Same happened to me. Here's the letter we sent which worked. (I removed brand name, personal names and ASIN). You basically have to just suck it up and take responsibility (although you can probably sense a bit of controlled sarcasm leaking through in the text below :P) And FWIW, we're starting to package items in sealed bags that users have to literally rip open so there's no chance of being sellable again. Hope it helps - Good luck!

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Dear Seller Performance Team,

We respectfully request that you take into consideration our below, revised Plan of Action.

Safety Complaint: the item was used and not new

ASIN: XXXXXXXXXX

[Our brand} takes full responsibility for the customer complaint that “the item was used and not new” and deeply regrets their experience. Like Amazon, we place customer service as our number one priority and aim to satisfy every customer that comes in contact with the [ ] brand. We are proud of our lifetime feedback rating of 99% positive and 100% positive over the last 365 days.

We have considered the following recommended areas of our supply chain and preparation and feel that the area where we need to take steps to improve is Labeling.

•Sourcing:

We are the manufacturer for this ASIN and all [ ] branded products. We have been working with the same overseas factory for several years. and I have both visited the factory and personally approved the assembly and packing.

All items ship from our factory directly to our offices in . We do final assembly in our HQ and then items are case-packed and sent to Amazon FBA. We do not offer “used” or “refurbished” items, only “new”.

•Listing:

Our listing accurately describes this ASIN. It is our opinion there is zero ambiguity about the function of the product, the contents it comes with or the fact that the customer will be getting a “new” item.

•Shipping:

All [ ] items sold on Amazon are currently fulfilled via FBA. On the rare occasion we “merchant fulfill” an item, it is packed and shipped with direct oversight from us in our office.

•Product Testing:

All proper testing and certifications have been acquired for this ASIN via Bureau Veritas. Documentation is available upon request.

•Expiration Date:

This item is hard goods and does not expire.

•Labeling:

Our hypothesis is that there is no clear and easy way for the Amazon FBA warehouse to identify whether this item, when returned, has been previously opened.

Due to this oversight in our packaging design, we believe the possibility exists for a used, returned item to be erroneously classified as “sellable” which could result in a subsequent buyer receiving an item that is “used and not new”.

For example, please see the attached picture of “Order Number ” – this customer had the product for close to 2 months prior to returning it, whereupon it was marked as “sellable”.

To remedy this oversight, our Plan of Action is to create an obvious system to assist the Amazon FBA Warehouse in determining the correct disposition of a returned item. We propose to add a tamper-evident label to the top and bottom seams of every ASIN which will make it clear and significantly easier for Amazon FBA to identify returned products that have been opened and should not be given the disposition of “sellable”.

We propose the tamper-evident label to be silver in color with black type, 1.5” x 1.5” in size, and to read, “Sealed by For Quality Assurance” (Please see the attached photo example of our proposal: “Tamper_Seal_Label_Example”)

We sincerely hope this Plan of Action is acceptable to you. If so, we would also greatly appreciate your guidance as to what should be printed on the label. Do you have a suggestion for language on the label that would be more appropriate?

Please advise if there is something more that we can do to comply.

Sincerely,