Amazon Sellers Frustrated over Returns Abuse

Is lying about the reason for returning an item in order to get free return-shipping considered returns abuse - and what can sellers do about it? That's what Amazon sellers were debating last month in a thread on the Amazon discussion boards titled, "More Buyers using wrong return reason to avoid return shipping costs." The original poster wrote:

"Seems like more and more "buyer remorse" instances where people want to return an unused item and don't feel like paying the return shipping, so they choose "defective" or "item not as described" reason codes to avoid paying return shipping cost.

"Any good way to deal with this? Report the buyers for return abuse? File Safe-T claims? It's always been an issue.....just seems to be getting worse."

In the thread, an Amazon moderator confirmed that sellers can file a report for returns abuse and, if a refund was submitted, file a SAFE T claim.

Sellers aren't just concerned about the cost of "returns abuse," according to one poster, who wrote: "The return shipping cost isn't the real issue. The bigger concern is how the customer's selected return reason directly impacts your Account Health, NCX rate, and the "frequently returned" badge on your listings. Those metrics can shut listings down and, in some cases, threaten the entire account."

In another thread on the Amazon UK boards on December 2 titled, "Customers dishonesty never fails to shock me," the original poster wrote:

"Last week a customer placed an order for some feeder insects, unfortunately Royal Mail lost the delivery, so he contracted me. I offered him either a full refund or a replacement. He opted to have a replacement sent out, as an apology I informed him I had sent double what he ordered and gave him his new tracking information.

"He then went to Amazon, and claimed a refund throu then despite having received DOUBLE what he paid for.

"As if that wasn't enough... He left me a 1* feedback, claiming I didn't have the items he ordered in stock so he had to get a refund from Amazon.

"I now understand why do many of you opt to refund rather than sending out replacements."

Talk about shocking buyer behavior - in this thread, a seller reported that buyers are now using AI to generate fake images showing damage. A seller replied with this link to a form on Amazon where sellers can report buyer abuse.

Comments (4) | Permalink