already stored in FBA or by reducing inventory that is not selling.
Use SKU-level demand, lead time, and inbound timing to keep inventory low enough to move efficiently while still avoiding unnecessary stockouts.
4. Protect Availability on Replenishable Winners
Give more attention to SKUs that regularly generate sales.
Plan replenishment based on sales speed, total lead time, Amazon receiving time, and a realistic amount of safety stock.
Do not mark products as non-replenishable just to make your in-stock dashboard look better if you actually plan to continue selling them.
Doing this removes a useful planning signal and does not directly improve your IPI score.
5. Use a Weekly IPI Exception Review
IPI is a rolling score. This means a one-time inventory cleanup may not improve your score immediately.
Create a weekly review process that checks stranded inventory, excess stock, products with the lowest sell-through, and popular replenishable products that are out of stock.
Give every important issue an owner and a date to check it again.
This turns IPI from a number you simply watch into an inventory system you actively manage.
For the larger replenishment process behind these decisions, see how to manage your Amazon inventory without turning this IPI guide into a complete inventory-management article.
How to Calculate and Improve FBA Sell-Through Rate
Amazon calculates FBA sell-through by dividing the number of units sold and shipped during the last 90 days by the average number of sellable units stored in Amazon fulfillment centers during the same period.
It is shown as a rate, not a percentage.
FBA sell-through rate = units sold and shipped in the last 90 days ÷ average sellable FBA units during the last 90 days
For example, suppose you sold and shipped 120 units while your average sellable FBA inventory was 80 units.
Your 90-day sell-through rate would be 1.5.
There is no single perfect sell-through number that applies to every product.
Instead, use the green or "good" range shown in Seller Central and compare products that have similar demand patterns.
Amazon's IPI improvement guidance recommends two basic ways to improve sell-through: increase sales compared with your current inventory or remove inventory that is not selling.
Amazon also gives 30–60 days of expected sales as a general guideline for avoiding excess inventory. However, every product should still have its own inventory plan based on lead time and seasonality.
| Sell-through problem | Likely cause | First action |
|---|---|---|
| Rate falling while sales are stable | Too much stock has arrived compared with customer demand. | Pause or reduce replenishment and sell through the stock you already have. |
| Rate falling with weak traffic or conversion | Customer demand is the main problem. | Review pricing, listing quality, ads, and your competitive position before sending more inventory. |
| Rate weak on aged SKUs | The inventory is taking up space without creating enough sales. | Create a sell-down plan and remove or liquidate units that are no longer profitable. |
| Rate strong but stockout risk rising | Inventory is low and customer demand may soon be higher than available stock. | Replenish based on lead time and inbound ETA instead of sending one very large shipment. |
Weekly Amazon IPI Improvement Checklist
- Fix stranded inventory and make sure the affected offers can be purchased again.
- Rank aged and excess SKUs based on days of supply, inventory value, and sell-through.
- Review products with the lowest 90-day sell-through before approving new replenishment.
- Check popular replenishable products for stockout risk and review inbound timing.
- Compare your current IPI and capacity information with the previous week and assign an owner to every important problem.
- Check your current Seller Central threshold and Capacity Monitor before making large inbound inventory decisions.
Protect IPI by Managing Exceptions Every Week
A better IPI score comes from good inventory management habits.
Keep sellable inventory productive, fix blocked listings quickly, avoid ordering too much stock for slow-moving products, and replenish proven winners early enough to prevent unnecessary stockouts.
Use your IPI score as a weekly scorecard for these inventory decisions instead of treating the score itself as the only goal.
If your team needs a repeatable replenishment and inventory review process, SalesDuo provides inventory management support with weekly Seller Central inventory reports and replenishment recommendations.
An Amazon account management agency can make IPI monitoring part of routine inventory reviews, tracking excess stock, stranded listings, and sell-through trends.
Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon IPI Score
What is a good IPI score on Amazon?
Use the threshold shown inside your Seller Central account as the current rule for your business.
