Amazon have announced that dodgy Amazon FBA stock will be chucked in the bin or otherwise disposed of under a new unsuitable inventory investigations policy which comes into effect on the 19th of March.
Under the new policy, if Amazon suspect that you may have been engaged in the sale of counterfeit products or other illegal goods, they may require additional information about the affected Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) inventory.
There are two main instances when dodgy Amazon FBA stock will be disposed of:
- If you do not provide the requested information or
- Amazon investigate and find that the inventory constitutes unsuitable units
Typically, the instances where your stock could be investigated is when a customer complains that they’ve received a fake. This could result in your products being deemed as dodgy Amazon FBA stock and that’s when Amazon may investigate or require you to provide evidence that you stock is legitimate – probably by asking for invoice proof that it comes from an approved supplier.
There is one situation where merchants have had issues and that’s with comingled FBA inventory. When you allow Amazon to commingle your inventory and a customer purchases a product from you, Amazon can send an exact same product from another seller to ensure that the customer delivery promise is honoured. If that product happens to be dodgy Amazon FBA stock, even though it’s not a unit that you directly supplied, you can potentially find that you’re asked to prove your stock is genuine. Make certain that you’re aware when you’ve opted for comingled stock and highlight this if Amazon comes calling.
It is of course going to be critical that you respond promptly when Amazon request information regarding the authenticity of your stock. Make sure you meet whatever deadline Amazon set as failure to do this could quite conceivably see your perfectly good and genuine stock being chucked in the skip for a simple failure to supply some paperwork rather than because it’s counterfeit or otherwise unsuitable for sale.
