Our account was deactivated on May 11, when we submitted a PoA to Amazon. We submitted the Plan on a Friday and on that following Monday, we received an email stating that they had not received anything from us, so they deactivated our account. When I called Amazon Account Health, I was told that they did receive my submission and that it was under review. I was very confused as to why our account had been deactivated, but I was told that there was nothing that could be done but to submit a successful Plan of Action. We have been working on that since then and the last PoA we submitted was on May 21. After waiting for almost two weeks, we finally heard something back from Amazon. We are very hopeful that we can put this behind us soon and get our account reactivated, but I wanted to stop here and ask for some advice first. Does anyone have any ideas on we can add below that is not already in there? I also know that it needs to be condensed somehow, but I’m not altogether certain how to manage that. I’m considering scrapping everything below and just starting over. We greatly appreciate anything that is contributed. We have been dealing with this for over a month now with almost daily conversations with Amazon’s Account Health Support Team.

This time they have requested:
“We received your submission, but you have not sent us sufficient information to address the complaints we received that your items appear to be used.
Please send an updated plan of action that contains:
Greater detail on the steps that you have taken to prevent future complaints about the condition of your items.”

This is what we had sent in previously (bear with me - it’s quite lengthy):
"We have several measures in place to prevent complaints in the future. We have closed the listings for all ASINs listed under the Product Condition Customer complaints of the Account Health dashboard and we will no longer sell these items when our account is reinstated. We have disposed of anything that could be considered used. Our company will continue to only buy products directly from the manufacturing companies. If we sell Florsheim, we order directly from Weyco Group, Inc., as that is the manufacturing company for that brand. If we sell Myra bags, we buy from Khemchand Handicraft, Inc., as that is the manufacturing facility for Myra bags. We will continue to always ship items in their original packaging, with additional protective packaging if needed. We will also continue to inspect each item that we receive from the manufacturers in order to ensure complete customer satisfaction. We will maintain our routine to inspect every item them we get back from Amazon FBA to make sure that we are not receiving damaged items back into our system and inventory. In fact, we have implemented a few changes to our inspection/shipping process to help with this type of situation. It is as follows:

• When the item is received, it is looked over by our receiving team. The items are unboxed in our freight room and we check each item for correct sizes, correct colors, manufacturer defects, damages that could have occurred during shipping from the manufacturing facility, and matching product descriptions on the box.

• The item is then added into our personal store inventory. After adding our own tags and scanning the UPCs into our system, it is then stored in our warehouse, sorted by brand and gender.

• When we receive an order for an item, it is pulled from our warehouse. The item is brought to our online orders clerk. From there, it is matched to a receipt, if it is being fulfilled by the merchant. If it is being shipped FBA, it is brought to our FBA clerk. The item is then inspected again to check for correct sizes, correct colors, manufacturer defects, matching product descriptions on the box, and damages that could result from sitting in the warehouse.

• The item is then transferred to our shipping clerk or our FBA clerk who packages and ships the item. Depending on the item, they are packaged as follows:

o If we are shipping household items, the item is first wrapped in bubble wrap. It is then placed inside a box and covered with peanuts. This prevents the item from moving too much and breaking during shipment. Fragile items are marked with a fragile sticker on each side of the box to assure gentle handling.
o If we are shipping clothing or accessories, the item is placed in a clear bag with a suffocation warning printed on it and sealed. This prevents any dirt and grime that enters during transportation from damaging the cloth material. It is then placed in either a box or a poly-mailer depending on size.
o If we are packaging shoes, we make sure that the protective paper in the shoe box is correctly wrapped around the shoes. The item is then placed in a box not much bigger than the shoes box. This prevents the item from moving too much in the shipping box and damaging the shoes box. If it moves, the shipping box is stuffed with packing paper, peanuts, or bubble wrap in order to prevent further movement.

• The box is then taped shut along every edge of all four flaps (top and bottom) and set aside to await pickup from the corresponding shipping company. This helps prevent dust and debris from entering the box and damaging the items. This also prevents tearing of the box and other damage during transit to the customer.

• Once the customer receives their item or when an item is sent back to FBA, we send out a proactive feedback request. We have a program that automatically sends out a message to the customer thanking them for their purchase and asking if there was anything we can improve on. Any information that they can provide is helpful in making the experience for the next customer better. Any time that a customer reports a defective or damaged item, we create a removal order for that item and temporarily deactivate the listing to guarantee that the product is inspected and disposed of properly.

Even with all of the detail that goes in to the inspection process, items tend to slip through and get shipped to customers. That is why we will also begin to inspect our inventory regularly every six months when we do our physical inventory scan. The items will be inspected for each of the points mentioned in the inspection process above - correct sizes, correct colors, manufacturer defects, matching product descriptions on the box, and damages that could result from sitting in the warehouse.
This new process will help us to avoid future customer complaints. We will continue to duly inspect every item before it leaves our doors and to do everything within our power in order to ensure complete customer satisfaction, both through Amazon fulfillment and merchant fulfillment."

Again, any help is appreciated!