“As sellers, we often feel like victims under Amazon’s refund and return policy.”
“As a seller, if a customer damages a product and requests a refund, am I still responsible for covering the refund?”
Amazon’s Refund Policy: Amazon processes refunds for returned items using funds from sellers. While this practice is correct, there’s a concern when customers damage a product and then return it. In such cases, it’s puzzling how Amazon continues to support these customers and provides refunds.
Lack of Product Photos: Additionally, I face challenges obtaining photos of the products that customers return. This lack of visual evidence can make it difficult to assess the condition of the returned items.
Customer Behavior: Consider this scenario: A customer places an order, uses the product for about a month, and then damages it. Despite the absence of thorough investigation, Amazon promptly refunds the customer from the seller’s funds. This approach seems unreasonable and can be frustrating for sellers.
This rule of Amazon is insane!!!
“As sellers, we often feel like victims under Amazon’s refund and return policy.”
“As a seller, if a customer damages a product and requests a refund, am I still responsible for covering the refund?”
Amazon’s Refund Policy: Amazon processes refunds for returned items using funds from sellers. While this practice is correct, there’s a concern when customers damage a product and then return it. In such cases, it’s puzzling how Amazon continues to support these customers and provides refunds.
Lack of Product Photos: Additionally, I face challenges obtaining photos of the products that customers return. This lack of visual evidence can make it difficult to assess the condition of the returned items.
Customer Behavior: Consider this scenario: A customer places an order, uses the product for about a month, and then damages it. Despite the absence of thorough investigation, Amazon promptly refunds the customer from the seller’s funds. This approach seems unreasonable and can be frustrating for sellers.
This rule of Amazon is insane!!!
22 replies
Seller_OvL8C4BJWiuS9
Are you referring to RFS or A-Z Claims?
Seller_0rXAME9V4LQSx
The big home improvement store with the orange logo is much worse. They always do 90 days on returns unless its one of their business customers. We got a 6k machine back today from them that we sold almost 9 months ago. No notification it was coming back, its used with a burnt up motor and we of course are required to refund the whole thing.
Seller_IsDXJl0i0lxth
I just today encountered a new one while shipping fbm. Just got a notice that the customer got refunded in full and absolutely no return authorization of any sort.
Seller_9W2kRFvevaGCQ
You're right, but you need to get over it. I don't mean to be harsh, but it's the reality. Amazon is customer-centric, and that's why so many people want to shop here. They know that they'll be covered if they're unhappy about a product. Yes, some customers abuse this policy, but it's a policy that contributed to so many customers wanting to shopping here.
You need to build in the cost of returns in your pricing. We assume that 1-2% of sales are going to fraudulent/unfair returns. We set our prices 1-2% higher than we otherwise would to cover this cost. When a customer abuses the return policy, we'll try and get a reimbursement from Amazon. When we can't, we just eat the cost and move on. We're able to do that and not get upset about it because we know it's just a cost of doing business on Amazon. As you grow, it's something you'll learn to brush off. Don't dwell on it, you'll go crazy. Good luck! Sell smart.
Seller_rttt1yARiCuPx
“As sellers, we often feel like victims under Amazon’s policies.”
Fixed it for you.....
Seller_jq14BrqFG1Jsd
We agree it can be insane. Our favorite was when a customer returned a pair of work gloves that had obviously been used due to the number of holes and the nauseous smell of pig #%$ coming from them. We knew we had a valid claim, but when we considered our unit cost for the item vs. the amount of time needed to file a claim and deal with Amazon, we opted to just let it go.
Over the years we have determined that we waste too much time trying to resolve issues with Amazon and try to avoid them when feasibly and financially possible. We instead have adopted a policy for items returned that we can not resell in some fashion for a profit, whether on Amazon / Ebay / etc, while factoring in the time to do so, we just donate them. We just let these items be apart of our charitable donations for the year and don't stress over resolving the issue with Seller Central.
We are not saying this applies to all items, but rather we are attempting to highlight our time, and yours, is valuable. If you burn an hour to resolve an issue, is the reimbursement funds enough to cover your time?
If we could make a recommendation to sellers who have this issue is to establish some thresholds as to when you may engage Seller Central. For example, if an item costs mor than $X or there have been more then Y units returned or some combination. Then just let the rest go and focus your energies on more profitable things.
Best to all.
Seller_NxQTyL4zOqAYv
That is the way it is if you want to sell here on Amazon. You can either roll your loses into your pricing to cover the losses or your product me not be a good item to sell on this venue.
Amazon cares much more about delighting the customer than being fair to sellers. They don't even make an attempt to remedy fraudulent returns and refunds, in fact they actively encourage and show buyers how to send back their refund and make the seller pay the shipping costs.
Joey_Amazon
Hello @Seller_wo52M9iPsMwpK,
Thank you for utilizing the Forums and sharing your sentiment about Amazons refund and return policies.
Currently, submitting a SAFE-T claim is the established path towards getting reimbursed for an order that was handled by CSBA.
One thing you could explore is opting out from Customer Service by Amazon (CSBA) program.
To opt out of Customer Service by Amazon, go to the home page and click the opt out button at the top of the page.
Important: You can choose to register again for Customer Service by Amazon later. However, once you opt out, you must handle all customer inquiries for any new seller-fulfilled orders. Existing orders will continue to be handled by Amazon.
Thank you,
Joey
Seller_HP0CuTSNvJvu9
I was looking at selling there and you just saved me a lot of hassle. Thanks! Sorry you had to take that hit though.
Seller_y79MQHIY0I76X
And the SAFE-T claim system is broken. Just today I submitted a claim about a person sending us their old parts back and we were awarded a pittance of $23 on an $84 order. Our cost of the item is near $50 so we lost nearly $30.00. I filed an appeal through the claim asking how a customer can get away with this but I do not expect a reply.
