New guidance to help you prevent product condition issues

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News_Amazon

New guidance to help you prevent product condition issues

We have a new Preventing product condition issues Help page to help you prevent product condition issues. By describing your products accurately and addressing potential product condition issues early, you can maintain great account health.

Common complaints include scratches and scuffs, previously opened packaging, signs of damage, and items not working. To prevent these complaints, you can:

  • Describe your products accurately and select the correct listing condition according to Amazon’s Condition guidelines. This will ensure that there is no confusion about what the customer should expect to receive.
  • Improve your quality control processes and inspect your products regularly to ensure that they match the description in your listing and function as expected. Work with your supplier to identify issues and areas for improvement.
  • Implement packaging improvements to prevent minor damage during storage and shipping, keeping in mind the unique features of your products.

Our Preventing product condition issues Help page has additional information about evaluating your listings, quality audits, packaging, returns processing, and storage and shipping practices. If you need more assistance with product condition issues, you can get support or reach out on Seller Forums through links in Seller Central Help.

Want to learn more about Amazon’s policies? Check the news section of Seller Central every Tuesday for policy reminders that help us ensure that all sellers and customers have a great Amazon experience.

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Seller_wyo87TbGVpAUV
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

This is an excellent topic Amazon. I would suggest allowing sellers to have the option of not having inventory from returned FBA orders placed back into the inventory supply chain? This would dramatically help with order claim issues such as “used, sold as new”, “expired”, and “inauthentic” complaints.

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Seller_oewHJOFDM7eyN
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

Thank you Amazon. Another do as I say
Not …

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Seller_ZuPswd4OBhBTL
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

This is very helpful but any complaints we have so far gotten can be linked to inventory being placed back with sellable disposition by FBA staff once a return is received. FBA sellers should have an option whereby no return item even in perfect condition to be put back as sellable.

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Seller_wyo87TbGVpAUV
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

Sellers that utilize FBA services as the majority of their business model on Amazon rely on the FCs to follow the standards that are outlined on the new help page. While we understand that COVID and Peak call for an increase in temp and full-time labor, our customers still require and expect the highest level of service from Amazon. It is not possible for FC employees to know each item in their FC. Again, we understand this and that is one of the single most convincing arguments to actually allow sellers to sideline FBA returns and have them marked as unfulfillable. We sell many items with external and internal safety seals. We have customer complaints about receiving items without the safety seals. Being that we do not sell returned/unfulfillable items, the supply chain is not being contaminated on our end. We have full supply chain visibility until we ship the items to the FCs.

Please allow us the option on an MSKU level to shoulder the burden of returned FBA orders. You can still issue the return label to the customer, but utilize our warehouse instead of the FC. This will decrease the cost to the FCs (labor, material, storage) and put the onus on the merchants to self-certify their returned products.

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Seller_z1JDNz6de1lqc
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

Then fix Brand FUNKO since sellers are only allowed to sell under New Condition! Collectible and Used where you can describe issues says needs approval and when you apply you tell us you are currently not accepting any new applications to sell under those conditions! We have even got back brand owner response along with our department does not handle applications to sell under used so all this is nonsense for the brand FUNKO which customer for these happy meal toys in a box are nut jobs and care more for the cheap box than even if the actual item is good. AMAZON ADD COLLECTIBLE CONDITION TO ALL FUNKO BRANDS!

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Seller_T0I28ZM6o8kU2
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

In order to meet New condition guidelines, products should arrive in their original, unopened packaging.

If you need to open a package or break a product’s seal to inspect a product, do not return it to your sellable inventory.

You may only resell returned products as “New” if they meet New condition guidelines. Ensure that the original packaging is unopened and intact, and that all components of the product are present.

If your product does not come with a protective seal, consider working with your supplier to add seals or use shrink-wrap to protect the item.

Can Amazon please clarify these glaring discrepancies? As the above quotes clearly state, New items should be unopened but elsewhere it’s specifically referred to that this is NOT a requirement AND that I can NOT disable FBA Repackaging services. Emphasis mine.

For example

Repackaging services

FBA repackages your eligible customer returns so that they can be sold as new. The service applies both to retail and FBA return items, and cannot be disabled in your settings.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html/?itemID=G201505310&ref_=ag_G201505310_h_r0_cont_sgsearch

And then on the condition guidelines page, there is NO mention of New meaning unopened.

Just like it sounds. A brand-new item. Original manufacturer’s warranty, if any, still applies, with warranty details included in the listing comments. Original packaging is present for most New items but certain items like shoes may be re-boxed.

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/G200339950?ref=nslp_at_GUPHHSZNR79F3BW6_nslnk_2_G200339950

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE allow FBA sellers to have all returns marked as unfillable. This will allow us to inspect the returns to ensure that they fully meet New condition guidelines, have not been tampered with, and that the original factory seals are still in place. It’s not reasonable to expect that warehouse workers will have the same knowledge and experience with our items as we will.

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Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

Many items should be once opened and factory seal is broken you own it. Just like a pack of baseball cards or video game once it is opened up customer now owns item. People may complain for a bit because amazon has dumbed down shoppers for years but after awhile people will realize and think before however they handle their online purchases. Right now they can do what ever they want and decide they want some money back just click defective or if that doesn’t work go back and say I know it says delivered but I never personally received it in my hands for full refund.

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Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

Amazon like us sellers not seeing FBA returns because we would be stopping lots of abuse. See amazon makes fees off of original sale then when returned customer gets full refund now they have money to buy again and again and so on all the while amazon keeps racking up free money on fees every transaction which all in all its a really good scheme.

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Seller_8ZHIKamkhOp7G
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

Good information and good discussion points.

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Seller_DJJ740jdtcFsj
In reply to: News_Amazon's post

Here is an awesome idea. How about Amazon give us the ability to opt out of product returns being marked as sellable. You expect us to do all of the above, yet your staff at FBA are completely untrained to properly determine if our returned products are eligible for resale.

Without fail every single used sold as new complaint we have received in the past 3 years has been a FBA returned item being resold.

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