Item delivered late
When an item is delivered late, after Amazon have advised the customer that they can request a refund and a refund has been granted, is the customer then entitled to keep the goods?
Item delivered late
When an item is delivered late, after Amazon have advised the customer that they can request a refund and a refund has been granted, is the customer then entitled to keep the goods?
Seller_YSVJTvJFHSin4
Legally speaking, I don’t think that’s technically possible (which is not to say Amazon would not argue otherwise). A contract cannot have any old terms at all but has to be “reasonable”, and a contract which undermines statutory rights is not a reasonable contract. Therefore nothing in Amazon’s T&Cs which said a refund means the customer can keep the item would be tenable. It’s your property if the sale has been cancelled/voided.
Simply refunding a customer does not entitle them to keep the goods unless the seller explicitly permits this (e.g. by intentionally permitting returnless refunds). They are your property unless you state by this or another means that she can keep them.
The problem, of course, is that these cases are seldom worth pursuing. In the kind of case you describe, the customer gets the refund without returning the item, and thus has no incentive to return it, and it would in many instances be a real bother and not worth the time for the seller to recover it. Amazon will do nothing because they will argue that it’s between you and the customer.
17 replies
Seller_KjHQOlTKYaPEw
I would say no, but Amazon tend to let this happen all the time.
Another more experienced seller than I will be along in a minute to advise …
Seller_P9WE9DmQhKbaT
I’d like to agree, but really am wondering if there is something in Amazon’s T&Cs which overrides the normal legal (?) situation
Seller_KjHQOlTKYaPEw
I thought the OP was asking as a seller, not as a buyer
Seller_YSVJTvJFHSin4
Legally speaking, I don’t think that’s technically possible (which is not to say Amazon would not argue otherwise). A contract cannot have any old terms at all but has to be “reasonable”, and a contract which undermines statutory rights is not a reasonable contract. Therefore nothing in Amazon’s T&Cs which said a refund means the customer can keep the item would be tenable. It’s your property if the sale has been cancelled/voided.
Simply refunding a customer does not entitle them to keep the goods unless the seller explicitly permits this (e.g. by intentionally permitting returnless refunds). They are your property unless you state by this or another means that she can keep them.
The problem, of course, is that these cases are seldom worth pursuing. In the kind of case you describe, the customer gets the refund without returning the item, and thus has no incentive to return it, and it would in many instances be a real bother and not worth the time for the seller to recover it. Amazon will do nothing because they will argue that it’s between you and the customer.
Seller_QVpjrN1BsybDT
This is why amazon can get away with so many things. Perhaps if every seller complains when it happens to them then things might change
Your point about “no incentive” is interesting. There is the incentive for honest people that they are effectively keeping something that doesnt belong to them and an honest person would want to do something to rectify it (Yes I know pigs might fly!)
Seller_YSVJTvJFHSin4
Maybe what’s more worrying is that Amazon encourages even normally honest people to be dishonest, by mechanisms such as paid-for-by-seller-in-advance returns and returnless refunds. There is nothing to stop any buyer from trying their luck on a returnless refund. It’s like a free go on a fruit machine, and you might win…
Seller_rZax50qrWcaoG
Not from my experience this morning:
Purchased an item last week using Prime, promised Saturday didn’t turn up, then Monday and nothing, now seems to be lost in transit. Checked and said contact Amazon for a refund, and they make it very hard to find a way to contact them. Refund initiated no problem but now I have a return date for when the item arrives, and if I don’t send it I get recharged…
That’s fine but what if it doesn’t turn up?
Seller_8vW2kA4XK17Ww
that is an automatic yes and amazon will let them keep the product regardless of what the seller has to say…
Seller_8f9uYRNpwImUV
Amazon selling rules are different to other sellers rules. They will happily refund money when it isn’t there money.
