Amazon Adds ‘Grade and Resell’ Option for Sellers’ Product Returns | PYMNTS.com

Amazon now offers the independent sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) in the United States a new option for managing product returns: Grade and Resell.

This optional program, which was previously available only to retail brands, provides a resell channel that helps sellers recover value on returned inventory and gives customers a greater selection of preowned and open-box products, Amazon said in a Thursday (Sept. 19) blog post.

In this program, items that are returned to Amazon’s return centers are inspected and then offered for resale, according to the post.

“Before an item can be sold through Grade and Resell, we conduct a comprehensive inspection to thoroughly test the condition of each item and provide a detailed description of its condition to make it easier for customers to make a more informed purchase decision,” Gopal Pillai, vice president, worldwide returns and reCommerce at Amazon, wrote in the post. “For electronic items, we will power on, test and factory-reset as part of the evaluation.

“Based on the quality check, each item will be assigned one of four listing conditions: ‘Like New,’ ‘Very Good,’ ‘Good’ or ‘Acceptable,’” Pillai added.

Grade and Resell joins the other options available to sellers using FBA in the U.S., which include Product Support, which aims to avoid returns by providing customers with help on product setup and other issues; FBA Returnless Resolutions that lets sellers grant refunds without requiring the customer to physically return the item; and FBA Donations that allows sellers to donate eligible products to families and individuals in need, per the post.

“If a customer decides to return an item, we make returns convenient and easy — working backwards from customer and selling partner needs to streamline the returns process,” Pillai wrote in the post.

Easy and convenient return and refund procedures are likely to attract customers, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Adobe collaboration, “The Online Features Driving Consumers to Shop With Brands, Retailers or Marketplaces.”

The report found that 47.1% of consumers take easy and convenient return and refund procedures into account when shopping on an online marketplace. The same is true of 27.9% of consumers shopping on a retailer’s website or mobile app other than the brand’s site and 25% of those shopping on a brand’s website or mobile app.