What is Amazon Renewed? Learn How It Works

This article has been updated to reflect 2021 changes for Amazon Renewed sellers.

Selling on the Amazon marketplace is complicated. To stay successful, you have to keep up with evolving best practices and stay on top of the different available seller programs. For vendors selling electronics, Amazon Renewed is an important program to be aware of.

What is Amazon Renewed?

Amazon Renewed is the company’s program for vouching for pre-owned and refurbished products. For thrifty Amazon customers, refurbished electronics are a good way to get the items they want for less. But anytime a consumer buys a product that’s been pre-owned or refurbished by a company other than the original manufacturer, they take a risk.

Nobody wants to shell out cash for a new phone, computer, or power tool, only to find it doesn’t work out of the box or fails within a matter of weeks. To reduce the risk to the consumer, the Amazon Renewed program provides guidelines brands must follow to ensure refurbished products are still of high quality.

For brands, participation in Amazon Renewed means your refurbished products are more likely to be discovered and purchased on the platform. For customers, it means they can place greater trust in the quality of the products they buy.

Who is Amazon Renewed For?

Amazon Renewed is for qualified manufacturers or third-party refurbishers that sell the types of products covered in the program, including:

• Wireless devices, such as smartphones
• Personal computers
• Cameras
• TV sets
• Video game consoles
• Headphones
• Printers and cartridges
• Home and kitchen appliances
• Power tools and lawn equipment
• Ceiling fans
• Garage door openers

If you supply a refurbished product in one of the included categories, you must have a process for inspecting and testing your products to make sure they work and look like new. If all that sounds like you, applying for the Amazon Renewed program may be a good way to increase your sales.

How Do I Qualify for Amazon Renewed?

For your products to qualify for the Amazon Renewed program, make sure you meet a few main requirements.

1. Set up an inspection process for your products.

Amazon has strict quality requirements for Amazon Renewed. To prove your products match their guidelines, you need to show proof that they’ve undergone an extensive inspection and testing process. That includes a full diagnostic test and thorough cleaning. If your inspection finds defective parts, you must replace them. And in addition to new functionality, your products need to look like new. Check that they have no visible imperfections that can be spotted from 12 inches away.

Customers will know they’re buying a refurbished product, but participating in the program comes with the promise that it will look and work like new. Your process needs to confirm that each product does so.

2. Provide a warranty for all renewed products.

To back up the quality claims of your refurbished products, Amazon Renewed also requires a solid warranty. All products included in the program must offer a 90-day warranty (for North America) that covers all defects a customer may encounter, as long as they aren’t caused by insufficient maintenance or faulty installation.

3.  Pricing must reflect at least a 5% discount in comparison to getting the product new.

While you’re working to get those refurbished products as good as new, buying a pre-used product still isn’t the same as buying one brand new from the original manufacturer. For that reason, Amazon requires Amazon Renewed products to be priced below the original. Your pricing must reflect at least a 5% discount over what customers would pay if they bought the product new from the original provider.

4. Sign up as an Amazon seller.

If you don’t already have an account to sell products on the Amazon marketplace, you must set up an account on Amazon’s seller platform.

5. Prove you have an established business.

Amazon wants to make sure only trustworthy brands sign up for their program, so they want to see proof that you’re in business. That either means:

• Providing invoices that show you’ve sold at least $50,000 worth of qualifying refurbished purchases within 90 days of your application.
• For existing Amazon sellers, showing you have an order defect rate (ODR) of under 0.8% in the last 90 days.
• For Apple products, supplying invoices for at least $2.5 million worth of Apple refurbished products in the last 90 days.

In early 2021, Amazon made a significant change to the program's seller quality performance requirements. The marketplace now requires sellers to maintain an overall percentage of negative reviews under 10%. In other words, Amazon will count all 1- and 2-star reviews (including one-tap ratings) from your orders against all of the reviews left on the product. Your overall percentage of negative reviews for Amazon Renewed products will be included on the Seller Central Quality Reports page.

Visit the Amazon Renewed US Quality Policy page in Seller Central for more information on performance monitoring as well as product inspection, packaging, and requirements by product category and brand. If you're interested in selling certain iPhone models, read this information first!

You should also be familiar with the Amazon Renewed Guarantee, which covers all Renewed products sold in North America with the exception of Amazon devices. This page was also recently updated to clarify the program's return policy and relationship to A-to-z Claims.

Get Started with Amazon Renewed

The Amazon Renewed program isn’t for everyone, but if you match the company’s requirements, it can be a good way to get your products in front of more customers. If the program sounds like a fit for you, get started here.