As a long-time Amazon seller, I rely on the A-to-Z Guarantee system to fairly resolve disputes. However, I recently encountered a situation where the process fell short, leaving me frustrated and searching for answers. I wanted to share my experience in case others have faced similar challenges.

Here’s the timeline of what happened:

The Issue: A buyer returned an item to me that was still locked to their user account, making it impossible to resell. I promptly raised this with Amazon as part of the A-to-Z claim process.

December 29, 2024: Amazon requested that I ship the item back to the buyer so they could unlock and factory reset it. However, their address was not available on my seller dashboard, likely due to the buyer opting out of sharing their full address.

January 2, 2024 (11:34 AM): After following up, Amazon provided the buyer’s full address via email, allowing me to proceed.

January 3, 2024 (Less than 24 hrs later): I printed the label and shipped the item to the buyer, complying with their request.

January 3, 2024 (Same day I ship the item): Despite their original message stating I had 72 hours to comply, Amazon prematurely granted the claim in favor of the buyer, debiting my account and counting the claim against my metrics.

This situation has been challenging because I acted promptly and in good faith at every step. The delay in receiving the buyer’s address was beyond my control, and the timeline clearly shows that I fulfilled Amazon’s instructions as soon as I had the necessary information.I understand that the A-to-Z Guarantee is designed to protect buyers, but in this case, the process did not account for the logistical delays caused by incomplete information. I am sharing this to raise awareness about how such situations can arise and to see if others have faced similar experiences.If anyone has advice on how to escalate this further or ensure a fair review of such cases, I’d appreciate your insights.