Theories behind bad feedback for FBA sellers

FBA sellers are definitely more susceptible to negative feedback than normal sellers. We have seen this many, many times:

We've run this experiment for several months - self-fulling some items, and sending in some items to FBA.

In many instances, we would fulfill the exact same book, in the exact same condition (i.e., Used - Very Good). The delivery time is the same. Our self-fulfilled items receive 5-star feedbacks, but about 5-10% of the FBA orders receive 3-star or 1-star feedbacks (never any "2's" for some reason).

We've also looked at the reports submitted by other FBA sellers - their feedback ratings usually hover around 94-96%. That's pretty bad. If these sellers only fulfill via FBA, receiving 5% negative feedback from FBA orders, some of these sellers risk having their accounts suspended.

We've explored many theories about why FBA orders receive much worse feedback than self-fulfilled items. The FBA warehouse does make a few errors, but not terribly excessive.

This is the heart of the problem: When people order directly from Amazon, they expect new items, not used.

They may have ordered a used book, they may have even read your description. But when it arrives in the mail, and they see the Amazon logo on the box, they're conditioned to expect to see a new book in that box - no matter how well you described your book, some customers are simply disappointed with anything that's not new.

To make matters worse, the customer's order history page does not pull up the description or condition of the book - just the title. So they have no way to reference what they just bought.

We have cut & pasted the description to remind the customer, "Yes - You ordered a used textbook with two or three highlighted passages". Every time, the customer comes back and says, "No, I would never have done that - I was expecting a new book." Eh-hem?? You bought this book at an 80% discount, and you were expecting a new book??

They have simply forgotten what they ordered!!! That's an accurate description of roughly 5-10% of the FBA customers. Remember that "Amazon Prime" members are the primary consumers of FBA items (because they get free shipping).

But don't let the name "prime" fool you - these are not good customers. As a rule, they are spoiled, bratty, over-consumers. They order copious amounts of items online, and forget what they've ordered. One "Prime" customer read a book, and a year later decided she didn't like it so she got a refund!! (A separate entry details this account)

Amazon knows this all too well, and have even begun rescinding "Prime" membership from buyers who return too many items. Amazon knows when to pull the plug on a bad customer, but they don't care how much these people abuse and knock around 3rd party FBA sellers. They will complain, return the item, or leave bad feedback.

So is the solution to sell only new books on FBA? Think again. When ordering a new book, FBA & Prime customers expect it to be new-new. That is, absolutely free of any blemish or flaw.

Remember, FBA is a warehouse. No matter how clean it is, there will be a small amount of dust. Books are put on a conveyor belt before packed, where they may pick up a small ding or two. Sometimes humidity seeps into the warehouse, and the cover curls a little bit. None of these things really bother me as a consumer, but FBA will issue a refund for any reason, any complaint.

FBA really works best for packaged items, things in blister packs, or DVDs that are factory sealed ... not books.