Buyer Did Not Provide Return Tracking Until After A-to-Z Refund Was Approved, Leaving Seller at a Loss

Hello everyone,

I want to share a frustrating experience that many sellers might face, hoping to raise awareness and urge Amazon to improve their processes.

What happened:

The buyer did return the item, and we received the returned product with damage.

However, the buyer did not provide any return tracking number during the return process. Later, they filed an A-to-Z claim stating we had received the package but refused to share the return tracking details with us.

Because our warehouse is very large, without the tracking number, we could not locate the returned package, perform quality inspection, or confirm the condition of the item. This prevented us from processing a refund for the buyer.

Unfortunately, Amazon approved the buyer’s A-to-Z claim and issued a full refund before we were able to verify the return.

Only after the A-to-Z refund was granted did the buyer provide us with the return tracking number.

The outcome:

✔️ We received damaged merchandise that cannot be resold

✔️ We lost control over verifying the return and refund process

✔️ Amazon’s immediate refund resulted in us losing both the product and the money

✔️ This order negatively impacted our store’s Order Defect Rate (ODR)

Order ID: 112-2191284-3813056

This process leaves sellers vulnerable and frustrated. While we understand the need to protect buyers, we hope Amazon can better balance protections by requiring buyers to provide return tracking promptly and establish fair handling for damaged returns, so honest sellers do not suffer undue losses.