How to improve your Amazon IPI score (Inventory Performance Index) in 2026
Updated November 3, 2026. Every rule below was re-read that day on Amazon's Seller Central help pages, linked at each step.
Short answer: the Inventory Performance Index (IPI) is Amazon's score for how well a Professional seller manages FBA inventory. You raise it by holding no more than about 30 to 60 days of expected sales, selling through stock at a steady pace, fixing stranded listings fast and keeping best sellers in stock. Amazon does not publish the formula, and since March 2023 the score feeds your monthly FBA capacity limit instead of a single storage-limit cutoff.
What is the IPI score?
Amazon's Inventory performance page calls the Inventory Performance Index "a metric to gauge your inventory performance over time". Its IPI FAQ adds that the score and the dashboard are available only on a Professional selling plan, and that the score weighs both recent and long-term performance, so a fix can take weeks to show. Amazon does not state a score range or a formula; third-party guides describe it as 0 to 1,000. See our IPI score glossary entry for the short definition.
What changed since the older IPI guides?
| Older advice (2021 and earlier) | What Amazon's pages say now |
|---|---|
| Stay above an IPI threshold (450) at the end-of-quarter check weeks or lose storage | Amazon replaced storage volume limits with monthly FBA capacity limits in March 2023. The capacity limit is influenced by IPI together with sales forecasts, shipment lead time and fulfillment center capacity. The IPI FAQ still mentions thresholds announced four to eight weeks ahead for storage volume limits, but names no current cutoff |
| Avoid the long-term storage fee at 365 days | The fee is now the aged inventory surcharge, charged on units stored 181 days or longer, assessed on a snapshot taken on the 15th of each month |
| Use the "Inventory Age" and "Manage excess inventory" pages | Amazon now points sellers to FBA Inventory and Manage Inventory Health for recommendations, filters by inventory age and the Create Outlet deal filter |
| Check for a score the same way as always | New FBA sellers, accounts with no activity in 13 weeks and sellers who use FBA only for Multi-Channel Fulfillment may have no IPI score |
What does the IPI score measure?
The Inventory performance dashboard shows a bar for four categories, each rated Poor, Fair, Good or Excellent. Amazon defines each one on its Inventory performance page:
| Category | How Amazon defines it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Excess inventory | An item is excess when it has over 90 days of supply against forecast demand; the percentage is the share of your FBA units flagged as excess | Keep enough stock for 30 to 60 days of expected sales; mark down, run an Outlet deal or remove the rest |
| FBA sell-through rate | Units shipped in the past 90 days divided by the average units on hand over that period | Raise sales against stock or remove stock that is not selling |
| Stranded inventory | The share of FBA units not available to buy because of a listing problem | Open Fix stranded inventory and repair listings quickly |
| FBA in-stock rate | Percent of time replenishable ASINs were in stock over 30 days, weighted by units sold in the last 60 days | Follow restock recommendations for popular items; hide non-replenishable SKUs from the rate |
How is sell-through calculated?
Amazon updates the rate daily. It takes snapshots of your available units today and 30, 60 and 90 days ago and averages them. Amazon's own example: you shipped 120 units in 90 days, and the snapshots were 80 today, 150 thirty days ago (after a 150-unit shipment arrived), 40 sixty days ago and 50 ninety days ago. The average is (50 + 40 + 150 + 80) / 4 = 80 units, so sell-through is 120 / 80 = 1.5.
Amazon warns about both ends. A low rate means too much stock; a very high rate can mean scarce stock, slower delivery and out-of-stocks. It asks sellers to aim for the green "good" range all year.
How do you improve your IPI score?
- Balance sell-through. Sort FBA Inventory by the Sell-through column to find the lowest. To raise it, Amazon suggests pricing, sales, better keywords, Sponsored Products ads or Multi-Channel Fulfillment to sell stock on other channels. To lower an overly high rate, follow Amazon's restock recommendations.
- Cut excess. Aim for 30 to 60 days of expected sales. Use Amazon Outlet for overstock and out-of-season items, and Multi-Channel Fulfillment for your own site.
- Remove aged stock before it costs you. Amazon advises removing inventory before it reaches 365 days, and says you can set the account to remove aged inventory automatically. Units leave the IPI calculation once a removal or liquidation order is placed, but the score takes time to catch up.
- Fix stranded listings fast. Stranded units sit in a fulfillment center, collect fees and cannot sell; Amazon says this can reduce your score.
- Plan launches. Newly created ASINs do not affect your IPI score in their first 90 days.
What does aged stock cost?
Amazon's aged inventory surcharge page lists these rates from January 16, 2026, charged on top of monthly storage fees (the surcharge is billed per cubic foot, and the three oldest bands also have a per-unit minimum):
| Age of units | Surcharge per cubic foot |
|---|---|
| 181-210 days | $0.50 (excluding clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry and watches) |
| 211-240 days | $1.00 (same exclusions) |
| 241-270 days | $1.50 (same exclusions) |
| 271-300 / 301-330 / 331-365 days | $5.45 / $5.70 / $5.90 |
| 366-455 days | $6.90, or $0.30 per unit if greater |
| 456 days or more | $7.90, or $0.35 per unit if greater |
For a 0.102 cubic foot toy at 300 days, Amazon's example bills about $0.56 per unit that month. Check your own ASINs in FBA Inventory, because Amazon edits these pages and the fee table here is a snapshot of November 3. From February 1, 2027, Amazon replaces these surcharges with one age-based storage rate: see our 2027 FBA fee guide.
Who can build IPI tracking for your brand?
Ecomsellertool, a Cord4 Technologies company, has built on Amazon's seller APIs since 2017. The IPI score itself is not an API field, so tracking it SKU by SKU is custom work: we rebuild the drivers from your own FBA reports (inventory health, stranded inventory and restock), rank the SKUs that add the most excess, and alert your team before units cross an age band. If that is a weekly spreadsheet today, send us the routine in a project brief. For the full set of inventory gaps, see our replenishment and storage fee guides.
More of our builds are in the portfolio. Rather talk it through? Schedule a call or contact us.
Questions people ask about the IPI score
What is a good IPI score?
Amazon does not publish a target number. It rates each of the four drivers from poor to excellent and asks for a green sell-through year-round. Older thresholds such as 450 belonged to storage volume limits.
Why don't I have an IPI score?
Amazon says a score needs a Professional plan, inventory at a fulfillment center and recent activity. New FBA sellers, accounts inactive for 13 weeks and Multi-Channel-Fulfillment-only sellers may have none.
How long does it take for the score to improve?
Amazon says actions can take time to show, because the score blends recent and long-term performance. Removals count as soon as the order is placed, but the score catches up slowly.
Does marking a SKU non-replenishable raise my IPI?
No. Amazon says it only removes the ASIN from your in-stock rate; your on-hand inventory performance still counts.
Why is new stock already flagged as excess?
Amazon counts any item over 90 days of supply against forecast demand as excess, even if you plan to sell it over 100 days.
