Lately, (at least for me), Sideshow has had me completely destroy any item I'm trying to get a replacement for like they used to in the olden days. The most recent being one of their R2D2 figures. I thought I destroyed it enough and they came back saying it looked like I could still put it back together and sell it, so I had to break it into even smaller pieces.
Though, for awhile, Sideshow wasn't asking for you to destroy stuff. So, it wouldn't be surprised if that's something they caught onto (meaning ppl trying to sell their "damaged" items on secondary market), and are, therefore, asking ppl to fully destroy items again before sending a replacement.