Sellable or unsellable? That is the question.

Or it could be if Shakespeare was an Amazon Seller trying to set up the new inventory evaluating settings.

In the Amazon monthly review from March, we talked about the FBA inventory evaluation settings available from March.

Let’s take a closer look at what it is about.

As a first step, we will need a dedicated, private-label Amazon seller. Let’s call him John.

Customer A returns one of John’s products.

Sadly, it happens.

John’s FBA inventory is evaluated as sellable or unsellable by default. The same happens when his inventory is marked as damaged.

What do sellable and unsellable conditions mean?

If John’s item is evaluated as sellable, it is moved back into his available inventory for customers to buy. If the item is evaluated as unsellable due to damage, Amazon determines whether the damage was caused by the platform or the customer.

Does it matter? More than YES.

If an evaluated item’s unsellable condition is caused by Amazon, it provides John reimbursement for the UNIT and takes ownership of it. The platform handles selling it through alternate channels such as Amazon Warehouse or Woot. If an evaluated item’s unsellable condition is caused by John/his customer, the inventory is marked as unfulfillable. It can be removed either manually using the Create Removal Order tool or automatically as defined by your Automated unfulfillable settings.

What will happen if John decides to disable these settings?

Amazon will not evaluate his returned UNIT and will put it into the unfulfillable inventory.

But why would you or John want to turn off the settings?

The main reason is Amazon’s wrong choice of condition. If the platform evaluates John’s damaged product as sellable, he can sell it again and most likely he will get a bad review because of its condition- a bad customer experience.

This will cost John more Amazon return fees and most likely will affect his brand’s reputation.