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Pinned by community managerHandling Defective or Incorrect Returns
Hello Sellers,
We Community Managers are happy to help you with A-Z Guarantee claims. Recently, however, we've seen a lot of cases where previously submitted returns of incorrect or defective items were not processed correctly. So, here's a brief explanation of how to handle such returns and avoid misunderstandings regarding A-Z Guarantee claims.
So, how do you do it?
If you receive the item from the customer and notice that it's in poor condition or isn't the correct item, take a photo of the shipment. To be on the safe side, try to include any tracking numbers/labels legibly in your photo.
Regardless of the circumstances of the return, the policy stipulates that a refund must be processed within 48 hours of receipt of the return. If the return is defective, you should select the Partial Refund option. Here you have the option to upload a photo and note the condition of the item. A partial refund is also possible for 0% of the purchase price.
Once you have processed the partial refund, inform the customer about the reasons for the partial refund via the messaging system. Here you can then discuss further steps to resolve the situation with the customer.
Under no circumstances should you close the return or inform the customer in advance and wait for a response without initiating a refund. If the return is faulty, note it as described above and then resolve the situation. A partial refund does not preclude a further full refund after the problem has been resolved.
Important: These explanations do not apply to returns with a refund after the first scan. For these, see therefund policy for seller-fulfilled orders with prepaid Amazon return labels.
Regards, Spencer
I Lost Everything to a Buyer Who Played the System — and Amazon Let It Happen
I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been selling on Amazon for a while, doing everything by the book. I offer real products, ship with FBA, maintain a clean account, and I treat every buyer with respect. But none of that mattered in the end.
A buyer named Janet Payne has been repeatedly purchasing the same item from my listing. Each time, she claims "performance or quality not adequate" — but never once returns the product, never files an A-to-Z, never goes through any official complaint route.
Instead, Amazon quietly refunds her. Every. Single. Time.
Here are just a few of her orders:
202-9518971-4398749
202-4264305-1225105
202-2093544-8173138
I submitted multiple cases to Seller Support, included full documentation, confirmed shipment, and BEGGED for help. Nothing. Janet got to keep the product and the money. Again.
Funny thing is, this janet doesnt even try to hide it, its the same profile, u can see 5 orders all refunded and they are ordering more and more. i cant cancel the order cz of fba. with fbm i dont get the buy box so i removed the listing completely....
Then it got worse.
Another buyer — Michelle Sadd — began doing the exact same thing. Same product. Same excuse. Same refund.
We called her number to try to sort things out… and who picked up the phone? The same voice as Janet Payne. She told us directly to stop selling this ASIN. This wasn’t just refund abuse anymore — it felt like harassment. Sabotage.
So what did I do? I refunded Michelle myself. Out of my own pocket. Because I didn’t know what else to do. I felt trapped.
And then... Amazon refunded Janet again. After everything. After all the evidence.
I asked for a refund reversal, for my ODR to be fixed, for help.
They said no.
They let her win.
They let me bleed.
And they don’t care.
I don’t know how a platform that preaches fairness and customer obsession can let abusive buyers run wild while hardworking sellers get trampled.
I’m writing this because I don’t want to be silent anymore. If this has happened to you — speak up.
If you know someone at Amazon who cares — show them this.
Because sellers like me are drowning in silence, and nobody is listening.
Oddly written message
Has anyone else had a message written like this?
"I need this item delivered by Friday 16th May 2025 at the very latest please. As a consequence of the delays already experienced, I have no alternative option at all. There has been plenty of time to fulfil and deliver the item, or to give me an honest response and sufficient time to find a replacement item."
It's so oddly written. I knew as soon as I started reading it that the customer was trying it on. Sure enough, the item was delivered, and the GPS was right outside his front door. The message reads like it was copied from a scammer's Facebook group or somewhere.
I was just curious if anyone else had received it.
