Recently, Amazon announced an expansion of its “Grade and Resell” service for FBA sellers

Recently, Amazon announced an expansion of its “Grade and Resell” service for FBA sellers, adding more product categories and adjusting participation mechanisms. This initiative aims to help sellers recover value from returns that cannot be fulfilled and reduce the costs associated with removing inventory. Below is a practical guide for U.S. Amazon sellers and e-commerce brands on what changed, why it matters, and how to act.

What is Grade and Resell — and why the expansion matters

Amazon’s Grade and Resell service inspects returned FBA inventory, assigns a condition grade (e.g., Used—Like New, Very Good, Good, Acceptable), and lists eligible items as Used to recover value rather than forcing sellers to remove or dispose of them. Recently, Amazon announced an expansion of its “Grade and Resell” service for FBA sellers, bringing more categories into scope and updating how sellers participate.

Program goals

Recover partial revenue from returned items that can’t be restocked as new.
Reduce seller removal and disposal fees.
Improve sustainability by keeping usable products in circulation.

New eligible categories — broader coverage

A major change is category expansion. Where Grade and Resell formerly concentrated on electronics, home appliances and a few other verticals, the updated program adds many high-return categories, including:

Apparel & footwear
Sports & outdoors
Beauty & personal care (non-consumables)
Automotive accessories
Pet supplies
Select home and storage items

This broadening matters because it opens a recovery pathway for sellers in categories that historically paid large removal fees or absorbed write-offs.

Updated participation mechanisms — more control and automation

Alongside new categories, Amazon adjusted how sellers opt in and manage graded inventory. The updates include both automatic enrollment and selective enrollment options, plus improved pricing controls.

Automatic enrollment

Sellers can opt to have all eligible returned units processed automatically for grading and resale. This reduces manual intervention and speeds time-to-listing for Used inventory.

Selective enrollment & SKU controls

Sellers who want tighter control can selectively enable grading for particular SKUs, set exclusions by category, or require manual review for sensitive items.

Pricing oversight

New pricing controls let sellers set minimum resale prices, receive dynamic pricing recommendations, and enable automated repricing for Used listings—helping preserve margin while improving sell-through.

Financial and operational benefits

For many sellers, the expanded Grade and Resell program improves unit economics on returns. Instead of paying removal or disposal fees and losing the unit value entirely, sellers can capture partial revenue and reduce overall handling costs.

Value recovery

Depending on category and condition, graded returns can recoup a meaningful share of retail value—often 40–70% of original price—versus a total loss when items are discarded.

Lower fees and faster throughput

Avoiding removal fees and returning inventory to the marketplace as Used can lower per-unit cost and improve inventory velocity. Faster re-entry also helps cash flow and lowers storage fees tied to aging SKUs.

Brand and sustainability upside

Reselling functional returned items aligns with sustainability goals and can support brand messaging around circularity—important to many consumers.

Best practices: how sellers should prepare

To maximize the benefits of the expanded program, sellers should adopt a few operational and listing practices.

1. Audit return profiles

Identify which SKUs produce the most returns and assess whether those categories are now eligible for Grade and Resell. Prioritize enrollment for high-return, durable SKUs.

2. Improve packaging and quality control

Units with intact packaging and minimal wear are graded higher. Invest in packaging improvements to increase the share of returns that qualify for Like New / Very Good conditions.

3. Set realistic minimum resale prices

Use Amazon’s pricing recommendations as a baseline, but set minimum prices that protect margin. Automated repricing can help maintain competitiveness without manual oversight.

4. Monitor metrics and iterate

Track recovery rate, average resale price, impact on removal fee spend, and sell-through velocity. Use those metrics to refine which SKUs participate automatically versus selectively.

Who benefits most?

The program is especially valuable for sellers with high return volumes or thin margins in categories now included in the expansion—apparel sellers, sporting goods brands, and vendors of durable consumer items stand to benefit. That said, small and mid-sized sellers with moderate returns can also see meaningful fee reduction and marginal recovery.

Potential drawbacks and considerations

While Grade and Resell reduces removal costs, it is not a silver bullet. Consider the following:

Resale price may be substantially lower than original price—factor that into gross margin analysis.
Sellers give up ultimate control over adjusted listing copy and some merchandising aspects when Amazon relists as Used.
Some categories (consumables, safety-regulated items) may remain ineligible for grading and resale.

Conclusion & call to action

Recently, Amazon announced an expansion of its “Grade and Resell” service for FBA sellers—a change that meaningfully improves the economics of returns for many categories. By adding eligible categories and offering flexible participation mechanisms, Amazon empowers sellers to recover partial value from returns, reduce removal fees, and operate more sustainably.

We help FBA sellers model recovery scenarios, configure enrollment settings, and optimize packaging and pricing to maximize Grade & Resell benefits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which product categories are newly eligible under the expansion?

Amazon expanded eligibility beyond core electronics and appliances to include categories such as apparel, footwear, sports & outdoors, beauty (non-consumables), automotive accessories, pet supplies and select home goods.

Can sellers control which SKUs are automatically graded?

Yes. The updated program offers both automatic and selective enrollment. Sellers can choose which SKUs to process automatically, which to review manually, and which to exclude.

Will Grade and Resell reduce removal fees for my business?

In most cases, yes. By relisting eligible returned items as Used, sellers avoid removal and disposal fees and recover partial revenue—improving overall returns economics.

Contact Us

If you want help auditing returns, modeling Grade & Resell recovery, or setting up enrollment rules for your FBA account, email our team or request a consultation via our site.