When it comes to getting returns, you must take a few critical steps as an FBA seller to protect your account. If you don’t stay on top of your returns and do your due diligence to make sure your account is taken care of, you could suffer negative consequences down the road.

So, what do you need to do to protect your account when a customer returns an item saying they no longer want it?

Here are five steps to take when dealing with Amazon returns:

1. Keep a record of the return notification email from Amazon.

When a customer initiates a return of an item ordered via Prime shipping, Amazon immediately issues that refund, without waiting for the item to be returned. Amazon will notify you that the refund has been issued from your account. You should keep a folder in your email app to organize these emails so you will have a record of this refund and can verify that the return actually occurs within 45 days.

2. If you find that an item was not returned within the 45-day limit, request reimbursement from Amazon.

3. Protect your seller feedback score by contacting the buyer.

Sometimes after a buyer requests a refund, one of the next things they do is leave feedback for you the seller. No matter if they left you negative feedback or not, I think it’s a good idea to contact the buyer and personally apologize for the customer’s negative experience.

I would say something like, “Amazon just notified me that you have requested a return for item X. I’m so sorry that the item did not meet your expectations. Since this was a Prime order, Amazon is supposed to provide you with an immediate refund, so I am following up to make sure the refund was successful. I would also like to know if there is anything I can do to make things better. Thank you for taking the time to read this message and have a great day.”

4. Have returned items sent back to you for inspection.

When the item shows back up at the Amazon warehouse, a warehouse worker will inspect the item to see if it should be returned to your inventory as fulfillable or unfulfillable. If they see that an item has been opened by the customer, they will mark it as “Customer Damaged,” and it cannot be put back in your fulfillable inventory. If an item was returned as “Defective,” it cannot be put back in your fulfillable inventory.

But if the warehouse worker decides an item hasn’t been opened by the customer, the packaging isn’t damaged, and it wasn’t returned as “Defective,” they will decide to add it back to your sellable inventory.

Regardless of their decision, you should have all returns sent back to you for personal inspection. The warehouse workers are trying to do their job at a high speed, and they might miss something in their inspection. If an item is listed as new condition, even the packaging must be in new condition.

Even a small tear in the box or a missing piece of shrink wrap could cause a customer to doubt the new condition of your item. And if that future customer returns an item and reports it as a used item that you’re trying to sell as new, you would get a huge ding on your seller account, even if the warehouse worker was the one to make the determination of the condition after the return. You want to be the one to make that decision. Don’t leave it to the warehouse worker.

Note: If you have multiples of an item returned and put back in your inventory as sellable, then it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it to have them all removed for inspection. For me, I’ll remove up to 3 items for inspection, but if I have over 3 in stock and one is returned as sellable, I’ll usually just make a note of it. That way, if I’m ever someday accused of selling an open/used item as new, then I’ll have proof that the item was deemed as sellable by an FBA warehouse worker and returned to my inventory and I am without fault.

5. Inspect the items that are returned to you.

If you inspect a returned item and find that it’s unopened and still in new condition, you can send it back to Amazon to sell it. It takes time, effort, and a small amount of money (less than $1) to have these items returned to you for inspection before sending them back in, but you want to spend that time and money in order to protect your selling account.