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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

#121

Post by gryzzly »

Maarius wrote: post #75
gryzzly wrote: post #30

In Germany, there is a law that anything (I’m sure there are exceptions) sold online can be returned in the 30 days after delivery. So Amazon or not, companies must allow this anyway. Also some non-Amazon online stores offer "returnless refunds" for some items or just ship a new one to you in case of damaged item. Apart from forcing the vendors to pay for retouring the new policy is similar to German regulations and…

Are you sure it is not 14 days? https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/So-funktioniert-der-Inter...

Nope, stand corrected. I suppose some other non-Amazon vendors offer 30 days as an extension! Or maybe some types of products?

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

#122

Post by losteverything »

xchefhatx wrote: post #80

Last year I made a little over $500k GROSS selling games on Amazon. This policy change is going to be a nightmare because fraud and bootlegging are rampant on their platform. Small businesses and large ones too are being forced to become sharecroppers for Amazon if they want to stay in business.

The article mentioned sites sellers complain on. Do u read post to any? Which ones

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

#123

Post by stordoff »

cfn wrote: post #73
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…

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.

FWIW, the A-Z guarantee would have covered this:

> Your request meets one of our A-to-z Guarantee conditions below: [...] You want to return an item internationally and the Seller does not (1) provide a return address within the UK, (2) provide a pre-paid return label, or (3) offer a full refund without requesting the item be returned.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeI...

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

#124

Post by TallGuyShort »

fenwick67 wrote: post #6

> 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 would imagine they'll require some basic proof. There are plenty of things it just doesn't make sense to ship back because they can't resell them - they'll just dispose of them like you do. It isn't flawless (neither is the current system - you can always damage the product and claim it was like that when you opened the box) - but it just makes sense sometimes.

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

#125

Post by fnj »

Sleeep wrote: post #112
fnj wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Show me such a law.

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

#126

Post by chaostheory »

msq wrote: post #97
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.

Always talk to Amazon customer support if the independent seller is making a fuss about warranty or return.

Did this myself. Didn't help. All it did was add to the frustration and anger.

I'm glad Amazon changed their policy.

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

#127

Post by javajosh »

xiaoma wrote: post #90
javajosh wrote: post #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), showi…

> "About 2 years ago I sold an item through the marketplace, shipped through Amazon, and at 30 days the buyer requested to return. I ignored him, and then... (blah blah blah) I haven't used Amazon to buy or sell anything since" So it sounds like buying on Amazon is great way to avoid merchants who ignore support requests. Thanks for the info.

There was nothing illegal or immoral about ignoring a request I wasn't going to accept. It was after 30 days and his window for returning had closed.

Certainly I wouldn't do business with someone like you who feels that fraud is justified when some arbitrary condition you place on the other party isn't satisfied to your liking.

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

#128

Post by [deleted] »

xiaoma wrote: post #90
javajosh wrote: post #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), showi…

> "About 2 years ago I sold an item through the marketplace, shipped through Amazon, and at 30 days the buyer requested to return. I ignored him, and then... (blah blah blah) I haven't used Amazon to buy or sell anything since" So it sounds like buying on Amazon is great way to avoid merchants who ignore support requests. Thanks for the info.

[deleted]

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

#129

Post by notfromhere »

Karunamon wrote: post #82
Leader2light wrote: post #36

eBay needs to reduce seller costs and they will take over with buying it now prices. Also no tax.

eBay is already tremendously hostile to sellers before the fees. Can't leave feedback for buyers, a refund policy via PayPal that seems tailor made to allow scam buyers to get free stuff, and so forth. Basically it seems like the only thing a buyer can be sanctioned for is simple non-payment.

Also ebay's huge fees make it almost not worth bothering to sell on there.

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

#130

Post by petra »

currymj wrote: post #26
tomduncalf wrote: post #2

From a consumer point of view, this is a good thing. It sucks to have a different experience depending on whether something ships from Amazon or a third party, especially as their easy return policy is one of the main reasons I continue to use Amazon and pay for Prime. I can understand sellers frustration, but to my mind that's the price of having your products featured on Amazon. I've never encountered a third party…

it's a good thing in the short term, but it also feels like an exercise of monopoly power by Amazon, which is going to be bad for consumers in the long run. can a business afford not to be listed on Amazon? in the long term, does Amazon have any interest in listing third parties? at some point I think the answer to both of these questions will be no, and then I'd expect the good customer experience to erode pretty qu…

Amazon is interested in listing 3rd parties: it's useful to have someone else take all of the product risk , while you offer the ideal store for your customers and do all the more low-risk parts like logistics, managing a site, selling low-risk products directly while someone else supply excess demand.
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