Amazon puts the ‘ace’ in ‘replacements’.
Customers have always enjoyed a no-quibble return and refund policy on FBA items. Now Amazon wants to take things a tad further, and replace items returned by FBA customers for free, too. Anyone who’s ever wanted a replacement would say the measure is long overdue.
Read on for a glimpse into what’s to come.
Replacements in a Nutshell
Sellers are reimbursed according to Amazon reimbursement policy, and there are four possible scenarios:
- The customers don’t receive their items, and they call Amazon for a replacement. Amazon sends them replacements from the sellers’ initial inventories (assuming the sellers had double the initial ordered quantity in stock), and the sellers are then fully reimbursed for the loss of the items. Amazon covers any shipping costs. Sellers must keep track of Customer Concessions to monitor replacements and stock levels.
- The customers receive their goods, but would like to return them as they are no longer needed. Amazon waits for the goods to be returned, and determines their ‘sellability’. If all is well, Amazon issues refunds to its customers, and returns the products to their respective inventories. Sellers must keep track of returned items.
- The customers receive the goods, but they are damaged. If unsellable due to manufacturer flaws or other issues the seller should have picked up on, the products become unfulfillable inventory, and the sellers are not reimbursed. The classic removal order process follows, whereby sellers must decide whether to have their products returned or discarded. Customers receive their replacements.
- In case the items are unsellable due to an Amazon blunder, the customers receive identical FNSKUs, and the sellers are reimbursed for the products, which will not be returned to their initial inventories. The sellers must check their Customer Concessions to monitor their replacements and stock levels.
Food for Thought
The replacement value reimbursed to sellers will never exceed $2,000, which sounds like an invitation for sellers not to stock FBA inventory worth more than that.
Amazon also reserves the right to apply a default replacement value to returned items, if it doesn’t have enough information to give the products a valuation. This value is between $10 and $100; not that generous when the products in question are electronics or jewelry items.
Some Kinks to Iron Out
Customers will need to contact Amazon representatives by telephone or via the call-back option on the website. No mention of an alternative is made in the Help pages.
Also, FBA replacements will not be sent as gifts. This means that there will always be an invoice in the package, and that you’ll have to pass a gift on yourself to the lucky recipient. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
Keep Calm and Label On
FBA sellers who do not have labeled, individually designated FBA stock are bound to feel uneasy at this point. Luckily, Amazon reassures us that replacements will be made using only the original seller’s inventory.
Generally speaking, FBA sellers should see this as a chance to focus on their inventory, paying special attention to stock levels, keeping at least 2 units of their more expensive items in stock at all times, and trying to anticipate heavy traffic.
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Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments, and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed