Inventory Performance Index (IPI) Dropping. How to Fix It

Amazon's Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score is one of the least understood numbers in Seller Central, most sellers only notice it when a storage limit warning shows up.

What IPI Actually Measures

IPI is a blended score built from excess inventory, sell-through rate, stranded inventory, and in-stock rate, a measure of how efficiently inventory moves, not just how much you have.

What Hurts Your Score

• Excess inventory, units sitting far longer than sell-through justifies
• Stranded inventory, units not attached to an active, buyable listing
• Chronic out-of-stocks, hurts the score just as much as overstock
• Long-term storage fees piling up, inventory older than 271 days adds surcharges

Why Storage Limits Get Cut

When IPI drops below Amazon's threshold, storage limits tighten, creating a vicious cycle: limited storage causes stockouts, which hurts in-stock rate, which hurt the score to begin with.

How to Recover Without Starving Best Sellers

• Run liquidation or removal orders on genuinely dead SKUs first, not evenly across the catalog
• Fix stranded inventory immediately, often a quick, zero-cost listing fix
• Prioritize remaining storage toward SKUs with the strongest sell-through
• Set replenishment cadence based on actual velocity, not "to be safe" bulk ordering