Dear Amazon Sellers,
I’m writing to share a troubling experience I had with Amazon’s return policy — one that shows how vulnerable we, as sellers, really are.
A customer recently bought 11 pieces of cable from me and returned them in a damaged condition. I contacted Amazon Support, and they confirmed that the damage was caused by the buyer — not due to shipping, fulfillment, or any fault on my end.
Despite that, Amazon still deducted the product cost from my account, and I was not reimbursed. I asked the support agent if the buyer was charged for damaging the items, and the answer was no. Their policy does not allow for reimbursement in cases of damaged packaging, missing seals, or boxes that differ from the original — even when the customer is clearly at fault.
To make a point, I used a hypothetical example in my chat:
“So if Jeff Bezos starts selling on Amazon, I can buy a $5,000 product from him, return it damaged, and still get my full refund — and Jeff, the seller, eats the loss?”
The agent replied, “Well, you have a point with that.”
This makes it painfully clear:
Buyers can damage products and face no consequences.
Sellers are left to absorb the cost.
Amazon emphasizes customer satisfaction — and we get that. But sellers deserve protection too, especially when buyers misuse the return system.
If you've faced something similar, I’d like to hear your experience. It’s time we speak up and push for fairer policies that don’t penalize honest sellers.
Pinned by community manager