Sellers can now opt out of having returned items potentially put back into their available inventory and re-sold to another customer.
Until recently, when a customer returned an item, it was evaluated by Amazon staff, and if deemed okay to sell again, was placed back in the seller’s inventory and made available for another customer to purchase.
On the face of it, the ability to re-sell returned items sounds like a good thing, right?
No, and here’s why…
Often, returned items have been opened by the customer and may even have been used and/or damaged. Sellers have relied on Amazon employees to accurately evaluate these returned items, which they don’t always do. This has led to defective or damaged items being put back in the seller’s inventory and re-sold to another customer.
In fact, in some cases, the customer returned a different or counterfeit item, but Amazon’s evaluation process didn’t pick it up and subsequently put it back in the seller’s available inventory.
No seller wants a customer to receive damaged, used, or faulty items, so the ability to opt out and have all returns automatically marked as defective (which prevents them from being re-sold) is good news 🙂
