Amazon Renewed is a program where you can buy preowned and refurbished products at a lower cost than buying new.
Amazon backs these professionally inspected, tested, and cleaned products, offering a replacement or refund if the product doesn't meet customer expectations.
Reduced friction across critical purchase points through clear and consistent interaction patterns, and market-facing terminology. Customers can now enjoy deals and promotions the same way they do other products to make preowned products even more affordable.
Customer expectations of refurbished products improved with the adoption of terminology familiar to the market, a condition guide for preowned products, and marketing which all reduced return rates.
Customers experienced inconsistencies between preowned programs, creating confusion. With multiple teams managing preowned, the majority of customers recall buying preowned items from Amazon but struggle to identify specific program.
"How might we make it as easy to compare and purchase a preowned product regardless of program?"
Customers searching for preowned products primarily use keywords and must look past ads and deals for new items. Preowned titles and labels are also inconsistent and often not visible to the customer.
"How might we make it as easy to search for and find preowned offers?"
Different naming conventions between programs, and lack of clarity in condition descriptions, despite this being the second most important factor for customers, increased confusion.
"How might we simplify inconsistent conditions and quality standard information across programs?"
Performed multiple research studies to gather feedback on preowned. From the end-to-end experience to how conditions are understood and purchased.
Studies included defining consistent terms and labels, exploring customer preferences and interpretations, and gathering insights on how many and what types of offers should be displayed.
Research also focused on developing a unified customer experience, identifying usability issues, and revealing customer behaviors and attitudes to better educate shoppers on preowned programs and their value.
Additional studies tested customer reactions and comprehension of product detail pages and multi-offer displays to inform future improvements.
Improved visibility and clarity around Amazon's preowned selection, as only 25-30% of customers could easily locate these items on the site.
"Refurbished" emerged as the most effective term, as it signals quality control and inspires trust, while also conveying sustainability through repair and reuse.
Professional inspection, testing, and the Renewed Guarantee give customers confidence that they are purchasing a reliable, fully functional product.
Providing detailed product condition information, quality guarantees, example images, and clear labeling of refurbished/pre-owned items are critical to driving customer confidence.
2005, Renewed launched Condition Guide worldwide providing a consistent CX across all preowned programs.
In partnership with Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) Wireless Device Grading Scales Criteria and Definitions. CTIA provides standardized, an industry-wide system for grading the cosmetic and functional state of preowned wireless devices.
Preowned Deals launched in 2025, giving customers access to savings on preowned products with improved discoverability. Sellers benefited from the same promotional vehicles as new listings, unlocking an increase in gross market sales.
By streamlining our conditions with industry standards and aligning them across the organization, customers can buy preowned products with greater confidence. This also increases visibility for Amazon's Renewed Guarantee, which offers a replacement or refund for eligible returns.
When customers know what to expect when purchasing preowned they are typically delighted. (2024-10 Exploring the Amazon Preowned End-to-End Customer Journey through a Remote Diary Study)