Amazon DOES NOT care about the Seller. Please read
Hi everyone.
Here is my scenario.
I had a buyer who requested for a Return of a product due to having “Bought By Mistake”
I contacted Amazon to ensure that I took the proper steps as we are a new company and I wasn’t fully aware of what to do. I was told that I can respond back to the buyer stating that:
- Due to the reason provided “Bought By Mistake” the shipping and handling is the responsibility of the buyer.
- I could remove 20% restocking fee.
- If the item was not in its original condition I can remove 50% of the refund.
This was information that was given to me by the Amazon rep, and confirmed again by another rep when we called back to ensure that the information was correct. In fact the email was read back to the second rep to ensure that everything was properly written.
After emailing the buyer (respectfully), it seems that they were unhappy with this information and so they proceeded to file an A-To-Z claim, now stating that the product was in “POOR QUALITY”.
I called Amazon back and I was told to appeal the A-to-Z claim (in regards to their own return policy that I simply reiterated to the buyer) stating that I had good case, and that I would most likely win. So, I put all the information together, created screen shots, inquired with Amazon reps on the proper steps to take with the A-To-Z claim, and sent my appeal to Amazon.
Not 2 minutes after I sent my email, I got a response saying that they reviewed my case and that I had a set number of days to fully refund the buyer. I received the email faster than someone could actually sit and READ it. I’m sure of this. When I then inquired about that, the amazon rep said that I should just refund the buyer which would mean that i have to accept the A-to-Z claim, and after refunding the buyer to appeal the A-to-Z claim again.
DOES THIS SEEM FAIR you guys?
All I did was i initially inquired into what the proper Return policy steps were, and now I find myself in a situation where my ODR is being affected, by simply telling the buyer what Amazon had told us to say. We simply followed the rules of Amazon as we didn’t know it ourselves. And now, Amazon wants me to take the fault by just refunding the buyer, and try to appeal it (which I know I won’t win. I’ve been in this situation before where i’ve been mislead by their own , and amazon didn’t care of how it effected me).
We have an exemplary record with 5 stars, and certainly not delinquents, so it’s really frustrating to see that my business partner (amazon) doesn’t care about me.
There is a big loophole here:
- Buyer asks for a return.
- Doesn’t agree with the response given (even though written very respectuflly and words of Amazon).
- Files an A-to-Z claim.
- Amazon does not want to help with the A-To-Z claim, ignores the appeal, and now wants me to fully refund the buyer.
I’ve reached to the buyer, again very respectfully, asking them if they could please graciously remove the a-z guarantee claim, at which time they can actually keep the product, and we will fully refund them. We’ve explained the A-Z , once held against an account, is a negative mark against us. But they have not responded.
Does this fair you guys?
Where was my mistake in this process, where I tried to abide by every rule of Amazon?
Thanks for hearing me out, and all suggestions are welcomed.
Rez
Amazon DOES NOT care about the Seller. Please read
Hi everyone.
Here is my scenario.
I had a buyer who requested for a Return of a product due to having “Bought By Mistake”
I contacted Amazon to ensure that I took the proper steps as we are a new company and I wasn’t fully aware of what to do. I was told that I can respond back to the buyer stating that:
- Due to the reason provided “Bought By Mistake” the shipping and handling is the responsibility of the buyer.
- I could remove 20% restocking fee.
- If the item was not in its original condition I can remove 50% of the refund.
This was information that was given to me by the Amazon rep, and confirmed again by another rep when we called back to ensure that the information was correct. In fact the email was read back to the second rep to ensure that everything was properly written.
After emailing the buyer (respectfully), it seems that they were unhappy with this information and so they proceeded to file an A-To-Z claim, now stating that the product was in “POOR QUALITY”.
I called Amazon back and I was told to appeal the A-to-Z claim (in regards to their own return policy that I simply reiterated to the buyer) stating that I had good case, and that I would most likely win. So, I put all the information together, created screen shots, inquired with Amazon reps on the proper steps to take with the A-To-Z claim, and sent my appeal to Amazon.
Not 2 minutes after I sent my email, I got a response saying that they reviewed my case and that I had a set number of days to fully refund the buyer. I received the email faster than someone could actually sit and READ it. I’m sure of this. When I then inquired about that, the amazon rep said that I should just refund the buyer which would mean that i have to accept the A-to-Z claim, and after refunding the buyer to appeal the A-to-Z claim again.
DOES THIS SEEM FAIR you guys?
