"Defect" registered in my seller account because I did not comply with a scammer's requests.
Hello!
I am seeking assistance in removing the A-Z defect from my account after a customer scam attempt.
Order ID: 026-6591864-0317941
The product was shipped on time and on the day of delivery, it had not left the Royal Mail depot in the way to the buyer. The Royal Mail website said that a request had been made for the product not to be delivered to the address on the order and that instructions were awaited.
After 2 days, the customer contacts me via Amazon messaging and tells me that if there is any further delay in delivery, they will request a refund.
I reply asking him to remove the non-delivery request and he will receive his product immediately.
He tells me that he did not make such a request and that the product is not being delivered because we, the sellers, did not pay for the shipping. He also attaches a photo of a Royal Mail card that was allegedly left at his address and through which Royal Mail said that we did not pay for the shipping.
Although he had just sent us proof of attempted scam via Amazon messaging, I politely explained that Royal Mail does not transport products to destination cities expecting them to be paid for later, and they do not even generate shipping labels if they are not paid for.
In the end, the customer requested a refund but did not remove the previously made request for non-delivery of the product so the item was returned to us.
Everything was fine up to this point but, according to Amazon policy, a defect was registered in our account. We appealed but, to our surprise, it was rejected.
Although initially on the Royal Mail page it was said that a request was made for the product not to be delivered to the address in the order, later, on the date of our appeal, its status changed and became "item retention" so we could not show the existence of that request. However, we attached to our appeal the fake photo received from the customer (via Amazon messaging), in which he claimed that Royal Mail had informed him that we had not paid for the shipment and this is the reason why the product is being held in the depot. Evidence that undoubtedly shows attempted fraud, but it seems that this did not matter in analyzing our appeal.
I understand, like many others, the difficulties that Amazon often has in detecting scams, in the context in which there is pressure to respect the rights of buyers. However, from here to punishing sellers for alleged non-compliance with Amazon policies when they do not align with the actions of the scammers, it is a long way. And, incomprehensible. Especially in the context in which there is clear evidence of fraud or attempted fraud.
I hope someone can help me so that this defect is removed from my account.
Thank you!
"Defect" registered in my seller account because I did not comply with a scammer's requests.
Hello!
I am seeking assistance in removing the A-Z defect from my account after a customer scam attempt.
Order ID: 026-6591864-0317941
The product was shipped on time and on the day of delivery, it had not left the Royal Mail depot in the way to the buyer. The Royal Mail website said that a request had been made for the product not to be delivered to the address on the order and that instructions were awaited.
After 2 days, the customer contacts me via Amazon messaging and tells me that if there is any further delay in delivery, they will request a refund.
I reply asking him to remove the non-delivery request and he will receive his product immediately.
He tells me that he did not make such a request and that the product is not being delivered because we, the sellers, did not pay for the shipping. He also attaches a photo of a Royal Mail card that was allegedly left at his address and through which Royal Mail said that we did not pay for the shipping.
Although he had just sent us proof of attempted scam via Amazon messaging, I politely explained that Royal Mail does not transport products to destination cities expecting them to be paid for later, and they do not even generate shipping labels if they are not paid for.
In the end, the customer requested a refund but did not remove the previously made request for non-delivery of the product so the item was returned to us.
Everything was fine up to this point but, according to Amazon policy, a defect was registered in our account. We appealed but, to our surprise, it was rejected.
Although initially on the Royal Mail page it was said that a request was made for the product not to be delivered to the address in the order, later, on the date of our appeal, its status changed and became "item retention" so we could not show the existence of that request. However, we attached to our appeal the fake photo received from the customer (via Amazon messaging), in which he claimed that Royal Mail had informed him that we had not paid for the shipment and this is the reason why the product is being held in the depot. Evidence that undoubtedly shows attempted fraud, but it seems that this did not matter in analyzing our appeal.
I understand, like many others, the difficulties that Amazon often has in detecting scams, in the context in which there is pressure to respect the rights of buyers. However, from here to punishing sellers for alleged non-compliance with Amazon policies when they do not align with the actions of the scammers, it is a long way. And, incomprehensible. Especially in the context in which there is clear evidence of fraud or attempted fraud.
I hope someone can help me so that this defect is removed from my account.
Thank you!
