My story of being scammed due to Amazon's return policy
Hello,
I'd like to share how I was scammed twice due to Amazon's return policy.
The first incident occurred on Amazon Germany. A customer ordered two units of the same product. Order ID #304-7719477-6296349, order amount €400, we shipped the product to the customer with free shipping. The customer, sent a message to our Instagram account saying she would create an unboxing video promoting our products, and in return, asked us to refund the €400 to her PayPal account. We politely declined as we didn't need this kind of promotion. The customer created a return request and requested a shipping label on the same day she received the products. As clearly stated in our product description and return policies, we informed her that she needs to pay for return shipping, and we would approve the refund once we receive the products. The woman sent harassing messages through Amazon for days. We never responded to her with any rudeness.
We contacted Amazon about this issue, and there are 4 different case records related to it. Following Amazon support team's guidance, we waited without taking any action. They told us that based on the evidence and screenshots we provided, the customer wouldn't receive a refund due to violating Amazon's A-to-Z return policy. By this time, about 50 days had passed since the order.
The woman claimed she returned the products and entered a tracking number into the system, but we never received any returned products. About two weeks later, Amazon issued a refund. We lost both our products and our money.
The second incident happened on Amazon US marketplace. The customer placed an order on October 27th. Order ID #111-3095301-3768261, order amount $232.93.
On November 11th, the customer created a return request with the explanation "No longer needed," and Amazon immediately approved the return request and closed the order on November 15th without even receiving the product return.
When I tried to create a SAFE-T claim for both orders, I received the message "This order is not eligible for SAFE-T claim."
I created a support ticket asking why a refund was issued without receiving our returned products. I asked how they would address the potential damage if this customer writes on platforms like Reddit about receiving refunds without returning products, but I didn't get a clear answer.
I believe Amazon is clearly allowing us to be scammed with this return policy. We have lost approximately $655 in these two orders, which is a huge amount for us. We work day and night to earn $5-10, and Amazon suddenly causes us to lose $655.
If anyone has experienced a similar situation, could you please help me with what steps we should take?
Thank you.
My story of being scammed due to Amazon's return policy
Hello,
I'd like to share how I was scammed twice due to Amazon's return policy.
The first incident occurred on Amazon Germany. A customer ordered two units of the same product. Order ID #304-7719477-6296349, order amount €400, we shipped the product to the customer with free shipping. The customer, sent a message to our Instagram account saying she would create an unboxing video promoting our products, and in return, asked us to refund the €400 to her PayPal account. We politely declined as we didn't need this kind of promotion. The customer created a return request and requested a shipping label on the same day she received the products. As clearly stated in our product description and return policies, we informed her that she needs to pay for return shipping, and we would approve the refund once we receive the products. The woman sent harassing messages through Amazon for days. We never responded to her with any rudeness.
We contacted Amazon about this issue, and there are 4 different case records related to it. Following Amazon support team's guidance, we waited without taking any action. They told us that based on the evidence and screenshots we provided, the customer wouldn't receive a refund due to violating Amazon's A-to-Z return policy. By this time, about 50 days had passed since the order.
The woman claimed she returned the products and entered a tracking number into the system, but we never received any returned products. About two weeks later, Amazon issued a refund. We lost both our products and our money.
The second incident happened on Amazon US marketplace. The customer placed an order on October 27th. Order ID #111-3095301-3768261, order amount $232.93.
On November 11th, the customer created a return request with the explanation "No longer needed," and Amazon immediately approved the return request and closed the order on November 15th without even receiving the product return.
When I tried to create a SAFE-T claim for both orders, I received the message "This order is not eligible for SAFE-T claim."
I created a support ticket asking why a refund was issued without receiving our returned products. I asked how they would address the potential damage if this customer writes on platforms like Reddit about receiving refunds without returning products, but I didn't get a clear answer.
I believe Amazon is clearly allowing us to be scammed with this return policy. We have lost approximately $655 in these two orders, which is a huge amount for us. We work day and night to earn $5-10, and Amazon suddenly causes us to lose $655.
If anyone has experienced a similar situation, could you please help me with what steps we should take?
Thank you.
0 replies
Danny_Amazon
Hello @Seller_lyQk3dql5fHNx- and thanks for looking to the seller forums for some guidance through these order situations. If you haven't done so yet, I would recommend creating a case in the Germany side of our forums for assistance with that Order, as we will be unable to view order details from this region, I appreciate your understanding!
I did look through the US marketplace order you highlighted here do see the original order was not shipped on time, which might be impacting the eligibility for a SAFE-T Claim. It also appears the customer was sent an unpaid return label, and I do not see any return tracking attached there. Per this customer-side help page on returns to third party sellers, the seller needs to provide one of the following resolution paths:
"The seller will provide one of these return methods:
- A return address in the United States
- A prepaid return label
- A full refund without returning the item"
If no prepaid return label was sent, can you confirm if the customer was provided with a return address in the United States?
Thanks!
Danny
