Amazon inventory accuracy software: stop phantom stock and protect account health

On Amazon, inventory accuracy is not an internal metric. It is a public promise. If a listing shows availability and the order cannot ship, Amazon does not shrug. It measures the failure, penalizes performance, and can suppress your listing.

That is why the phrase "Amazon inventory accuracy software" keeps showing up in operator searches. Teams are not shopping for shiny features. They are trying to stop phantom stock, late shipments, and constant reconciliations that eat time and margin.

Accuracy is not just a number. It is the system, the process, and the discipline that makes the number true.

Why Amazon exposes inventory inaccuracies faster than other channels

Many channels let you recover from mistakes quietly. Amazon turns mistakes into metrics. Cancellation rate, late shipment rate, and customer feedback all move when inventory is wrong.

Even small inaccuracies can cause big outcomes. If inventory is overstated, orders flow to a warehouse that cannot fulfill them. If inventory is understated, listings go inactive, and revenue drops instantly.

Bryan Wright, CTO and COO of G10, explains what a modern system must do to avoid those failures. "A good WMS tracks inventory through the warehouse at every point that you touch it." If inventory is only tracked at the beginning and the end, the middle becomes a blind spot where errors breed.

Phantom stock is usually a process problem, not a demand problem

Phantom stock happens when the system believes inventory exists that the warehouse cannot actually ship. The causes are painfully consistent: unscanned moves, sloppy receiving, mispicks, and returns sitting in limbo.

At low volume, teams compensate. Someone walks the aisles. Someone adjusts the count. Someone explains a cancellation to a customer. At scale, compensation becomes impossible.

Connor Perkins, Director of Fulfillment at G10, describes how this shows up when brands arrive from other providers. "One of the pain points our clients have experienced with previous 3PLSs is inventory accuracy; maybe their previous 3PL wasn't great at picking the orders accurately. So they were losing money by shipping wrong items or wrong quantities of items." Wrong picks and wrong quantities are not just fulfillment mistakes. They are inventory accuracy failures.

Scan-based tracking is the foundation of inventory accuracy software

Inventory accuracy software is only as strong as its data capture. If inventory moves without a scan, the system is guessing until someone reconciles later.

Perkins states the baseline operational rule that makes accuracy possible. "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper." That is not a preference. It is the difference between reliable inventory and a constant stream of exceptions.

Wright illustrates what scan-based visibility gives you. "So at any point in time, I know that Bobby has this product on fork 10 right now, and if I needed to go find that product, I just got to go find Bobby on fork 10." When every movement is captured, inventory becomes traceable, and traceability is what enables accuracy.

Real-time updates matter because Amazon moves in minutes

Inventory accuracy is not just about correct counts. It is about correct counts now. Batch updates are one of the biggest reasons brands experience phantom stock on Amazon.

If a warehouse ships a burst of orders at 10:05 a.m. and inventory updates at noon, Amazon continues to accept orders against inventory that is already gone. That is how cancellations and late shipments appear even when the warehouse team is working hard.

Real-time inventory sync closes that gap. It ensures availability reflects reality quickly enough to prevent overselling and misrouting.

Inventory status matters as much as inventory quantity

Amazon inventory accuracy software should track more than "on hand." It should track status: available, allocated, quarantined, damaged, returned, or pending inspection.

Returns are a common source of confusion. A returned item may be physically present but not sellable until inspected. If the system counts it as available too early, phantom stock appears. If it counts it as unavailable too long, revenue is lost.

Maureen Milligan, Director of Operations and Projects at G10, explains how visibility into progress reduces uncertainty. "They can actually watch those progressions going on." When inventory changes states visibly, decisions become deliberate instead of reactive.

Multi-warehouse operations amplify accuracy problems

Adding warehouses is a smart way to reduce transit time and cost. It also multiplies inventory events and increases the cost of inaccuracies.

Inventory that is wrong in one building can make Amazon inventory wrong everywhere. Routing logic assigns orders to the wrong location. Transfers create new opportunities for miscounts. Without a strong system, a network becomes a liability.

Holly Woods, Director of Operations at G10, highlights why location choice matters when the system is accurate. "If someone is based in Chicago, an order will probably go out of the Wisconsin for lower shipping and transit time than shipping it from, say, Nevada or Texas." That routing only works when each location's inventory is truthful.

Compliance failures often start as inventory accuracy failures

It is easy to think of compliance as labeling and paperwork. Often, compliance failures begin earlier: the wrong item picked, the wrong quantity packed, the wrong configuration shipped.

On strict channels, those errors become financial penalties. Joel Malmquist, VP of Customer Experience at G10, describes the reality on retail-style requirements. "Walmart's pretty intense with their labeling rules." Amazon is built on the same kind of rigor. Accuracy failures can trigger chargebacks, rework, and lost eligibility.

Visibility and audit trails are what make accuracy sustainable

Accuracy is not just hitting a number once. It is sustaining it. That requires audit trails that show what happened when errors occur.

If a count is off, you need to know where the discrepancy came from: receiving, stow, pick, pack, or returns. Without an audit trail, teams guess, adjust, and hope the next count is better.

Milligan describes what real-time customer visibility provides. "What these real-time portals provide our customers is 100% visibility." Visibility creates accountability and speeds up root-cause analysis.

How to evaluate Amazon inventory accuracy software

Start with the basics. Does the system track inventory at every touch. Does it require scans for movement. Does it update availability in real time. Does it track inventory status, not just on-hand quantity.

Then look at the operational reality. How often are manual adjustments needed. How often do teams "walk the warehouse" to confirm stock. How often do listings go inactive unexpectedly.

If the system requires constant manual correction, it is not accuracy software. It is a reporting tool attached to a problem.

How G10 supports Amazon inventory accuracy

G10 approaches inventory accuracy as a combined system: scan-based execution, a configurable WMS, and real-time visibility that keeps Amazon availability aligned with warehouse reality.

Perkins describes the integration breadth that supports accurate data flows. "We have experience with omni-channel integration setup and we're capable of doing any EDI, API, flat file, XML, any type of integration needed throughout the omni-channel for the marketplaces out there." Accuracy depends on clean data exchange, not just clean warehouse scans.

When issues arise, Malmquist describes the support model that keeps problems from lingering. "If you're working with G10, your experience for getting help is that you can either email or call your direct point of contact. It's that simple." Accuracy problems are time-sensitive, and fast answers protect account health.

If phantom stock, surprise stockouts, or Amazon listing issues are becoming routine, the fix starts with visibility and scan-based discipline. Bring your SKU mix, your warehouse footprint, and the Amazon programs you use today, and we will show you what it takes to make inventory accuracy boring again.