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Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

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11–20 of 196 posts

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#11

> Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell. Wow, I can literally just say "I don't like it", and there's a chance they'll literally just give me my money back, but let me keep it?

Anecdotally, they do it for stuff like pillows already, especially cheap ones - it's hard to resell, so they'll eat the cost.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#12

> Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell. Wow, I can literally just say "I don't like it", and there's a chance they'll literally just give me my money back, but let me keep it?

Probably some kind of reputation system prevents this from happening all the time.

Tuft and Needle lets you donate the mattress to a local shelter and get your money back.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#13

> Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell. Wow, I can literally just say "I don't like it", and there's a chance they'll literally just give me my money back, but let me keep it?

I mean, that's how digital refunds work, for the stores that support them. It's not like they need you to reupload the game code you downloaded from their server.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#14
I am perennially amazed at the ire of sellers who build businesses on someone else's platform, and then complain when the purveyor of said platform changes the rules. If you want to get to determine the rules of the game, you have to build your own playing field.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#15

> Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell. Wow, I can literally just say "I don't like it", and there's a chance they'll literally just give me my money back, but let me keep it?

Sure, this is the only possible remedy for some things.

For example, Amazon delivered an item of mine to the wrong address. They refunded me even though I didn't return the item.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#16

> Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell. Wow, I can literally just say "I don't like it", and there's a chance they'll literally just give me my money back, but let me keep it?

Amazon customer support has told me to discard items that've been defective, rather than ship them back, on multiple occasions. There's probably an internal policy about how many of these can be performed by a customer, but it's extremely convenient when they let you.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#17
Yes, this is very consumer friendly on the surface. But remember that Amazon operates is retail arm with little or no profit margin, even with the benefits of scale keeping their costs low. Small businesses don't have the same benefits of scale, and will be forced to close down when their revenue drops below their costs as a result of too many returns.

And that is ultimately bad for consumers.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#18

> Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell. Wow, I can literally just say "I don't like it", and there's a chance they'll literally just give me my money back, but let me keep it?

How many times can you do that before someone flags your account up for review of some sort?

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#20
It is outrageous, but it's not new. About 2 years ago I sold an item through the marketplace, shipped through Amazon, and at +30 days the buyer requested to return (my return policy stated no returns after 30 days). I ignored him, and then he filed a "Did not receive item" complaint with Amazon. They refunded him $250 and billed me $250. I fought it, using email, multiple phone calls (a trial in and of itself), showing them their own records of shipment, etc, the fact that the buyer had initially tried to return the item (and had sent messages to me saying he wanted to return it - implying that he had it).

I haven't used Amazon to buy or sell anything since. And you know what? It's great! I use Discogs (and my local music store!) for music, Alibris (alas, no good local book stores remain) for books, Newegg for electronics. I haven't yet found a great source for ordinary household goods online, but the local Home Depot/Costco/Target have me covered. When they get drone delivery and a good online experience, I'll be stoked.

In truth, I don't think Amazon can really compete within these niches. They get away with it because of an incredible focus on reducing transaction friction, and because they are usually "good enough" in so many categories. My worry is that Amazon will expand their monopoly, and then really start abusing it's customers, and they won't have anywhere to go.

I guess I'm just saying don't wait for them to try and screw you out of $250, give up Amazon for a month, and see how it goes! I think you'll be surprised.

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