Amazon Grade And Resell Program Rolled Out To Reduce FBA Waste

In a bid to reduce the negative environmental impacts of its e-commerce business model and stop perfectly good, returned items from unnecessarily becoming trash, Amazon has recently launched Grade and Resell.

The new initiative, which is now live in the UK, makes it possible for third-party sellers to sell items that have been returned through Amazon’s network as “used.” In an effort to cut down on e-waste, the new program comes after independent investigations into Amazon’s FBA warehouses, which reported that Amazon had labeled millions of returned and unsold items for destruction.

In an interview, an ex-employee from Amazon told ITV News, “From a Friday to a Friday, our target was to generally destroy 130,000 items a week. I used to gasp. There’s no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, Hoovers, the occasional MacBook, and iPad; the other day, 20,000 Covid (face) masks still in their wrappers.”

Meanwhile, the new program is still undergoing beta testing in the US and is running on an invite-only basis, but Amazon claims the service will be fully operational there by the end of the year, along with France, Germany, Spain, and Italy following in early 2022.

So what does it mean for Amazon sellers? Previous to the launch of the Amazon Grade and Resell program, third-party sellers had the choice to donate the unsold items, or they would remain sitting on warehouse shelves until their eventual destruction. Either way, sellers would absorb the financial losses.

But now, when a buyer returns an item, sellers can automatically funnel these items through Grade and Resell, after which Amazon will give the “used” item one of the following familiar ratings:

• Used-Like New
• Used-Very Good
• Used-Good
• Used-Acceptable

Then, since everything works through Amazon’s existing warehouse infrastructure, third-party sellers can set pricing for the item based on Amazon’s rating and sell it just like they would a new item.

While the program clearly benefits the environment as fewer items needlessly end up in landfills, some Amazon sellers remain cautious of the accuracy of Amazon’s grading system, which may result in negative customer feedback should the grading be incorrect or should Amazon resell items that are truly unsellable. However, the chance to profit from previously squandered stock means that some third-party sellers will likely be happy to see the changes implemented.

Sellers interested in the Amazon Grade and Resell program can discover more about how it works, product eligibility, and fees here and should familiarize themselves with the terms and conditions of the program before enrolling.