Advice Needed: Complaint - Safety Concern
We’re an FBA Seller, no private label products, and over the weekend we received the following complaint:
"Hello,
We have removed your listing below because of a complaint from a customer about the safety of the item. Your listing will remain inactive until we can work with you to resolve the concern.
Complaint Type ASIN Title Additional Information
Safety Concern B00BMRA7MQ Shiseido/Bio-Performance Super Corrective Eye Cream 0.52 Oz (15 Ml)
If you would like the listing to be reinstated, email your plan of action to safety-policy@amazon.com and include the following information:
Identify the cause of the safety complaint
Provide steps you have taken to resolve the issue and prevent similar issues going forward"
This is the first safety complaint we’ve ever received and as the initial email did not state the reason for the safety complaint, we responded to the email by asking for the basis of the safety complaint, as we have no negative feedback pertaining to this ASIN and the product page has no recent negative reviews.
Amazon then responded with the following:
"Hello,
The plan you provided does not identify:
– The cause of the safety complaint included below.
– Steps taken to prevent such complaints in the future
Safety Complaint: This item appears to be used and is not new. the product packaging was crumbled. The bottle did not have the seal of a new products. the bottle has oily fingerprints on it. Unacceptable.
ASIN: B00BMRA7MQ
To be sufficient your plan must:
–Identify the issue that caused the complaint.
–Describe the steps you have taken to resolve the complaint.
–Describe in detail how you will prevent similar complaints."
Furthermore, to makes things more interesting, we received a refund initiated email for this ASIN only 2 hours prior to receiving the first complaint email, however the refund reason states “order not received.” So to us, seeing as we have pictures of every item shipped to Amazon, none of which show “the product packaging was crumbled”, either the buyer is lying or, most likely, being that the inventory is commingled, the buyer may have received an item another seller sent in.
At this point, what is the best way to proceed in resolving this complaint?
Thank you in advance!
Seller_8Wfpcf6cHQaPy
First, get rid of your setting, for commingled inventory. You are asking for trouble, when you commingle products, since you have no idea, what the next guy, is sending in.
If you hadn’t commingled, it would be easy to ask for a bin-check or to recall the inventory to check it yourself.
Since you have no idea, whose item it was, one of the points you can use, is that you will turn off commingling, of the product, to avoid these problems, in the future.
Seller_MU8ehgZgMJ9K0
As others have said, you would do well to not commingle anything. Even if not commingled, Amazon will sometimes commingle anyway. And even if it is really not commingled, there could be a return that Amazon put back into stock and sold again after failing to see that it was not sellable.
Seller_nKyeSPxRmseAq
When you send in inventory you choose Amazon barcode instead of manufacturer barcode. It keeps your products separate as that barcode is your unique product identifier.
Seller_Bjrec6NPIKma9
Amazon denied our plan of action, outlined below:
"Good afternoon,
Below is our plan of action in regard to the safety complaint received for ASIN B00BMRA7MQ:
- Identify the issue that caused the complaint
The buyer states that “the product packaging was crumbled. The bottle did not have the seal of a new products. the bottle has oily fingerprints on it.” This is completely unacceptable for any buyer to receive a product that is advertised as new, but the condition does not meet that standard. We have shipped to Amazon and sold multiple units of this ASIN, however this is the first safety complaint we have received, for any product. Since this product was commingled, there is no way to know which seller sent in exactly which product. However, we have attached two pre-shipment pictures of this ASIN as an example of the quality of product that was shipped to Amazon.
- Describe the steps you have taken to resolve the complaint
Being that this product was FBA, the customer has been issued a full refund by Amazon. However, being that the product was commingled, moving forward we will no longer commingle this ASIN to avoid this situation in the future.
- Describe in detail how you will prevent similar complaints
Since we have no idea whose item it was, we will turn off commingling of the product to avoid these problems in the future.
We respectfully request that, ASIN: B00BMRA7MQ, Shiseido/Bio-Performance Super Corrective Eye Cream 0.52 Oz (15 Ml), be reinstated. Please let us know if any further information is required."
Amazon states that we did not identify:
– The cause of the safety complaints included below.
– Steps taken to prevent such complaints in the future
In addition, we sent in pictures with our plan of action of each item we sent in FBA under that ASIN. We would greatly appreciate any help in getting this matter resolved. Thank you in advance!
Seller_w7EcQ78w5IHrd
You got caught by a returned item that Amazon put back on the shelf. Same thing happened to us. Now we have two products that we are permabanned from ever selling on Amazon.
Seller_cjeHw13tL69pa
Amazon want that your item should have 2 safety seal for this type of product. You should poly bag it and should be temper proof. In case some body used it and send it back to amazon the receiving person will know that item was used. I have a similar situation last year with one type of cream which does not have inside temper seal. So we have to poly bag it and problem was solved. Also accept your guilt as rushdie said . Hope this will help.
Seller_qkjJA43LCa8hH
thats easy…contact the manufacturer and ask for a copy of the the Safety Data Sheet…very common…no worries
Seller_8tIiPf8FDl1dC
We just got the same sort of notice - for a pair of shorts.
Let’s see - no sharp edges, nothing that can be swallowed, no chemicals, nothing at all which can cause a safety hazard.
I’m thinking that Amazon has expanded their teams covering these issues, and has gotten more aggressive in trying to deal with these issues (but not for Chinese sellers, just for the US based ones, where they’ve gone wayyyyy overboard. Come on, a pair of shorts?!?!)
It would also make it easier if there was a simple way to see the complaint that triggered this. In our case, they said that the buyer complained that it was used (so, not a safety issue!), and on an item which was in the manufacturer’s packaging with their tags, brand new. (Can anyone say “I don’t want to pay return shipping”, boys and girls?)
I’m definitely starting to worry about the future viability of selling on this site.
Seller_Bjrec6NPIKma9
Does anyone have any suggestions regarding our revised plan of action above??
Seller_lYLz1roOGTQRE
Well here is your response - the item was in commingled inventory and the product the customer received was not the same quality as the items you send to FBA. The solution is to no longer commingle and to label all your inventory with FNSKU labels.
Something most people do not realize is that even with commingled inventory Amazon still knows the exact seller who sent the inventory the customer received. So ask Amazon to investigate.
Personally though I have to question that this is commingled inventory. It would seem to be prohibited for at least two reasons: 1) a it is a dated product and 2) it is a topical personal care cream.
Not all inventory is eligible for tracking with the manufacturer barcode. To be eligible, products must:
Be in new condition only
Have a single scannable barcode that corresponds to a single ASIN in the Amazon catalog
Not be expiration-dated
Not be consumable or topical products such as skin creams, shampoos, or cosmetics.
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