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

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

#111

Post by Tomte »

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #69
richthegeek wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I really am amazed how few consumer protections you seem to have! In the UK we're protected on two levels: firstly the "Distance Selling Regulation" means we have the right to cancel many contracts/purchases made not-in-person within 14 days of delivery. And secondly, if a good is faulty, not as described, or unfit for purpose then we have a right to a refund under those terms also. Probably because of these alr…

Similiar in Germany.

Of course, the Directive is a EU Directive.

Whether the UK will keep those protections is something we'll see.

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

#112

Post by Sleeep »

fnj wrote: post #102
jorvi wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not do a chargeback on your creditcard (or raise a PayPal claim)? The law is very clear, if an item is faulty or not as described the seller is on the hook for all costs. This includes return shipping and/or sending you a replacement. A lot of sellers will try to strong-arm you but if you just do the chargeback/claim they have no option but to eat the loss. Creditcard companies and PayPal thankfully nearly always…

> Why not do a chargeback Do you really think "I bought something sight unseen and now I don't like it, waah" gets you special snowflake protection? There is no hint that the item is faulty or not as described.

If that's the law then yes?

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

#113

Post by fnj »

neo4sure wrote: post #99
settsu wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the disappointment and frustration here, but choosing to be out $90 for something that will never be used—vs. recouping some money and having the offending item gone—seems like a questionable decision.

Please read carefully, it will never be used because it was not as advertised"

> it was not as advertised

I read carefully, and did not see anything to suggest the item was not as advertised. I saw someone complain that they did not like various aspects. Absent an explicit money-back guarantee of satisfaction, I see no reason why the vendor should have to cater to every buyer's demand.

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

#114

Post by holydude »

I am a big fan of internet platforms and everything but I just do not see a value in online shopping for physical goods. Sure it might be a good thing for shopping "disposable/every day use stuff" but why would I be buying something like a cooking pan (as someone mentioned) online ? If you know the cooking pan you want then yeah i agree amazong might be the most convenient thing but for stuff like that I just want to see them first and maybe I might buy other related stuff if I see it goes well together.

And I am telling you all this as a person that hates shopping in person.

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

#115

Post by macintux »

dgfgfdagasdfgfa wrote: post #84
qznc wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they should create an "Amazon Sellers Association" or something like that?

Well, they can go to jet.com instead. It's not like Amazon is without competition.

You say that, yet I'd never heard of jet.com.

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

#116

Post by theonemind »

hak8or wrote: post #92
jorvi wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not do a chargeback on your creditcard (or raise a PayPal claim)? The law is very clear, if an item is faulty or not as described the seller is on the hook for all costs. This includes return shipping and/or sending you a replacement. A lot of sellers will try to strong-arm you but if you just do the chargeback/claim they have no option but to eat the loss. Creditcard companies and PayPal thankfully nearly always…

In Europe, for some sad reason credit cards are very rarely used and many stores don't accept them. Not to mention, if you do a charge back against a store like Walmart or Amazon, you won't be able to shop there anymore because they will ban you.

Have you ever gotten banned somewhere for a chargeback? I haven't that I know of. But, then, I never reach that point with anyone I've ever wanted to do any more business with, so maybe I got banned without noticing.

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

#117

Post by 7952 »

jorvi wrote: post #85
cfn wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be that as it may, I had a similar experience with an independent seller at Amazon UK. I bought a pan that arrived with a small defect and they told me I would have to pay the postage back (25 Euros on a £30 or £40 pan - I was buying from abroad). I also ended up keeping the pan and now avoid independent sellers as much as possible.

Why not do a chargeback on your creditcard (or raise a PayPal claim)? The law is very clear, if an item is faulty or not as described the seller is on the hook for all costs. This includes return shipping and/or sending you a replacement. A lot of sellers will try to strong-arm you but if you just do the chargeback/claim they have no option but to eat the loss. Creditcard companies and PayPal thankfully nearly always…

I bought a device through an Amazon seller. It developed a fault after 10 months, within the warrenty period. The seller told me to return it, but then after I sent it they would not answer emails. After three months with no contact I started complaining. In the end Amazon told me they could do nothing and recommended I perform a chargeback!

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

#118

Post by dminor »

sxates wrote: post #60

Anecdotal experience buying on Amazon recently: Bought a new induction cooking pan. A nice one at $90. Didn't really pay much attention to who was selling it, just bought it like I do everything else from Amazon. It took about two weeks to arrive because it was from an independent seller, and was not 'Prime eligible'. When it arrived, I took it out of the box and was immediately disappointed. It was really heavy, and…

As you found from looking into the costs of return shipping, "free" shipping can actually cost a retailer quite a bit of their margin. They are attempting to remain price competitive by not pricing in the cost of returns. Amazon has a massive advantage here over small retailers because their shipping costs are much lower due to their scale.

These sorts of shipping policies used to be the norm, until Amazon realized that people value free shipping more than an equivalent discount.

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

#119

Post by dspillett »

Sleeep wrote: post #89
nonamechicken wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, recently I received a different color item than what I ordered. Since I didn't want to go through the hassle of returning, I asked them to refund the price difference. They refused to do that and asked me to return. The refund would have been cheaper than returning and shipping a new one.

The two colors were different prices?

This is often the case with fashion and/or sports items, the more popular colour combinations costing more.

Running shoes for instance: when I was last buying a pair of trail trainers the brightly coloured version of the shoe I currently prefer was being offered considerably cheaper than the all-black-except-high-vis-strips version. This was from the same sellers too, it wasn't due to the listing offering items from multiple outlets as is sometimes the case.

I would have preferred the darker version but I'm perfectly happy not to care about colour to save a bit of cash to spend on something else, but if I had paid the extra, as someone buying a fashion item to match an overall look might well do, and not got that version anyway I'd be expecting a cost-free replacement.

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

#120

Post by throwanem »

jorvi wrote: post #85
cfn wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be that as it may, I had a similar experience with an independent seller at Amazon UK. I bought a pan that arrived with a small defect and they told me I would have to pay the postage back (25 Euros on a £30 or £40 pan - I was buying from abroad). I also ended up keeping the pan and now avoid independent sellers as much as possible.

Why not do a chargeback on your creditcard (or raise a PayPal claim)? The law is very clear, if an item is faulty or not as described the seller is on the hook for all costs. This includes return shipping and/or sending you a replacement. A lot of sellers will try to strong-arm you but if you just do the chargeback/claim they have no option but to eat the loss. Creditcard companies and PayPal thankfully nearly always…

I'd be a little thoughtful about filing a chargeback against Amazon - businesses do have considerable latitude in their choice of response beyond the immediate situation. For example, Steam's been known to permanently disable accounts in response to chargebacks, which means that even though you probably get your money back for the one game you had a problem with, you're still out everything else.
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