All I did was i initially inquired into what the proper Return policy steps were, and now I find myself in a situation where my ODR is being affected, by simply telling the buyer what Amazon had told us to say. We simply followed the rules of Amazon as we didn’t know it ourselves. And now, Amazon wants me to take the fault by just refunding the buyer, and try to appeal it (which I know I won’t win. I’ve been in this situation before where i’ve been mislead by their own , and amazon didn’t care of how it effected me).
We have an exemplary record with 5 stars, and certainly not delinquents, so it’s really frustrating to see that my business partner (amazon) doesn’t care about me.
There is a big loophole here:
- Buyer asks for a return.
- Doesn’t agree with the response given (even though written very respectuflly and words of Amazon).
- Files an A-to-Z claim.
- Amazon does not want to help with the A-To-Z claim, ignores the appeal, and now wants me to fully refund the buyer.
I’ve reached to the buyer, again very respectfully, asking them if they could please graciously remove the a-z guarantee claim, at which time they can actually keep the product, and we will fully refund them. We’ve explained the A-Z , once held against an account, is a negative mark against us. But they have not responded.
Does this fair you guys?
Where was my mistake in this process, where I tried to abide by every rule of Amazon?
Thanks for hearing me out, and all suggestions are welcomed.
Rez
81 replies
Seller_HXEaUBJimBjDX
Totally agree with you, Amazon seems to treat their 3rd Party Sellers with impunity, always favoring the customer.
The reason for return “bought by mistake” is definitely not the Seller’s fault and the partial refund (-20%) & non-refundable shipping is correct and iaw Amazon policy for Marketplace.
I do the same thing but have rarely had any issues with this type of return reason. Really cannot understand why you lost the the A-z claim? You should appeal the decision of the claim, if you win this time the negative ODR should be removed.
Personally, the less contact I have with Seller Support, the better my frame of mind is.
Seller Support is too quick to respond with automated preset responses to inquiries. You have to realize their main call center is in India, suspect there is a language comprehension issue or lack of training for their “associates” in the Call Center.
Their automated Bot system also dinged my ODR for cancelling 2 orders due to a non-deliverable shipping address.
It should be Amazon’s fault for not supplying the correct shipping address to the Seller. My customer had General Delivery and a Street Address which cannot be combined (verified by Canada Post employee, General Delivery is for pick-up at a Postal Outlet only). When he removed General Delivery after my reply he still left the incorrect Postal Code, thus the second cancellation. Also, Amazon policy does not allow the Seller to edit the shipping address for a customer request once the order is finalized.
Although Amazon has a shipping template, they do not vet a customer’s shipping address. You’d be surprised how many addresses are incorrect or incomplete (i.e. missing apartment no.), thus the numerous non-delivery claims.
Sorry to get off topic, but it is another example how frustrating it is sometimes selling on Amazon.
Seller_LTv2zrpA8Qcn1
Oh boy, I feel for you…
I want to echo gamerudy that “the less contact I have with Seller Support, the better my frame of mind is”. I actually cannot remember the last time I contacted SS to help/advise me in resolving any issue. You are a new seller though, so it is most understandable…
– This is what I do for ‘return requests’, with ‘bought by mistake’ (or similar, like ‘no longer needed’) as the reason. If it is within 30 days (from DELIVERY date) I authorize the return and attach a note to the effect of “Upon receipt, we will refund you the cost of the item less shipping fees, as per Amazon’s policy.” This means the buyer will pay to return it and you also keep the original shipping cost. Never had a complaint, over the 11 years I have been here. Mind you, I have never charged the restocking fee for a return.
– It might seem weird, but I think you emailing the buyer with the ‘consequences’, instead of authorizing the return (by clicking the button), might have created room for the buyer’s discontent to grow.
– A-Z claims, and how they affect your account, changes over time. I am not even sure now if the buyer CAN remove the claim…or I should say, I am not sure if that would actually adjust your odr if the buyer withdraws it.
No, it’s not fair. If all else fails you can write to jeff@amazon.com and explain your situation.
Let us know how this turns out. Good luck!
Seller_eAofiOSJdNLnZ
Hello there!
Sad to hear how disappointed you are, but on the other hand I have to notice that you didn’t do any proper research about how the things work on Amazon and how to deal with similar situations.
You should have done better research before even starting to sell, then do a lot of reading the forums here, especially about challenging situations like this and watching all seller university videos.
Then you would understand that Amazon is Customer centric company and thats why is so successful and thats why you have chance to make money here. You didn’t create it, they did, and you need to play by their rules. And buy you agreeing to sell on their platform you have access to million of clients ready to pay higher price then anywhere else, because of excellent treatment they have and ease of solving problems.
