If you already sell refurbished, pre-owned, or open-box products in your physical shop or e-commerce and are also a seller on Amazon, you can apply to adhere to the Amazon Renewed program.
This program allows those who sell high-quality pre-owned products to boost their pool of customers by selling Amazon certified refurbished products. But what is this program, and is it lucrative for sellers to sell through it?
In this article, we will cover the most important topics and answer some of the most frequent questions you might have if you’re tackling the idea of becoming an Amazon renewed seller.
What is Amazon Renewed Program?
Amazon Renewed is a program that allows you to sell high-quality, refurbished products rather than new items through your Seller Central account. To do so, you will have to express your intention of becoming a Renewed seller by subscribing to the program.
If your application is accepted, you will become part of an exclusive program that only accepts elite sellers who can constantly meet Amazon’s refurbished product quality criteria. Joining this program comes with important advantages.
As the biggest player in the online shopping industry, Amazon is a platform trusted by millions of users worldwide; therefore, selling refurbished products on Amazon can help you increase your income simply because the customers know that buying previously owned products through Amazon is a guarantee for the quality.
By selling your certified refurbished products on Amazon, you’ll also gain access to exclusive selling tools, while Amazon’s fulfillment capabilities will even give you the possibility to sell your products on global marketplaces rather than just locally.
It is easy to understand that this program gives you the opportunity to grow your existing refurbished business.
Like anything else, though, the Amazon certified refurbished program also has drawbacks. So, is it really worth it to subscribe? Read on to find it out and to see what you must do to become an Amazon Renewed seller.
How can I sell on Amazon Renewed?
To sell refurbished products on the Amazon Renewed program, you must first qualify as a seller.
If you don’t have an account already, you should register as an Amazon seller first. If you have an account, log into your Seller Central account and file an application.
Before starting the process, you should decide what products you want to sell. Not all refurbished products are accepted, and Amazon has a list of pre-owned items you can sell:
- Laptops
- Headphones and audio
- Home appliances
- Smart phones
- Television sets
- Kitchen appliances
- Tablets
- Office equipment
- Automotive parts
- Cameras
- Home and industrial tools
- Outdoors and sports
- Video game consoles
- Watches
- Musical instruments
Once you have decided which products you want to sell, it is time to start your application.
To qualify as an Amazon certified refurbished seller, you must be able to prove your experience in the field and must also agree that every pre-owned product you want to sell can be checked by an Amazon inspector.
If the products meet the platform’s performance bar, you will have to follow the steps below:
- Prove your experience as a second-hand product seller by providing invoices of at least $50,000 for refurbished products (the same you want to sell on Amazon) sold in the past 90 days from the date of the submission. You may provide invoices from the past 180 days if you want to sell refurbished products in the Home and Home Improvement, Lawn and Garden, Automotive, Sports, Outdoors, Kitchen and Toys categories. But the invoices must refer exclusively to the items you plan to sell through Amazon certified refurbished program.
- Special rules also apply if you want to sell Apple products. In this case, Amazon will ask you to provide invoices dated in the past 90 days for a total of at least $2.5 million for selling Apple refurbished items.
- If you are already a seller on Amazon, you must also have an order defect rate (ODR) of 0.8% or less in the past 90 days, or your application will be rejected.
- You can sell items which have been refurbished by yourself or by the factory. In the latter instance, you will also have to submit for approval at least eight images of a sample unit of the product you want to sell and provide a review of the packaging including the box, inside of the packaging, any padding, plus a description of the product from top to bottom and from all four sides.
- Besides all the above, you must also accept to provide a warranty of at least 90 days for all refurbished items you want to sell.
- If your application is approved, you can start selling your refurbished items. To sell them, you will have to create custom listings that clearly indicate that the product is a pre-owned item.
To indicate that the product is a refurbished item and not a new one, you must include the word Renewed or Refurbished in the title, and select renewed or refurbished in the conditions before publishing your listing, as shown in the image below:
At this stage, you can also choose if you want to fulfill the orders yourself (FBM) or opt for fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
Is it Worth to Start Selling with Amazon Renewed?
Amazon Renewed is a rather new program and currently a little less competitive than other selling platforms where you can sell refurbished items.
Nevertheless, if you are a pre-owned item seller, joining Amazon Renewed can bring important advantages to your business.
- Amazon Renewed is an exclusive program that only accepts qualified sellers. You will have to deal with far less competition on Amazon than you would if you were selling new items.
- Joining the certified refurbished items gives you the possibility to enjoy all the advantages offered by the platform, such as customer trust and a huge customer pool.
- If you are already a seller on Amazon, selling refurbished items will give you the possibility to expand your business channel. In fact, you’ll address different types of customers and will have the possibility to gain new clients from each group.
- Pre-owned products can be sourced at very low prices, especially if you buy them directly from the manufacturers; however, you can still sell these products at very competitive prices for your business.
- Most buyers don’t mind buying a certified second-hand product as long as they can save a chunk of money. To be competitive, you should cut off at least 20% of the price, even if the product you want to resell is basically new.
- Because Amazon needs more sellers in this program, you will get full support from Amazon’s on-boarding team including help with inventory loading and spreadsheets, brand and pricing protection, possibilities to run Best Deal campaigns, and more.
- If you sell new products in any of the categories above, joining Amazon Renewed gives you the possibility to clear any stock of returned products. If you don’t want to deal with all refurbishing and repackaging issues, know that there are many companies that can handle these things on your behalf.
- Perhaps the biggest disadvantage is that your risk of dealing with high return rates goes up if you decide to sell refurbished items. All products in the Amazon Renewed program can be returned within 90 days.
- Amazon charges higher fees to sellers selling refurbished items. Combined with a higher return rate, selling refurbished items on Amazon may not be profitable if you don’t register high volume sales for these items.
- Some customers may worry about the quality of a second-hand product, while others simply prefer investing in new products. For this reason, you might score a higher success rate if you sell both new and refurbished products – those who want to save can go for a pre-owned one, while those who want a new item can still order it from you.
- Amazon Renewed program is less competitive than other platforms that are already popular for selling renewed products. Indeed, most Amazon shoppers are looking for new rather than refurbished items.
Conclusion
Amazon Renewed program presents itself as an important opportunity for sellers to grow their business.
Whether you’re an Amazon seller already or just tackling the idea of expanding your second-hand commerce business, joining the program could bring a lot of advantages.
You will gain access to a huge pool of customers, all of whom already trust Amazon and are not afraid of buying refurbished products through the platform.
Taking advantage of Amazon’s fulfillment opportunities, you can even expand your local business, as your products will be able to reach customers around the world.
Certainly, there are other platforms that are even more popular than Amazon when it comes to selling refurbished items.
You should weigh in each option, its advantages, and drawbacks, and decide which is the most appropriate business model for you.
Nevertheless, we recommend giving Amazon Renewed a chance.
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eBay VS Amazon: Which Should You Sell on?
Retail Arbitrage: Is It Still Profitable on Amazon 2019?
FBA Small and Light Program: Everything You Need to Know
