AMAZON is perpetuating return fraud & marking every return as "Customer Damaged" in order to avoid reimbursing sellers
Amazon's customer-facing returns policy clearly states that you can return items if they are in new, unopened condition. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ref_=hp_left_v4_sib&nodeId=GKM69DUUYKQWKWX7 and https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/returns/homepage.html?ref_=footer_hy_f_4
Why isn't AMAZON following its own policy? Why do they mark almost all returns as customer damaged when it is clear a customer has used it?? Almost all of the removal items we get back from returns have been used, so either the returns department isn't fully inspecting them, or they see they have been used and just mark them as customer-damaged anyway to avoid the effort of actually following their return policy.
If the customer used or damaged the item, then it wasn’t returned in new, unopened condition. Therefore, AMAZON should either claw the refund back from the customer or reimburse the seller. Why does AMAZON continue to allow customers to abuse the return policy? Do you care that little about your 3rd party sellers? Would AMAZON not claw back a refund on their own branded products if a customer used it? Something has to change here; AMAZON is perpetuating return abuse, and it's hurting its sellers.
Example
We received 3 items returned in the same shipment as a removal order marked unfulfillable. There was what appeared to be cat litter pebbles inside all 3 products . . . they were stuck to the inside of the boxes of two items, down inside the boxes, and all over the products, and inside another product's polybag. It was so gross and unbelievable that Amazon would allow a customer to return products in that condition. And guess what? Amazon marked all three of them as "Customer Damaged". We opened cases (case numbers 17674973531, 17675048971, 17675029631) and went back and forth with support, asking them to either claw back the refund or reimburse us. They continued to ask for the same info (pictures, details) that were already provided in the case over and over, and then refused to reimburse because they were in "Customer Damaged" disposition, and Amazon doesn't reimburse if in customer damage condition. Are you kidding me?
We also have plenty of examples of where AMAZON has put used products back into inventory and resold them to other customers. That tells us they aren't even opening the boxes and fully inspecting the items. Who gets penalized for this? The seller via negative NCX. high returns, high return fees, bad reviews, etc . . .
What is Amazon doing to help sellers stop this return abuse and reimburse sellers when it is clear customers have used or damaged the product before returning it? Why do sellers have to eat this cost? Just enforce your own customer- facing return policy!
@Topher_Amazon
@Bryce_Amazon
@KJ_Amazon
Copying you guys for awareness and in hopes that Amazon will review this policy and better support its sellers.
AMAZON is perpetuating return fraud & marking every return as "Customer Damaged" in order to avoid reimbursing sellers
Amazon's customer-facing returns policy clearly states that you can return items if they are in new, unopened condition. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ref_=hp_left_v4_sib&nodeId=GKM69DUUYKQWKWX7 and https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/returns/homepage.html?ref_=footer_hy_f_4
Why isn't AMAZON following its own policy? Why do they mark almost all returns as customer damaged when it is clear a customer has used it?? Almost all of the removal items we get back from returns have been used, so either the returns department isn't fully inspecting them, or they see they have been used and just mark them as customer-damaged anyway to avoid the effort of actually following their return policy.
If the customer used or damaged the item, then it wasn’t returned in new, unopened condition. Therefore, AMAZON should either claw the refund back from the customer or reimburse the seller. Why does AMAZON continue to allow customers to abuse the return policy? Do you care that little about your 3rd party sellers? Would AMAZON not claw back a refund on their own branded products if a customer used it? Something has to change here; AMAZON is perpetuating return abuse, and it's hurting its sellers.
Example
We received 3 items returned in the same shipment as a removal order marked unfulfillable. There was what appeared to be cat litter pebbles inside all 3 products . . . they were stuck to the inside of the boxes of two items, down inside the boxes, and all over the products, and inside another product's polybag. It was so gross and unbelievable that Amazon would allow a customer to return products in that condition. And guess what? Amazon marked all three of them as "Customer Damaged". We opened cases (case numbers 17674973531, 17675048971, 17675029631) and went back and forth with support, asking them to either claw back the refund or reimburse us. They continued to ask for the same info (pictures, details) that were already provided in the case over and over, and then refused to reimburse because they were in "Customer Damaged" disposition, and Amazon doesn't reimburse if in customer damage condition. Are you kidding me?
We also have plenty of examples of where AMAZON has put used products back into inventory and resold them to other customers. That tells us they aren't even opening the boxes and fully inspecting the items. Who gets penalized for this? The seller via negative NCX. high returns, high return fees, bad reviews, etc . . .
What is Amazon doing to help sellers stop this return abuse and reimburse sellers when it is clear customers have used or damaged the product before returning it? Why do sellers have to eat this cost? Just enforce your own customer- facing return policy!
@Topher_Amazon
@Bryce_Amazon
@KJ_Amazon
Copying you guys for awareness and in hopes that Amazon will review this policy and better support its sellers.
1 reply
Seller_6wciPsbyKdRWj
In addition, we have a relatively new product with a high price point and are getting a rash of large quantity orders that are later being returned. The product is used for special events, so it is clear people are using it for their events and then returning it when finished. Either that or we are being targeted by bad actors.
We've opened numerous cases via the "report abuse tool" to ask Amazon to proactively do fraud checks before releasing those orders, and every response that comes back from Amazon is that they can't take any action. What the heck is the tool for if you can't do more stringent fraud checks on the buyer?
So out of 20 returns, there are only 2 that are not marked "Customer Damaged". That's right, 18 are marked "customer damaged" even though the customer return reason is primarily "unwanted" or "found better prices elsewhere".
This proves my message above that Amazon isn't even inspecting these returns properly and just marking them all "Customer Damaged" to avoid having to issue reimbursements. What is going on???
@Topher_Amazon
@Bryce_Amazon
@KJ_Amazon
