We recently got a seller fulfilled order from a customer in Ireland. Worth around £60. The ship by date was 25/11/2024.

This particular order was collected by Royal Mail as normal on 23/11/2024 using International Tracked service(3-5 days delivery, £50 compensation value). It should've been delivered between 27/11 and 30/11.

Didn't hear anything about it until Monday 09/12/2024 when the buyer filed an A-to-Z claim for non delivery stating they were "sick of waiting" - which was fair enough but if they had messaged us I'm sure we could've worked with them to reach a solution. Amazon almost instantly approved said claim and gave a full refund to the customer. Upon checking the tracking, the package was heavily delayed but still moving. Low and behold today(11/12/2024) the package has been delivered to the customer.

To make matters worse, Amazon are counting this against our ODR despite the fact they admit in their response to our appeal that it is the carrier(Royal Mail) who are responsible for the delivery delay.

Is it really the case that the customer gets their money back & keeps the item AND on top of that our seller account takes a hit? For something we have zero control over and responsibility for?

Any advise on what we can do would be appreciated.