As a practical benchmark, an IPI score between 450 and 700 is a healthy working range, while 550 or higher is strong.
Do not assume that 400 is the required threshold for every seller. Keep some extra space above whatever threshold Amazon currently applies to your account.
What is the Amazon IPI score?
The Inventory Performance Index is Amazon's way of measuring how efficiently you manage your FBA inventory over time.
It looks at inventory productivity instead of only looking at sales.
Seller Central uses signals such as excess inventory, sell-through, stranded inventory, and the availability of popular products to help sellers understand what inventory problems need to be fixed.
How is the IPI score calculated?
Amazon does not publicly share the full formula used to calculate the IPI score.
Amazon's public guidance explains that IPI is a rolling measure based on both recent and longer-term inventory performance.
Instead of worrying about the exact formula, focus on the factors you can control. Reduce excess and aged inventory, improve sell-through, fix stranded listings, and prevent unnecessary stockouts on popular products that can be replenished.
Does my IPI score affect my FBA capacity or restock limits?
Yes. Your IPI score can affect your FBA capacity, but it is not the only factor Amazon considers.
Amazon's monthly FBA capacity limits can also depend on sales forecasts, shipment lead time, and available fulfillment-center capacity.
Capacity Manager is a separate tool that sellers can use to request extra capacity. It does not replace the IPI system.
What is a good FBA sell-through rate?
Amazon does not provide one universal sell-through target that works for every product category.
Use the green or "good" range shown inside your FBA Inventory tools and compare products with similar demand.
You can improve your sell-through rate by increasing sales from your existing stock or reducing inventory that is not selling.
Do not simply send more or fewer units without looking at the actual demand for the product.
How often does the IPI score update?
Amazon's public IPI guidance describes IPI as a rolling score that is updated weekly.
Several weeks of recent inventory performance can affect the result.
This means fixing an inventory problem may not immediately change your IPI score.
Check both the current and previous week's scores in Seller Central and continue improving the main inventory factors every week.
How do I fix stranded inventory?
Open the stranded inventory section in Seller Central and find the affected SKU or ASIN.
Check the reason Amazon provides for why the inventory became stranded.
Fix the listing, catalog, compliance, pricing, or inventory problem that is preventing customers from buying the product.
After making the correction, confirm that the offer is buyable again.
Continue checking the issue until the stranded inventory is cleared or the problem has been escalated for further support.
What happens if my IPI score drops below 400?
If Seller Central currently shows 400 as the threshold for your account, dropping below it means you should take action quickly because your IPI score can affect future FBA capacity.
However, do not assume that every seller has the same 400-point cutoff.
Check your Inventory Performance dashboard and Capacity Monitor to understand the exact threshold, impact, and timing for your account.
Can I exclude non-replenishable products from my IPI?
You can mark eligible SKUs as non-replenishable inside Restock Inventory. This removes those products from the FBA in-stock-rate calculation.
However, Amazon says this does not directly change your IPI score because the performance of inventory you already have in FBA still matters.
Only use this option for products that are truly discontinued, seasonal, or no longer going to be replenished.
How fast can I improve my IPI score?
You may be able to fix some inventory problems quickly, but your actual IPI score may take longer to change because it is a rolling metric.
For example, a stranded listing may become buyable shortly after you fix the underlying problem.
However, excess inventory and poor sell-through may require several weekly updates, more sales, or inventory removal before your IPI score shows a meaningful improvement.
Amazon's non-replenishable inventory guidance confirms that marking an ASIN as non-replenishable removes it from the FBA in-stock-rate calculation instead of directly changing the IPI score.
About the Author
Meet Arjun Narayan, a Business Dynamo with two decades of conquering boardrooms and founding two companies that didn't just survive but thrived. When he's not navigating business strategies and delivery teams, you'll find him immersed in his love for cars and exploring new models, geeking out over tech trends, globe-trotting for new adventures, and occasionally pondering the mysteries of the universe over a good cup of coffee.