16 replies
Seller_mS10UjVYuuGor
Royal Mail can hold items if the postage paid isn't enough to cover the size or weight of the item, in those circumstances they try to recover the difference plus a fee from the recipient. Could that be what happened perhaps.
Seller_mS10UjVYuuGor
Do you think on a forum of other Amazon sellers that other people don't? Some sellers only do FBA but many of us also send hundreds of parcels a month and have years of experience dealing with Royal Mail and other couriers.
If you're sending hundreds a month you may want to consider getting a Royal Mail account rather than buying labels through the app, if you have an account any additional postage due can be charged back to the sender rather than passed on to the recipient. If a label is bought through the app Royal Mail cannot recharge your card for any shortfall of postage cost so pass it on to the recipient.
An internal message of Royal Mail to hold the delivery while they arrange the extra postage cost. Try doing that with the next delivery you get from Royal Mail and you'll see that 'Don't deliver to the address and await futher instructions' isn't an option open to parcel recipients.
There was no scam attempt. The customer only threatened to ask for a refund because the delivery was taking so long, I don't blame them. Then you accuse them of lying when they tell you they've been asked to pay £3.30 top up postage, which then turned out to be the truth.
No problem:
i) Ensure you pay the correct postage in future based on both size and weight to avoid a repeat.
ii) Don't be too quick to accuse the customer of a scam attempt. The message you saw on the Royal Mail website was probably an internal message by Royal Mail as 'await further instructions' could not have been initiated by the customer.
iii) Don't attack other sellers who offer help on the forum, it says a lot about you, and may discourage other sellers from offing you help in the future.
We're all fully aware that some customers are scammers but sellers jumping to conclusions doesn't help the situation either.
Have a lovely evening.
Seller_RlZVPg3d6ZUGP
When the item was returned to you, did you not refund then? how did it end up going to a to z?
Seller_MVtoQ7BlhM9qx
The facts happened completely differently than you indicated they would have happened.
The customer sent me a message that the product was late and said that if it didn't arrive in 2 days, he would request a refund. I checked on Royal Mail and found something like "There is a request that the product not be delivered to the address indicated. Awaiting instructions."
Initially, I told the customer that it was probably a mistake at Royal Mail and I would try to resolve it quickly. After about a day, seeing that the status did not change and failing to resolve anything, I asked the customer to help me trying to remove the existing request at Royal Mail that the product not be delivered to his address.
His response was: "This is the problem with your items delivery.".
At this point, seeing that he was not at all willing to help us resolve the problem, I began to think that it was a scam. Later, after some time, I received from the customer the message "If you can't pay the postage then forget about it." along with the Royal Mail card.
He didn't ask me to pay anything, I reproduced exactly the message I received from him. I knew, however, that in two years I had not done anything wrong with Royal Mail and I had never encountered such a situation. But even now I did not accuse the customer of lying as you insinuate here. I sent him a message in which I explained that Royal Mail does not ship products and does not even generate a shipping label if it is not paid, so there is no question of not having paid for the shipping.
I also told the customer that after he receives his refund, the non-delivery request to his address will be removed and thus everything will end well. :)
No response from the customer, followed the request submitted to Amazon for a refund.
These were the real facts. As you can see, very far from your construction.
Seller_mS10UjVYuuGor
One thing you can't do on the app is pre authorise Royal Mail to charge you card for any shortfall in the postage paid. Royal Mail tried to charge the customer instead who rightly got annoyed, I would if it happened to me and I suspect you would too. They aren't scammers, they're normal people.
Ultimately you're going to have to accept you dropped the ball on this occasion, apologise to the customer, learn from it and move forward. You're here to make money and are now more knowledgeable of how to proceed, view the incident positively.
Seller_7pTs15IYXmTOB
I couldn't comment on whether the buyer was a scammer or not or whether his photos were fake or not.
That aside, as others have pointed out rightly that if the parcel was deemed to have inaccuracies in size and/or weight by Royal Mail, then yes, they would expect the postage to be paid on collection. And no buyers would be happy about it. Actually most buyers wouldn't be bothered. If you are lucky a buyer may offer to pay provided you refund it immediately.
It pains me to say this but amazon, perhaps, for a change, may be right on this. Don't let this cause you stress, just set it as a learning curve. I always advocate that postage is paid correctly and honestly because the postage is state revenue.
