Will Amazon fault me if an item was scanned by the post office 2 hours after midnight for an INR claim?
The package was dropped off within handling time but didn’t scan of course until 2 hours after midnight, putting me two hours outside of the handling time. Of course no post office is open that late and it was clearly accepted the afternoon before. The customer is now claiming this very expensive item was sent to a friend and he never got it. The tracking shows delivered to parcel locker. Will Amazon side with me or the buyer if I asked him to do an A-Z?
Will Amazon fault me if an item was scanned by the post office 2 hours after midnight for an INR claim?
The package was dropped off within handling time but didn’t scan of course until 2 hours after midnight, putting me two hours outside of the handling time. Of course no post office is open that late and it was clearly accepted the afternoon before. The customer is now claiming this very expensive item was sent to a friend and he never got it. The tracking shows delivered to parcel locker. Will Amazon side with me or the buyer if I asked him to do an A-Z?
0 replies
Seller_DdmPiA1p1S2Wu
By your name I am guessing you are in Washington state? If so, then your time is the same as Amazon's time since they time everything in Pacific time, and so 1 minute after midnight will count as shipped late and Amazon will not cover it. Amazon is run by strict rules and applies no logic to anything ever. If you are on the east coast, and it was scanned as 2am Eastern time, then that means it was scanned at 11pm Pacific time, and maybe Amazon would fund it since they operate in Pacific. I don't know, though, this is always something I've wondered about, but I've never gotten an answer to it. I found myself in that situation recently, I'm in Eastern time zone and the first scan was shortly after midnight. Looking at the tracking on Amazon's site showed it scanned on the correct day since they time in Pacific, but looking at the tracking on the USPS site showed it being scanned a little after midnight and thus the first scan a day date. What I ended up doing was refunding the buyer myself and filing a lost claim with the USPS since in my case it was a non-delivered package, and got the USPS to fund the refund instead of taking a chance on an A-Z with it.
Seller_rI7BZIczK8iAC
I believe Amazon is applying for each seller HIS/HER local time. I live in Europe and tried to change the "Delivery Window" for an FBA shipment. The shipping plan said I can do this till Feb. 7. In Europe we had Feb 8 and in USA still Feb 7. Result: the system did NOT let me make the change for having passed the allowed date.
Seller_z2ktHKUg9l1SP
I'm no expert, but I believe Amazon goes by when you print the postage, because sometimes the accepting PO doesn't even do a scan. In any case, shipping late should have no effect on determining whether it was delivered or not.
Seller_R2dP7Hunjcdj0
Yes, if the Buyer files an A-Z Claim you should expect Amazon to consider the package to have shipped "Late" and not be covered by the Seller Protection Policy,
This is a tough lesson to learn, so only let it happen to you once.
As confirmed just this week in writing on the Forum, Amazon ONLY considers the first Physical scan to be the valid change of possession from the Seller to the Carrier.
This means that Drop-Boxes, Self-Serve Scan Kiosks, and Scan-Sheets do NOT count towards Amazon protection.
It really does pay to stand in line and have the packages physically scanned.
Good Luck!
Seller_R2dP7Hunjcdj0
You are correct that you are NO expert here.
And you are absolutely incorrect on your assumption. Amazon ONLY considers the First Physical scan of the package to be the valid transfer of possession.
Now you know...
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_tFGdhqoK1ZZ5f. Thanks for checking in with the seller forums.
This question about Amazon Buy Shipping protection came up recently in our Amazon Buy Shipping Ask Amazon event.
If you purchase Amazon's Buy Shipping, ship on time, and respond to customer inquiries within 48 hours you are protected against A-to-Z Claims where a customer reports problems with delivery. Amazon will cover the cost of these claims and they will not affect your Order Defect Rate.
Whether you ship on time is determined at the moment of the carrier’s first scan, not when you confirm shipment.
Seller_BE3xPpZWhTS9Z
I don't ship enough USPS to use a manifest but I do ship a few each day. While it's a pain in the rear, I highly recommend getting packages scanned when you drop them off. It's a bother for sure but it bypasses all of these problems. In theory, at least.
Seller_1qaYJhfQbpbnE
file a usps claim that protects you with scammers
Seller_7X7H0QEms8as9
I ship very few expensive items, but when I do I always pay the extra couple dollars to get signature confirmation.
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
For future reference:
You can just refund right away to avoid an A-to-Z, which would probably go against you since you did not get an acceptance scan on time, and/or:
On the USPS main page, click HELP, then FIND MISSING MAIL.
Let the buyer know you are doing so. Ask them to give you a day or two for a response.
See what shakes out. Usually the buyer 'finds' it. In the meantime, the deliverying post office will be tasked with researching the package, and reporting back to you. Maybe they are holding it for some reason. Once, I had a post office respond that GPS showed it delivered and I should tell the recipient to check their Ring doorbell video for that day (hmmm). Another time, the post office forgot to scan DELIVERED, so the carrier spoke with the recipients and confirmed they did in fact get the package, and they retro-actively updated the tracking to show Delivered.
