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Amazon has announced new efforts that may be able to prevent some overstocked and returned items from becoming garbage. It launched two new programs to make it easier for third-party retailers to sell returned merchandise and unsold inventory.
The actions follow several separate investigations into Amazon warehouses which found that many returned and unsold items were tagged for destruction. Companies that use Amazon to sell their products pay to keep their inventory in Amazon warehouses. When these goods do not sell or if the returned items accumulate, they may decide to discard the products to save money.
Amazon’s new “Grade and Resell” initiative will now give third-party sellers in the UK the ability to sell items that have been returned as “used”. Sellers can choose to route returned items to the new program, where Amazon will assign the “used” item a rating of “Like New”, “Very Good”, “Good”, or “Acceptable”. The third-party seller can then set a price based on the appraisal and sell it as if it were a new item. The program is supposed to be available in the United States later this year, according to Amazon. It is also expected to go live in Germany, France, Italy and Spain by early next year.
Another new program is trying to make it easier for sellers to liquidate additional inventory. They can now sell products that are overstock and returned to wholesalers through Amazon. This option is now available in the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. It is expected to arrive in the UK later this month.
An investigation in June lifted the curtain on a “destruction zone” at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Dunfermline, Scotland. The e-commerce giant has marked millions of unsold products there for destruction every year, UK television program ITV News find.
“I used to pant. There is no rhyme or reason for what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, the Hoovers, the occasional MacBook and iPad; the other day 20,000 Covid (face) masks still in their packaging, ”said a former Amazon employee who spoke anonymously to ITV News.
In 2019, Amazon launched a program that allows third-party sellers to donate inventory left in its warehouses in the US and UK. But far fewer items at Dunfermline were for donation than for destruction, the ITV News report found.
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