A little history: we primarily sell automotive polishing compounds on Amazon. We source them directly from Germany, distribute across Canada, sell locally, from our own website, and even use in our own professional shop. An unfortunate part of Amazon FBA is that sometimes customers return bottles half-used and Amazon classes them as "customer damaged" despite the fact they are consumable products (much like someone eating a whole steak at a restaurant and then stating they won't pay because it "wasn't good", or returning an empty box to a grocery store). I've been able to get Amazon seller support to reimburse us for some of these, but it frequently takes hours of back and forth with Seller Support, multiple pictures of "evidence" (literally, a half full or less bottle), sometimes even the original invoices (container loads of product) and all for small profits per unit. It happens infrequently enough (luckily) that I stopped bothering to go through Seller Support to try to get reimbursed...

Flash back to a few weeks ago, I received first a bottle that was half full, and later, a bottle that was probably 90% empty but that had been refilled with water from Amazon FBAs automated product returns. A red flag, to be sure, but effectively the same thing I'd experienced before. I assumed they were more one-offs (received a week apart or so) and didn't bother keeping them or taking photos. The other day, I get emails about multiple returns in a row - and notice they are all from the same buyer. That's odd!

Dig through all the reports (personally, I find them a bit confusing and frustrating to navigate) and connect them to a buyer with 16 purchases (18 units) since late 2022. First six orders, all good. An isolated return in November 2023, and then another purchase in December 2023. Fast forward to August 2024, and suddenly every order (except for 2 made this month, one just 2 days ago) is being returned. Except for one of the two most recent, they are the same two products every time - the customer has clearly been using them for a long time and knows what to expect.

The latest return reasons?

• "Not compatible with my existing system" (Defective)
• "Product does not meet the customer's expectations" (Defective)
• "Product performance/quality is not up to my expectations" (Customer Damaged)
• "Product does not meet the customer's expectations" (Customer Damaged)

Etc.

Given that they are continuing to buy (with one exception) the same two products, over and over, and then return them (used partially or wholly) it seems to be a pretty clear case of abuse (fraud, even). So I gathered up some basic data, got on Seller Support chat and sent them the information for investigation. Here was there response:

• **Customer-damaged Return Units:** 1. The original item ***** from order ***** was returned and identified to be in customer-damaged condition. The unit has been returned to your account in accordance with the FBA customer returns policy and is not in sellable condition. (repeated)
• **Defective Units:** 1. The original item ***** from order ***** was returned and identified to be in defective condition. (repeated)

Joy! They looked up the return reasons I already noted and considered them "investigated" (how does an FBA returns worker confirm a product is defective when receiving?). In a few instances they only referred to one of the two items in the orders.

Ultimately, if we really had such a significant quantity of defective product from overseas, I'd be seeing a lot more returns and a lot more comments from our regular distributors and online/local customers (never mind that our own team would pick up on a product not performing in the shop straight away)...

But perhaps most concerning was that one item had a different response from seller support:

• **Sellable Units:** 1. "The original item ***** from order ***** was returned and identified to be in sellable condition. The unit has been returned to your account in accordance with the FBA customer returns policy."

Yikes. There is now a possibility that FBA returns got a bottle back that looked clean enough to resell but like the other I received back has been refilled with water. And now another customer may receive that bottle and be mighty upset.

Now, this customer has purchased one of the same products again (just two days ago, was still pending as I opened this "investigation" but has since shipped - Case ID 16496590291 if any moderators are willing to escalate this for me) and I'm guessing the customer will continue their "buy, use up, then return and get it for free" scam until Amazon takes action.

Not only is this having a significant impact on my business, it's wasting a lot of Amazon's time shipping and handling unnecessary returns, and there is the strong potential for Amazon's other customers to be affected by falsely returned product filled with water (and for me/my product to receive some seriously negative reviews). There's also a strong possibility this customer is doing the same to other sellers.

Given that I cannot refuse FBA orders from certain customers and I cannot cancel FBM orders without a hit to my metrics, does anyone have thoughts on how to best present this to/escalate this with Seller Support so it doesn't continue? Contact the customer directly? Out of curiosity I looked up the postal code associated with the orders and it matches an auto detailing business' address, so I can infer who is doing it and consider a fraud case with the police if necessary - but that's not going to get my money back from Amazon and it may not prevent the customer from continuing to harm other Amazon users (never mind that it's a whole other hassle to pursue).

Appreciate any advice and assistance from moderators!