Amazon now lets US FBA sellers tell it how their customer returns should be graded. The feature, called Customized grading, was announced in Seller Central on October 14, 2026, and lets you define what "sellable as new" means for your own products. If you sell through FBA in the US and deal with a steady stream of returns, this one is worth setting up before the holiday return wave hits.
According to Amazon's Seller Central help page on Customized grading, Amazon uses your criteria as guidance when it decides whether a returned unit can go back on sale as new. Your rules work alongside Amazon's standard grading process and programs such as FBA Grade and Resell.
What exactly is changing?
Where to find it: Settings > Orders > Recovery > Customized grading in Seller Central.
What you can define: Rules for seal and packaging, included accessories, product authenticity indicators, device capabilities and other handling instructions.
Seal and packaging rules: You pick the seal type and packaging type, say whether an item can still be sold as new if only the seal is broken, and choose whether damaged units can be resealed or repackaged to restore to new, or resold as used.
ASIN coverage: A rule can apply to your whole catalog, to ASINs you paste in, or to ASINs uploaded through a CSV template.
Default stays in place: ASINs without a rule keep going through Amazon's default grading. Only one rule per category applies to an ASIN, and a new rule replaces the old one.
Grade and Resell pricing: If you are enrolled in Grade and Resell, the used-price percentages you set apply when items are relisted as Like New, Very Good, Good or Acceptable.
Why does this matter for sellers?
Until now, Amazon's graders made the call on whether a returned unit was sellable, and they did it without knowing your product. A missing accessory or an opened polybag could send a perfectly good unit to unsellable, or worse, a unit missing a key part could go back on sale as new and earn you a bad review. Customized grading gives you a say in that decision.
The timing matters too. Holiday purchases on Amazon.com come with a long return window, so a big chunk of Q4 returns will land in January. Clear grading rules can mean more units back in sellable stock, fewer write-offs and fewer complaints from buyers who received a used item as new.
What should sellers do now?
Start with your most returned ASINs: Pull your FBA customer returns report and set rules for the products with the highest return volume first.
Be specific about what is in the box: List every required accessory so incomplete units are not resold as new.
Group ASINs by packaging: Each seal and packaging rule only covers ASINs that share the same seal and packaging type, so build separate rules where they differ.
Review Grade and Resell pricing: Check your used-price percentages for each condition before peak returns arrive.
Keep tracking reimbursements: Better grading does not replace checking that every returned unit was actually received and credited correctly.
eStore Factory Tip: Grading rules decide what happens to a return, but they will not catch units Amazon lost, damaged or never put back into inventory. Pair your new rules with a regular returns audit through our Amazon FBA reimbursement service, or use Refunzo to find and claim the money you are owed.