One of the main reason Amazon does so well is because of the way they treat customer
You have opportunity to make good money, the downside is that you will have to swallow the cost of few clients which will abuse system and take the loss even when you did everything right.
It’s called “cost of doing business”.
In the end of the day when you do your mathematics you will realize that you can still make good money after all loss.
If your calculations don’t equal this result then you need to find something else for your self.
And yes there is much better way to deal with situation you had, just do some forum reading you’ll find many examples…
This is reality, I wish you all the best!
Seller_OCANZEKiq31Ua
Happend to me to, this exact scenario. Never saw the refund or the item.
Seller_vmH5jjdKYf6mc
“– It might seem weird, but I think you emailing the buyer with the ‘consequences’, instead of authorizing the return (by clicking the button), might have created room for the buyer’s discontent to grow.”
You hit the nail on the head.
It seems odd, but the minute you told the customer they were going to take a hit, they changed their reasoning for the return to one where the Seller cannot win. Quality.
When you have a return for “Oops I didn’t mean to buy this”, then just approve the return.
Cut and paste the return shipping is the responsibility of the buyer from the policy page and then have the system provide them with the no postage return label.
Then when it gets back do the refund, take off a restocking fee if you want, and in the note to them, cut & paste the Amazon policy showing the allowable restocking fee.
I have never had an issue when I have done this. They can see that it’s policy and they don’t argue.
(But they might kick themselves in the butt for not reading the policy before ordering.)
Once they change the real reason from Oops to quality, you will rarely win any argument with Amazon as most reps do not do their jobs and read the claim. They could care less for the most part. Every once in a while I find one who is new and does their job, but they are not the norm. I honestly think the reps get bonuses based on how many “cases” they work through in the day so they just cut and paste the supposedly appropriate response letter and mark it as closed.
I am also dealing with an issue right now and have gone back and forth with payments four times now and they just don’t listen to what I am saying at all. I am giving them one more try, then I will be emailing Jeff’s Executive Team!!!
Seller_epHmvYWCmt7x5
Hi
Seller support simply read from the instructions on their CRM, they do not decide, Seattle actually decides on what to do and by default an AZ Claim is auto ruled in favor of the customer always.
The loophole here is that the call center instructions are disconnected from reality and per colleagues answers you should know by now how to act in similar situations.
We usually link to our policy on our seller page when accepting a return, depending on the return, the customer pays return shipping or not, we usually charge restocking fee if the item was used only (but rarely do it, we’ve seen instances where customers even mark the item as defective to not bare the return costs and when tested it worked fine) . we charge 2 way shipping in the event of a bough by mistake / not needed.
Bottom line you have to recoupe these cases, usually they are in the 1-2% depending on product sold… and the only way to get out of it is not to dump prices as we sellers are in control here.
Seller_ME9zO3b6kTJAy
Seems like you brought this onto yourself a little bit. Should have taken the return off the bat to avoid all of that happening, in my experiences with buying on amazon if you select a reason such as item bought by mistake or no longer needed it states right on the return page how much it will cost to ship it back to you. Should have let that happen.
Seller_3dywkelH2fG6B
Thank you for sharing this information, as a Seller on Amazom I am hesitant to put comments like this thinking Amazon will penalize me for making negative comments. The ball is always in their court or you can say they have Sellers by the balls.
They simply can do whatever they want and their only priority is to please their buyers, careless of the circumstances.
The general public has no clue what goes on behind the scenes on Amazon, they love the fact they can close their eyes and order stuff on Amazon knowing that if they screw up Amazon will be on their side but only if the the product is not sold and fulfilled by Amazon. If the product is sold and fulfilled by Amazon the conditions are different as opposed to sold by seller and fulfilled by Amazon or sold and fulfilled by seller on Amazon.
I have products sold by me( seller) and fulfilled by Amazon and I get a shit load of damaged products back, the reason being --Damaged by Customer – and I have to pay to have the damaged products sent back to my warehouse.
I am sure most sellers are fed up with Amazon, but I guess the question is if things are so bad why do we continue to see on Amazon, well I guess the answer is we are damned if we do and we are damned if we don’t because some other seller is just waiting to jump on the Amazon bandwagon as soon as you raise the price to actually make a few dollars.
So what to do??
Seller_Aehy0ZLa2VKMl
hey , Very easy , do not to deal with this anymore, just turn to amazon FBA no more problem like this, if they want to return it they return it .
