Sellers Concerned over New Amazon Returns Policy

by: Tiffee Jasso

Until big business buys some new glasses Return process will be a breaking point for smaller sellers and a huge profit loss for bigger sellers. Return Queens are RED INK buyers. There is no profit in selling to them. I was in line at the Post Office and watched this woman pack in three trips worth of boxes. All going back to Nordstom's. "I have to see whether I like the item or not before I decide to keep it," she said with a big smile. "My husband did keep the shirt I ordered for him." There was a hundred or more dollars in postage costs for those boxes as many of them were large oversize boxes with many running at least 20 inches long. Well, Norstrom's can welcome customers like that, but I would avoid her like the plague.  

by: Chicago48

If the product I sell is NAD or broken, then I have no problem with this.  But -- if the buyer "changed their mind" (who's going to admit that?) then they should be responsible for the postage.  I'm going to demand that buyers send me a photo of the broken item like Ebay does before I do a refund without return.
This will really be problematic if you sell electronics and clothing, because they have a high rate of return.  Remind me to never sell electronics & clothing on Amazon.

by: Chicago48

" I was in line at the Post Office and watched this woman pack in three trips worth of boxes. All going back to Nordstom's. "I have to see whether I like the item or not before I decide to keep it," she said with a big smile. "My husband did keep the shirt I ordered for him."
^^ Interesting, because doesn't AMZ and other retailers have a policy against a repeat "return" customer.  I believe after so many returns, AMZ & others will refuse to sell.
Retailers won't stand for that Nordstrom customer.  If she wants to try them before she buys it, she should "rent" her clothing; by the way, that's what AMZ is going to do with clothing - rent for 7 days and if you keep it they charge your card.

by: Chicago48

Does this return policy apply to Chinese & Indian sellers.  Do they have to eat the postage costs for a return?

by: cvsharkey

I understand what all of the sellers are saying in these comments, and it's true--there are good buyers & bad buyers. But, my concern would be the THOUSANDS of sellers from outside the U.S. who send you shoddy or broken merchandise and then tell you to pay for the shipping to return the item before they will refund or replace it. This type of policy might not be needed if it were not for this.

by: glasspackaging

My average item weight is 45 pounds... this will end up a nightmare as it encourages "buyer remorse" fraud.... we get back 10% of all buyer remorse requests now , when customer sees true freight cost .... if they follow through with this, I guess it could be a tipping point for many of us in both bookkeeping problems and profitability ... we ship glass products... I can't imagine how many will come back broken due to poor return packaging.

We are also a 6 figure seller... who knows how tight our margins are on Amazon now.... tipping point for many of us I bet to just walk away.

by: pace306

In this case - the new Amazon policy is WORSE then eBays ... shocking.

My issue is the shipping costs to ship back items from the buyer "for no reason".

What do I do with the items that I cant sell?  Why send them into FBA commingled of course - that way AMAZON had to figure it all out.

Im not gonna take losses for Amazons buyers. If Amazon wants to beat up on me - I take it right back out on them - they deserve it.

All I have to do is figure out how to make up the costs ... :)  

by: VV

Spent a good bit yesterday reading Amazon forum post on this. There are so many issues with this policy I can't begin to list them all. A few:

- there are 70+ options the buyer can choose from for the return. Just about all make it the seller pay return ship
- UPS is the method of return. I use PO Box for return. UPS does not deliver to PO
- Some folks have multiple return facilities. You can only list one return address
- Are you charged for the label even if it's never used
- Removes any chance to work with customer to resolve issues
- Will be a scammer magnet
- The 'seller(s) who asked for this' - it's Amazon

As of two years ago I was doing 70% Amazon 30% Ebay. Now that is roughly reversed. This is due mostly to Amazon gating categories and restricting specific listings. I doubt I'll be selling anything there in two years either due to my own choice or most likely being forced out.

by: RKTOYS

@cvsharkey
Except those foreign sellers who cause those problems are going to be exempt from it.

by: Moonwishes

This was being discussed on the Amazon forum yesterday. I know  got my notice late last night.

When selling on-line was new, sellers were running their own businesses. Now, not so much. One oof the reasons that I left ebay years ago is that kept changing the rules to the point that I spent so much time 'fixing' things that weren't broken, I barely had added any new inventory in two years. Now I get to wonder if I will have to leave Amazon and just go with ecrater. Currently a return is rare for me, but I don't know how this will work once buyers all know about this rule. Yet again another rule that sellers didn't ask for or want that Amazon said we did. Both ebay and Amazon have pulled this same stunt claiming sellers wanted the new rule - although most of us can't ever find the sellers that wanted the new rule.

by: glasspackaging

I just sent this to the amazon suggestion section on their help prompt...   doubt they will care - but at least I feel better.

Think carefully about this... our company ships heavy merchandise - we get large fedex discounts - most customer return requests are "buyers remorse" ...  when they see the cost of shipping they decide to keep item - Prepaid return labels would be both a cost and accounting nightmare for us to track ... our margins on amazon are slim to begin with and this could cause us to leave Amazon - we are a decent 6 figure seller for years - but this is something that could tip the scales away from being profitable.  I doubt we are alone in this.

Regards,  

by: onlinecommerce1

Definitely think Amazon is giving the big FU to 3P sellers. They could care less about sellers. You know there is an issue when 1/3 to 1/2 of the seller forum posts are regarding suspensions, item takedowns, etc. Even in it's worst days with VERO, Ebay was nowhere near this atrocious.

Ebay is FAR more seller friendly than Amazon at this point. You can't even get AMZ customer support to follow their own guidelines. It's sickening. I do wonder why this site is so anti-Ebay still yet seems to turn a blind eye towards Amazon. I get there was some sort of vendetta many years ago.....but why all the spinning of Ebay stuff as bad still. Ebay pissed me off, too, many years ago....however, they have turned it around.  

by: donald

Oh my God, this is horrible. This might not be a problem to some sellers that sell low-value merchandise but is bad when you sell heavy high ticket items like I do.

 When most companies get this big they simply don't care and we shouldn't either. I'm going to slowly be putting my money elsewhere.

by: benscammed

Wow I didn't realize Amazon was so bad. I've had so many ebay selling problems with ''item not as described'' that every fraudulent  buyer uses. Buyers have actually substituted and returned old used items for the new ones I've sold. But Ebay takes this very seriously. I've lost every case.. Back in the day, I never had this problem when Sellers were permitted to give buyers negative feedback. Now, there's no way to warn sellers about fraudulent buyers. But ebay takes this very seriously.  

by: onlinecommerce1

Amazon is that bad.

I've never had anyone return an old item on Ebay....but I do believe they have things in place to deal with this. You do have to realize that with anything....you have to provide them legit evidence that they can actually act upon.

We do get people who lie about returns to get free shipping labels where we have to pay.....but we just deduct that shipping cost from their refund as Ebay permits us to do.