Shipment stuck in Customs for a week, buyer gets full automatic refund and product still gets delivered
Hi,
We are a new seller have run into an experience that I want to check here what your experiences are with. We sent a shipment internationally, the customer requested express shipment which we used but the shipment was stuck in Customs in the receiving country. As an effect of this it was delivered about a week too late. The shipment tracking information clearly shows the package was in Customs.
The buyer requested a refund as a result of this which we did not approve. The package then was eventually delivered (though late). However we now noticed that Amazon had approved the refund automatically. I emailed seller support and they said there was nothing they could do. We had to reach out to the buyer and ask him/her to contact Amazon customer service and ask them to do a recharge on their card.
Has anyone had a similar experience? If the product is eventually delivered, though a week late because of Customs, is the buyer really entitled to a full refund of both product and shipping costs even if they actually also receive the product?
Seller_ae51e0CJoHqCX
Sorry my answer is not going to be much use but yes I have had similar situations happen, in fact many times in Italy. In the end I just had to suck it up. Amazon will not usually recharge after the order has been refunded and they won’t reimburse you as it shows up late.
One of the pitfalls from dealing in Europe.
Seller_16EevDf4Axaui
In a word, yes, Amazon deem it as a negative experience if a customer has to wait 3 seconds longer for an item after the expected delivery date, even if it has came via a comet that intercepted it en route. Essentially, Amazon tell the customer the item you send will arrive between x and x, based on averages, if it doesn’t, they WILL be entitled to a refund no matter what happens after that.
If the customer does that, they’ll likely be told not to worry about it and keep the refund and the product.
WELCOME TO AMAZON!!
Seller_ICqvJVQurZXgc
Just an aside,
You say the item was stuck in customs for a week did you ensure it was sent duty paid ie nothing to pay then unsure why customs would hold it. If it has not been sent duty paid or ioss then your breaking one of Amazons rules.
Welcome to Amazon.
