The only way to appeal this successfully is to get an FBA bin check where they come back and say they found no product quality problems. I opened a case asking them to bin check an FNSKU’s expiration dates to prove that there’s no product quality issue and they come back with this:
There are no units under expired status because there’s no expiration date problem. I also don’t have any order ID because none was provided with the complaint. No customer ever contacted me regarding this and there’s nothing in voice of the customer that indicates an issue with an order.
What do I need to say to these dummies to get them to do a bin check?
I would probably be inclined to check the ASIN in the Inventory Ledger report, determine an FC that has a goodly number, and open a new case requesting that the FC conduct a Cubiscan Investigation for the inventory in its possession.
I would not mention anything about Expiration-dated Inventory, & I’d probably also include a screenshot of that entry on the Inventory Ledger report’s GUI version.
If the case comes back without any mention of expired inventory, I’d then reply to that case, referencing the previous one where they’re being recalcitrant, and request that the obviously-spurious hold be released.
Actually getting any physical bin check done takes persistence, as the reps in seller support will insist repeatedly that the bin check or cubiscan has been done, when it clearly hasn’t. My issue was physical size, and I ended up having to send in photos with a steel ruler in the photos to show size (a good tip for one’s FIRST attempt with these clowns) and repeatedly demanding that they fix the size, and refund any fees billed in error.
Why do they lie? They ALWAYS lie - your have contacted the wrong group, your inquiry cannot be handled, you need to submit anew, anything to let them close the case or at least get it out of their own queue of work. Seller support is clearly not being monitored at all, and the reps are gaming the system hard, at your expense.
This is how I’ve successfully had this done recently:
Create a SS case going to Help > Get help and resources
Click on “My issue is not listed”
Type the following:
"Hello,
A customer has complained about an order from us for ASIN XXXXXXXX, saying the received an expired unit. However, this is incorrect - the expiration date for all of the units that we’ve sent to FBA fulfillment centers is far in the future. I’ve been asked by the appeals team to request a bin check for defects on one of the available units in our inventory.
Please request a bin check for ASIN XXXXXXXX and take pictures of the expiration date, which will show that the customer’s complaint is unfounded."
Click on “Continue” > “FBA related”
Under Subject, write “Bin check request for expiration date - ASIN XXXXXXXX”
Sadly I’ve never seen a bin check offset an expired complaint.
An “ASIN” can have both expired and non-expired products in FBA
An “FNSKU” can have both expired and non-expired products in FBA
The only way to attack such a complaint is to locate the OrderID first and work out from there to try to prove that all inventory under that FNSKU has the same exp. date which is well in the future according to FBA Guidelines.
ETA - I see the last question is about a bin check. Interesting! @Gandalf’s advice is how I have done it in the past.
I actually did get the complaint removed after requesting a bin check in the manner I outlined above, then selecting “FBA error”, and providing the SS case, despite that technically not being the issue. I first tried with “Customer complaint error”, since the units were still good for 6 months, but that didn’t work.
The one and only time I’ve had a successful appeal with this was a case where an expired complaint triggered an automatic inventory review and it passed. I appealed with that case number and they removed the violation.
I will try the gandalf template, if not successful i’ll just acknowledge it since it’s a no impact violation
It’s always possible that you might not find it, as the complaint could have been generated by a Satisfaction Survey provided to the Buyer by Amazon itself - and the results of these surveys are rarely transparently surfaced to the Seller.
@GGX have you looked at the product reviews on the actual pdp? If this item is sold by multiple Sellers and a Buyer leaves a public product review about expired product, then all Sellers might get the ding.
Nothing there. Negative reviews also show up in voice of the customer. I looked thru both negative and positive reviews on the detail page and see nothing. Though I do see some where bad AI could possibly twist something into an expired complaint if it really stretched.
I always forget if it’s all negative reviews or just those attached to our specific order ids. Thank you and I was really hoping that was the unturned stone with an answer.
I forgot to mention the fact that SS always asks for an order ID. Look for the one that caused the complaint; as you mentioned, it should be under Voice of the customer. You should be able to see it using the following link:
Look under “Returns” and “Other sources”. If you can’t find an order with explicit negative feedback regarding expiration, just give them another order ID, preferably one that doesn’t have good feedback - they need to have one to proceed with the bin check.
I picked a random order ID from an order that had a negative feedback (had nothing to do with the expired complaint, but as you said, they just want any order ID), that did get them to proceed with the bin check. Once done I submitted the case ID in the appeal and the violation was removed immediately.
Thank you and I was really hoping that was the unturned stone with an answer.