Hi all,

I wanted to raise a serious issue we’ve recently experienced, partly to document it for others, and partly in the hope that a moderator can escalate this internally.

Context

We are a high-volume UK used book seller, and all of the affected inventory was used stock only — we do not list these items as new.

What happened

We ran a bulk update via the SP-API to change shipping templates on our FBM used book listings (~10,000 SKUs).

API used: putListingsItem (PUT)

Intent: update merchant_shipping_group only

We did NOT include condition_type in the payload

Following this update, a large number of listings were surfaced on Amazon as “New”, despite our internal data still showing them as used.

Timeline / Mitigation

The issue was not immediately apparent because we experienced a noticeable increase in sales following the update, which we initially attributed to improved shipping settings.

Once we identified that listings were incorrectly being surfaced as “New”, we acted immediately:

Placed the account into holiday mode to prevent further orders

Investigated and identified the root cause

Implemented a fix (migrated to PATCH requests)

Began correcting affected listings

By this point, approximately 600 orders had already been placed under the incorrect condition display.

Amazon’s response (important)

In Case ID 12422628992, Amazon has confirmed:

PUT replaces attributes and drops anything omitted

Because condition_type was not included, it was effectively removed

Listings then defaulted/surfaced as New

The API returned 200 ACCEPTED with no warning or validation error

There are currently no safeguards in place to prevent this

So to be clear — this is confirmed platform behaviour, not speculation.

Impact

As a direct result:

Customers purchased items believing they were New

They received correctly described used books from our inventory

This led to:

Negative feedback

Returns

Refunds

Return postage costs

Account health impact

Example feedback:

“I ordered a new book and received a used one”

“Advertised as new but looked worse than a library book”

“Ordered NEW and received a damaged used copy”

Current situation

We’ve fixed our integration (now using PATCH)

We are correcting listings

API support have been helpful in explaining the cause

However:

Seller Support is refusing to remove feedback

No reimbursement is being offered

The position is essentially: “feedback reflects customer experience”

The problem

The customer experience was incorrect because:

Amazon displayed the wrong condition at the point of sale

Given we only sell used inventory, this was not a listing or stock error on our side.

So we are in a position where:

Amazon acknowledges the root cause

But the seller absorbs all consequences

Financial impact

So far:

Dozens of refunds issued

Return postage costs incurred

Outbound shipping losses

Current estimated impact is already £500+ and rising as returns continue.

Why I’m posting

Warning to other sellers/developers

If you are using putListingsItem, be extremely careful

Omitting attributes like condition_type can silently alter listings

Request for moderator escalation

There is a clear gap between:

acknowledged platform behaviour

and seller-impact resolution

Request

Could a moderator please review and escalate this internally?

Specifically:

Whether feedback caused by incorrect condition display can be removed

Whether losses directly caused by this behaviour can be reimbursed

Whether safeguards are being considered for this type of scenario

Happy to provide:

Case ID (12422628992)

Order IDs

Transaction breakdowns

API logs

Thanks in advance,