Performance Notification Selling used as new

I have had a notification this week that a customer made a ‘used sold as new’ complaint. As the customer had already contacted me and I had replied to her I was very surprised to get this notification. It, of course, was completely untrue as I do not sell used products. The item she ordered was too small and she simply wanted to return it. At no time ever did she tell Amazon the item was used. But she could not work out how to get a return label and she contacted customer services, it was they who chose this ‘used as new option’ as the reason for the return. The customer never made any such complaint. There has been a large increase in such notifications and it is damaging many sellers businesses. But the majority of these are completely false claims, they are being created by customer service staff incorrectly using this as a reason for returns. This then seems to create an automated performance notification. It is totally unacceptable that sellers are being put through this by incompetent Amazon staff. CS don’t care it does not affect them and they just choose anything to get the customer off the phone and close the case. I was beyond furious to be accused of this and of course, my item was not used. I did a plan of action, which was repeatedly refused instantly by an automated process, it was a physical impossibility for a human to have read the plan, the rejection was instant. So I continued to submit it until I eventually got someone to read it. My product was reinstated and the performance notification closed. But it caused me 48 hours of totally unnecessary stress and upset. I cannot tolerate Amazon staff blaming me for something I have not done, they are capable of producing levels of anger in me that very few other people can manage. I have posted this because there is a massive spike in sellers getting these notifications and from what I can see on the Forums they have not sold used as new at all. These sellers are distraught by these complaints and the constant and instant rejections of the paperwork they have struggled to put together. All this appears to be caused by incompetent customer support staff using the wrong option for a return. It is a disgrace, sellers should not have to go through this. I have no objection to Amazon sending policy warnings when there has been a real and genuine complaint. But the complaint needs to be real and not competitors trying to cause trouble or just because a member of CS staff clicking on the wrong option on a menu.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Unfortunately, these Used Sold As New complaints are triggered by bots so all you can do in cases like this is provide Amazon invoices and a Plan of Action.

Since you already successfully appealed, I would suggest you to post here the Plan of Action so other sellers can get some inspiration in case they need help.

Hi Kika,

I am having the same problem. The customer sent me message to confirm it is new, not used and after 2 hours I received email that Amazon removed the listing and asked for invoice. Now Amazon is not accepting my POA and my invoices. I used the same POA for 3 complains and it worked for 2 items and yesterday we received email that they need more detailed POA. Also, can we post POA without invoices? Thanks.

Please start a new thread if you need help with your issue.