Amazon Warehouse, Now Amazon Resale: Returns Become Bargains

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last updated 12 July 2024

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What's the backstory on Amazon Warehouse, now called Amazon Resale? Many of us have taken advantage of Amazon Prime’s return policy — in a good way, of course. We buy something online from Amazon, decide it isn’t what we were expecting, then start the easy online process of returning the item. Your refund is usually applied to your payment method as soon as it’s checked in to the shipper, say your local Kohl's or a UPS store.

How Amazon Resale works

Have you ever wondered what happens to many of those returned, open-box items? Enter Amazon Resale, (formerly Amazon Warehouse) home of those returns and a lesser-known Amazon Prime perk for everyone else to score a bargain — if you don’t mind like-new, open-box or pre-owned items (perhaps that Apple 2020 MacBook Air Laptop wasn’t someone’s cup of tea).

Unlike Amazon Outlet, with its plethora of overstock new items, Amazon Resale items have likely been in someone else’s mitts, grubby or not. Here’s how it works:

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When you land on the Amazon Resale page, you’re taken to a category landing page. And the Resale categories cut a swath: computers and tablets, kitchen and housewares, unlocked cell phones, digital cameras, Amazon-brand devices (Echo, Ring, Roomba, etc.), televisions, furniture, kitchen appliances, baby needs, outdoor recreation and more.

Amazon tells us the items are quality used, open-box products or simply — “pre-owned.” But all of the usual perks of buying on Amazon apply. You get the same delivery promises (typically two days) allotted to Prime members, the same customer service and the same ability to return, which would make your return the return of the return.

Product categories

The Amazon Resale page lets you shop by department, which include:

Clothing
Home and kitchen
Books
Electronics
Tools and home improvement
Industrial and scientific
Sport and outdoors
Garden and outdoors
Toys and games
Automotive
Office supplies
Cell phones
and, oh, so much more.

An upside to Amazon Resale is that it offers a fair amount of transparency. On the product detail page, Amazon categorizes the condition of the warehouse item as such as: a Xbox Core Wireless Gaming Controller – Velocity Green that is in Used-Good condition and sells on the page for $44.16. That same controller, in new condition, sells for $64.95 at Best Buy. Looking for an Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet? Buy it now for $123.19 in Used: Very Good condition.

Amazon evaluates a product's condition

All products on the Amazon Resale page go through a quality check prior to being sold. According to the FAQs, they thoroughly test the functional and physical condition of each item and give the product a specific grade before selling it. They also inspect the products for missing accessories and packaging damage. The quality check determines which of the following four evaluations are used to describe the overall condition:

Used – Like New: The product fully functions, all of the accessories are there. Packaging may be damaged.
Used – Very Good: The item is in very good shape and likely has been used to a limited degree. It may arrive in damaged packaging and may have slight cosmetic imperfections. Missing non-essential accessories are noted.
Used – Good: The item is considered in good condition and it may show some wear from use. It fully functions. There may also be some cosmetic imperfections and accessories may be missing (they will be noted).
Used – Acceptable: It likely works, but you’ll likely see indications of use. There also could be significant dents, scratches and other signs of wear. Valuable accessories may be missing and you may have to purchase spare parts to get this used item in full working order.

As you can guess, the further down the condition list you go, the bigger the bargains. Because, well, missing pieces, scratches, dents, etc.

You catch a break when an item is listed as “Used – Very Good,” but again, it’s not as heavily discounted as “Used – Acceptable.” If you're lucky, you might even score a bargain on sought-after name brands like Ninja, InstatPot and Amazon devices, like Fire TV's and Kindle.

Amazon Warehouse Limited

For even bigger bargains – many that won’t be around for long – visit Amazon Warehouse Limited, which offers blowout discounts. However, you won’t find consistency in products because once they’re gone, they’re gone.

Bob was Senior Editor at Kiplinger.com for seven years and is now a contributor to the website. He has more than 40 years of experience in online, print and visual journalism. Bob has worked as an award-winning writer and editor in the Washington, D.C., market as well as at news organizations in New York, Michigan and California. Bob joined Kiplinger in 2016, bringing a wealth of expertise covering retail, entertainment, and money-saving trends and topics. He was one of the first journalists at a daily news organization to aggressively cover retail as a specialty and has been lauded in the retail industry for his expertise. Bob has also been an adjunct and associate professor of print, online and visual journalism at Syracuse University and Ithaca College. He has a master’s degree from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and a bachelor’s degree in communications and theater from Hope College.

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