Second Negative Review Attack, No Resolution This Time
Hello,
I’m writing to report a targeted, inauthentic review attack on my listing. Out of three total ratings, two are one‑star ratings with no comments and one is a 1‑star review from an account that has never reviewed any other product. All of these 1‑star ratings appeared within the same week, and I haven’t received any other 1‑star feedback besides these.
This is not the first occurrence: few months ago I experienced a similar wave of fake reviews, which Amazon kindly investigated and removed. The current attack is clearly orchestrated to harm my seller metrics and has already caused a noticeable drop in sales.
Could you please investigate and remove these inauthentic ratings under Amazon’s Community Guidelines? I appreciate your swift assistance in safeguarding the integrity of product feedback and my account performance.
This is my listing (ASIN: B0DK3WV3ZS ). Receiving a review on listing like this is very rare and takes much time but i received 1 star 3 reviews with in 5 days which is impossible.
All of our Ratings are 5 and 4 stars and they all have reviews while the new 1 stars have no reviews which proves the suspicion as customers have no problem with our product as seen in the reviews.
There are other suspicious matters like attacker accounts being new, the reviews being polar opposite of what the normal and Vine customers say, opting out of communication, a different name on the orders so I can't find the order ID to report etc.
AtoZ Case opened for Package didn't arrive no communication from buyer.
We shipped order 203-7131553-3492361 and have heard nothing about this package untill today. There was no communication from the buyer. The a-to-z notes say The customer has not received their package and our records indicate that you shipped this order after the maximum handle time, this was given to a parcel shop on time before the bank holliday "but" the tracking does show shipping date after the date needed for some reason, could this be an error ? The package is still on its way to be delivered, I don't really care about the money or the package only the mark against the account is there a way to apeal this ? Thanks in adnvance. Seems after everything you do all the stressing going above and beyond like amazon want and somehow you get roasted anyway.
Multiple A-Z Claim approved despite PROOF of delivery
As many other sellers are now reporting, we have 3 orders which have had A-Z Claim Approved from the customer claiming to have not received their orders - despite us having signed proof of delivery for all 3 orders. It is also going against our Order Defect Rate.
We sell furniture, so these are not inexpensive items which can just afford to give away for free.
We do not agree with Amazon's automated responses to our appeals and we have tried to ring Amazon as well with no luck.
For all 3 appeals, we have received the automated same result:
"We have debited the amount from your account and have counted the claim against your order defect rate.
Appeal decision - Upon further review, we have decided to uphold our original decision.
Further decision - Upon further review, we have decided to uphold our original decision.
Further decision - Upon further review, we have decided to uphold our original decision."
If anyone at Amazon could help investigate that would be very much appreciated:
Case ID's 11031955162, 11055892052, 11049737842, 11055891272
A to Z Claim - Customer claimed non receipt, delivered later on that day, 3 days later claim
@Seller_z3k8APxGfbQEK@Seller_XUNeUuvrQDpgP@Seller_j9Bd91CW3ZVpr
Case ID: 10999771732
Hopefully someone can clarify, this item was attempted to be delivered. The customer was not in. Then on the 3rd of March the customer messages advising they don't need it anymore and they have purchased a replacement elsewhere and want a refund.
Parcel delivered later on the same day and then an A to Z 3 days later with no further contact.
I know its probably silly to ask but do I have a leg to stand on?
Thanks in advance forum users :)
Fraudulent Drop Shipping Claims Denied SAFET
@Seller_mIRnuhdx7l5sN
We have incurred over 1500+ fraudulent refunded claims and we are aware that hundreds of other sellers are experiencing the same issue.
A customer orders off ebay / onbuy. The seller then orders on Amazon off us and we deliver it to his customer, not known to us this is happening. Once the parcel is delivered then this seller on ebay is raising an A-Z and getting a full refund.
we have raised these cases dozens of times, but its impacting us to severe - can you help me with getting some resolution on these claims
we are out of pocket on hundreds/thousands of orders that are not being refunded as the items are classed as non returnable
ive filed 143 safe t claims in the past 30 days and only 20 have been accepted!
