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If you’ve been selling on Amazon FBA for a while, you’ve probably noticed that your Inventory Performance Index (IPI) quietly controls more of your business than it used to. Storage limits, restock caps, fee exposure, even your ability to scale into Q4. It all traces back to that single number.

And in 2026, Amazon has made it clear they’re not loosening their grip.

The IPI threshold of 400 is still the line you don’t want to cross. But here’s what’s changed: Amazon is enforcing it faster and harder than before. Fall below 400 at the wrong moment, and you can see capacity cuts within days, right when you’re trying to ramp up for a major sales event.

We see this pattern play out across accounts consistently. Sellers who treat IPI as a back-end metric they’ll “get to eventually” are the ones scrambling when Prime Day rolls around. The ones who build IPI management into their regular operating rhythm? They have room to launch, test, and grow while everyone else is dealing with restrictions.

This post covers what changed in 2025-2026, why it matters, and the five tactical levers that actually move your score.

Why This Matters More Now Than It Did Last Year

Over the past year, Amazon tightened FBA policies again. If you’ve felt like capacity is harder to come by, you’re not imagining it.

Here’s what shifted:

Capacity windows got shorter. Amazon used to forecast roughly six months of sales coverage when allocating space. That’s now closer to five months, which means your recent performance carries more weight.

Storage utilization surcharges hit harder. If you’re holding large volumes of inventory relative to sales (especially bulky or slow-moving items), you’re paying more for that privilege.

Long-term storage fees trigger earlier. Aged inventory surcharges now start at 181 days and step up again at 271+, instead of waiting a full year. Aged stock is more expensive to hold than ever.

ASIN-level restock limits are back with teeth. Even if your overall account looks okay, individual SKUs can get capped if your broader inventory health looks weak. That means your bestseller might get throttled because of problems elsewhere in your catalog.

All of these changes push in one direction: Amazon wants faster inventory turns and less warehousing behavior inside FBA. Your IPI score is the summary signal of whether you’re playing by those rules.

What IPI Actually Measures

The Inventory Performance Index is a 0-1000 score reflecting how efficiently you manage FBA inventory over time. Amazon doesn’t publish the exact formula, but they surface four components clearly in Seller Central:

• Excess inventory
• Sell-through rate
• Stranded inventory
• In-stock rate for replenishable ASINs

From Amazon’s perspective, good behavior looks like this: keep popular items in stock, move units quickly once they enter FBA, avoid sending products that can’t sell, and don’t treat FBA as long-term storage.

Sellers who do that well tend to sit comfortably above 400. Often 550-600+. And they enjoy fewer unpleasant surprises around capacity and fees.

What “Healthy” Actually Looks Like

Technically, 400 is the floor. But treating 400 as “good enough” is risky. A few bad weeks or a poor seasonal buy can tip you into trouble fast.

Most operators now think in terms of three zones:

Below 400: Danger zone. Reduced storage capacity, tighter restock limits, aggressive pressure to clean up inventory.

400-550: Above the floor, but not much buffer. You’re one bad month away from problems.

550-600+: This is where you want to live. You have headroom to launch and scale. Short-term issues are less likely to trigger severe consequences.

The goal isn’t to “break 400.” It’s to consistently live in a range that supports growth and experimentation.

The Real Pain When IPI Slips

Let’s be specific about what actually happens when your IPI drops.

Sudden capacity cuts before peak events. You’re planning for Prime Day or Q4, and Amazon decides to slash your storage limits. Now you’re re-forecasting on the fly and leaving sales on the table.

ASIN-level restock caps on your winners. You have a product taking off, demand is clearly there, and Amazon won’t let you send more inventory. Because your overall inventory health looks weak, your bestseller gets throttled.

Skyrocketing storage costs. Slow movers and bulky SKUs that aren’t pulling their weight start eating into your margins through utilization surcharges and early long-term storage fees.

Cash trapped in aged inventory. Units sitting in FBA for months are expensive to keep and expensive to exit. That capital could be funding your next launch.

These aren’t abstract problems. They show up as missed revenue and margin compression in your P&L.

The Five Levers That Actually Move Your Score

The good news: IPI isn’t random. It’s built around behaviors you can influence with clear processes. The levers map almost directly to what Amazon shows you in Seller Central.

