Amazon is rolling out a feature that gives sellers the option to have all returns marked unfulfillable.
A recent email from Amazon to select sellers stated that “evaluation of returns is no longer mandatory”.
This issue has been a big pain point for a lot of brands. Many sellers have dealt with bad reviews on their listings as a result of used goods being returned to inventory.
Sellers will now have the ability to opt out of Amazon inspecting their units and deciding if they are new or not. Instead, units will all be returned directly back to the seller. This will eliminate potential issues caused by inaccurate evaluations by Amazon such as “used as new” complaints or counterfeit items returned and deemed sellable.
How Disabling the Evaluation of Returns Will Work
With the current system, Amazon evaluates returns to determine whether they’re in sellable condition. If an item is deemed “sellable” by Amazon it’s moved back into the seller’s available inventory for customers to buy.
Now, when a seller chooses to disable the evaluation of returns, customer-returned items will automatically be marked as unfulfillable without being evaluated.
Seller will have the ability to keep returns evaluation enabled or disable returns evaluation for specific ASINs.
How to Implement in Seller Central
To disable returns evaluation, sellers can go to the FBA inventory page, select evaluation settings, and click disabled.
However, this feature currently in beta is available by invitation only. We look forward to all users soon benefiting from this step toward better customer satisfaction.
Credits to some of the first Amazon industry experts to share this news, including Ed Rosenberg, Joe Kovacs, and Aaron Cordovez.