No Win Situation on Handmade at Amazon
A customer places an order and 6 weeks pass without a word.
Suddenly a 1 star product review is left stating there was a problem with one of the 2 things ordered, a 5 star product review was left for the other item.
The customer did not get in touch first to let me or Amazon know.
There is no longer the ability to respond directly to product feedback.
The message I sent to the customer was rejected because they have opted out of unsolicited emails.
So how am I supposed to rectify this for the customer and let future customers know that I have tried to get hold of them to find out what happened and have changed the product in response to the bad review?
Any suggestions? @Seller_Huz6FT08OxHAR @Seller_DNQGSsdC7DccM@Seller_TSXM2A5nxWSuH
A-Z Claim approved despite PROOF of delivery – what’s the point of being a Seller here?
I’ve reached breaking point and I’m posting this publicly because I’ve followed every process Amazon laid out and have gotten nowhere.
Here’s what happened:
- A customer placed an order and later filed an A-to-Z Guarantee claim, saying they never received the item.
- I reached out to them - multiple times - and found out they missed the first two delivery attempts, but the item was delivered on the third attempt.
- I have proof of delivery from UPS, one of the most reliable couriers out there. It shows date, time, location, everything. The order was clearly delivered to the correct address.
- Despite all of that, Amazon still granted the refund under the A-to-Z claim.
- I appealed. Rejected. No explanation.
- I contacted Seller Support - and all they did was send it back to the same Claims team. A full circle of uselessness.
What more am I supposed to do as a seller?
I fulfilled the order, the item was delivered, I provided solid proof from a trusted courier - yet Amazon sides with the buyer who just says “I didn’t get it.” This is a broken system. If customers can simply claim non-receipt and get refunded, even when there's clear delivery confirmation, then we’re not running a marketplace - we’re running a free giveaway service. This isn’t just unfair - it’s enabling fraud. It’s Amazon rewarding dishonest behaviour and penalising sellers who do everything right.
I’m demanding Amazon explain:
- Why was the claim approved when I had clear delivery proof?
- What is the actual point of using tracked and signed-for delivery if Amazon doesn’t even consider it?
- How are sellers supposed to protect themselves when the appeals process is completely opaque and clearly biased?
This is outrageous. I’ve lost money, time, and trust in this platform. If sellers can’t rely on Amazon to protect them when we follow the rules, what are we even doing here?
False A-Z resulting in ODR and refund
We have had a customer put an A-Z in for an undelivered item reason below:
'Package didn't arrive' and customer comments;
'Customer comments: Is anything missing? Yes. What's missing? The entire package or received empty package. Did your address change? No. Reason Code: NOT_RECEIVED'
The item has been delivered with the POD image and the customer signature, this info was sent to the customer and they said they never sent for an A-Z claim and called us liars etc etc..
Sent a screenshot of the A-Z claim that was submitted with 'customer comments' and again they said they never did this, I explained to them that this was unlikely as it is usually triggered by a buyer contacting Amazon, however I can understand how the use of Amazon and contacting sellers via the messaging centre can be confusing etc..
They eventually agree to contact Amazon to remove the A-Z claim, which after about 24hrs it was.
Then this morning we have had an email saying;
'Your account has been debited the original shipping amount for order 206-1557330-1374740. This is because you did not refund the buyer for those costs.
As the buyer returned the item you are required to refund the original shipping costs'
Firstly, we are only required to refund shipping costs if the item is faulty and returned, of which the appliance is NOT faulty, and has NOT been returned?!?!'
Why have we been charged for the shipping costs we have passed on from the courier to transport a 55kg box over 1.5m long over water to the customers house, for no apparent reason or proof.
@Seller_Huz6FT08OxHAR@Seller_Udi0JNbTrsmUV@Seller_TSXM2A5nxWSuH
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