1. Aggressively Reduce Excess and Aged Inventory

Excess inventory drags your IPI down fast because it signals to Amazon that you’re using FBA as long-term storage instead of a high-velocity fulfillment network.

“Excess” means you’re holding more units than Amazon expects you to sell within a reasonable period based on recent demand.

How to find it:

Audit your inventory health at least monthly. Look for SKUs with more than 90 days of supply at current velocity, items sitting in the 91-180 day, 181-270 day, or 271+ day aging buckets, and anything Amazon explicitly flags as excess.

How to fix it:

Use targeted price reductions to make offers more compelling. Stack coupons, 7-Day Deals, Prime Exclusive Discounts, or Outlet deals to accelerate cleanup.

For dead or strategically irrelevant SKUs, submit removal or liquidation orders. Paying a one-time removal cost beats ongoing storage drag and IPI damage.

The mindset here matters: treat excess inventory as an active fire you’re constantly putting out, not background noise.

2. Increase Sell-Through on Slow Movers

Sell-through captures how quickly you convert inventory into sales over a rolling window (usually 90 days). Poor sell-through signals you’re overstocked relative to demand, and Amazon responds by punishing your IPI and tightening your space.

Find the problem SKUs:

Sort your FBA sell-through data by lowest first. Focus on ASINs with significant on-hand inventory and a low sell-through ratio. These are dragging your average down hardest.

Attack from both sides:

On conversion: upgrade product detail pages with stronger images, titles, bullets, and A+ content. Fix search discoverability so you’re showing up where buyers are looking.

On demand: use Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands to drive qualified traffic to underperforming SKUs. Combine ad pushes with short-term coupons to create demand spikes that reset inventory to healthier levels.

You don’t need to turn every slow mover into a hero ASIN. You just need to move enough units that your inventory profile looks efficient rather than stagnant.

3. Eliminate Stranded Inventory Quickly

Stranded inventory is one of the most wasteful drags on IPI. Units sitting in FBA, incurring storage costs, but unable to sell because the listing is inactive or blocked.

Common causes: listing suppressions, policy issues, pricing errors, catalog merges.

The fix is simple but requires discipline:

Check the stranded inventory view in Seller Central at least weekly. For each stranded ASIN, fix the root cause (compliance attributes, pricing bounds, category data, listing errors) so the offer becomes live again.

If a SKU is effectively dead (permanently blocked or tied up in an unwinnable dispute), make a fast decision to remove or liquidate. Don’t let those units sit indefinitely.

Treat stranded inventory as urgent tickets, not backlog. From Amazon’s perspective, this is the definition of inefficient inventory.

4. Protect In-Stock Rates for Key ASINs

While excess and stranded inventory pull your IPI down, repeatedly stocking out on core products hurts your score too. In-stock rate reflects how reliably you keep replenishable SKUs available.

Prioritize ruthlessly:

Not every SKU deserves the same protection. Focus on bestsellers by revenue and profit, ASINs with strong organic rankings or efficient ad performance, and products strategically important to your catalog.

Build a basic in-stock engine:

Forecast demand at the SKU level, including seasonality and planned marketing. Set reorder points and safety stock levels that reflect your lead times. Align advertising with inventory so you’re not overspending when replenishment isn’t lined up.

Amazon’s restock recommendations can help, but override them when your own data tells a better story.

5. Tighten Your FBA Replenishment Strategy

Many IPI issues begin before inventory ever reaches Amazon. Large, infrequent shipments representing four to six months of stock might feel operationally efficient, but they tend to create excess and drive up aged inventory risk.

Shift toward continuous flow:

Ship smaller quantities more frequently. Target roughly 30-60 days of supply for most SKUs, adjusted for lead times and volatility.

Use a 3PL as a buffer where appropriate. Hold bulk stock outside FBA and drip-feed inventory into Amazon as demand justifies it.

Integrate forecasting with replenishment so inbound plans are always grounded in the latest demand data and your promotional calendar.

Over time, this naturally reduces excess, improves sell-through, and stabilizes in-stock performance. All of which support a stronger IPI.

A Simple Operating Rhythm

Instead of treating IPI as a reactive fire drill, bake it into your regular operations. A simple cadence:

Weekly:

• Clear stranded inventory
• Check low-stock and inbound status on key ASINs

Biweekly or Monthly:

• Review excess and aging inventory for price actions, promos, Outlet, or removals
• Audit low sell-through SKUs and adjust listings, pricing, and ads

Monthly or Quarterly:

• Refresh demand forecasts using recent performance, seasonality, and upcoming campaigns
• Revisit replenishment rules (days of supply, reorder points, 3PL strategy)

This keeps you continuously addressing the four pillars that drive IPI instead of letting problems accumulate until they trigger capacity cuts.

The Bottom Line

In 2026, IPI is a central control mechanism that dictates how much Amazon will let you grow.

The threshold of 400 remains the hard floor. But the real advantage comes from running an operation that consistently lives above that, in the 550-600+ range.

Focus on what you can control: excess inventory cleanup, stronger sell-through, fast stranded-inventory fixes, reliable in-stock performance on key ASINs, and smarter replenishment. Do those consistently, and you protect your FBA capacity while giving yourself room to scale.

Even as Amazon tightens the screws on less efficient sellers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good IPI score on Amazon?

Amazon’s minimum threshold is 400, but that’s the floor, not the goal. Scores between 400-550 leave you vulnerable to capacity cuts if you hit a rough patch. Most experienced operators target 550-600+ because that range provides enough buffer to absorb seasonal swings, launch new products, and scale without triggering restrictions. If you’re consistently above 550, you’re in a healthy position.

How often does Amazon update your IPI score?

Amazon recalculates IPI weekly, but the score reflects your inventory performance over a longer rolling window. That means sudden changes in behavior won’t immediately spike or tank your score. It also means problems can build gradually before you notice them. Check your IPI weekly in Seller Central, but pay closer attention to the underlying metrics (excess inventory, sell-through, stranded inventory, in-stock rate) since those are the leading indicators.

What happens if your IPI drops below 400?

When your IPI falls below 400 at key evaluation periods, Amazon can reduce your FBA storage limits, impose stricter ASIN-level restock caps, and effectively increase your storage costs by constraining how much inventory you can hold. The timing matters: drops before Prime Day or Q4 can force last-minute inventory decisions that cost you sales. Recovery takes time because IPI reflects weeks of performance, not days.

Can you recover a low IPI score quickly?

Not overnight, but faster than most sellers expect if you focus on the right levers. Stranded inventory fixes can show results within days. Aggressive excess inventory cleanup through price cuts, promotions, or removals can move the needle within a few weeks. The key is attacking multiple factors simultaneously rather than waiting for one fix to work. Most accounts can move from below 400 to a safer range within 4-8 weeks with consistent effort.

How does IPI affect FBA storage fees?

IPI doesn’t directly set your storage fees, but it controls how much capacity you receive. Lower capacity means you’re more likely to hit utilization thresholds that trigger surcharges. It also limits your ability to send inventory ahead of peak seasons when storage demand is highest. Indirectly, a weak IPI often correlates with excess and aged inventory, which triggers long-term storage fees (now kicking in at 181 days with additional surcharges at 271+). The fee impact compounds over time.

When IPI Management Becomes Too Much to Handle In-House

For brands doing serious volume on Amazon, IPI management is just one piece of a much larger operational puzzle. You’re also juggling advertising strategy, listing optimization, catalog expansion, and probably Walmart, Shopify, or TikTok Shop on top of it.

At some point, the math changes. The cost of not having dedicated expertise managing your inventory health, advertising efficiency, and marketplace operations exceeds the cost of bringing in a team that does this every day.

That’s where Canopy Management comes in.

We’re a full-service partner for brands selling across Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, TikTok Shop, and beyond. Our team manages advertising and operations for brands generating over $3.3 billion in revenue collectively, with an 84% average year-over-year profit increase and a 99.1% partner retention rate.

The retention number matters. It means brands stick with us because the results hold up over time, not just in the first few months.

If you’re spending more time firefighting inventory issues and capacity restrictions than actually growing your business, it might be worth a conversation.

Schedule a strategy session with our team to discover exactly how our proven frameworks can accelerate your growth.