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Unfair A-to-Z Claim Impacting ODR Despite No Seller Fault
Hello Sellers and Amazon Team,
I would like to bring attention to a highly unfair A-to-Z Guarantee claim that has been counted against our Order Defect Rate, despite zero fault or delay on our part.
Order ID: 702-2352128-6245023
Claim Date: March 24, 2025
Refund Issued: March 25, 2025 (less than 24 hours after return was received)
Claim Reason: “Different from what I ordered”
Buyer Comment: “Item was too small”
Key facts:
1. The customer claimed the item was “different,” yet their comment stated it was “too small.” This is a personal preference issue, not a seller fault or misdescription.
2. The product shipped was exactly what was listed, in model, size, and description.
3. We responded to the buyer promptly and even provided a free return label, though the return was not our responsibility per Amazon’s policies.
4. We received the return and processed the full refund within the same day.
5. As a goodwill gesture, we also offered to reimburse return shipping even though we were not obligated to do so.
Despite all of this, the claim was auto-closed and negatively affected our ODR simply because the buyer submitted the claim before the return was delivered — not because of any delay or error from us.
We contacted Seller Support with a detailed explanation and asked for the decision to be reviewed, but the response was generic and dismissive, failing to consider the facts of the case.
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We urge Amazon to implement a fair case-by-case review process before impacting seller metrics. Punishing sellers for situations outside their control, especially when they follow all policies and go above and beyond, is demotivating and unjust.
If any moderators or experienced sellers have advice on how to escalate this further or trigger a manual review, your input would be greatly appreciated.
Best.
1 reply
Seller_IQo80d99W2DzP
If you need a MOD, you need to tag them, eg: @Ezra_Amazon
Although, I will say lately, very few responses from MOD's. It would be good if a generic 'catch all' MOD's tag was set up. In addition, if any MOD's have read and cannmot do anything, to at least say noted, etc.
= =
Anyway, Have you used the official Appeal process?
SS are always useless, but may pass on info to A-Z Claims (if you are lucky).
It seems if any interaction with a Buyer, that counts from then to allow an A-Z Claim to be raised, rather than allowing 2 days from the last email, or 2 days from when the item was received back.
In the Appeal include a JPG Photo, of screenshots compiled, showing the online courier tracking when delivered back to you.
Never refund if an A-Z Claim is raised, as that admits guilt, always appeal, and then if they tell you to refund, do so, if that is ok. Stupidly it counts against you as guilty if you refund the Buyer, even if a partial refund was due, unless A-Z tell you to action that way.
Screenshot again to show Buyer chose the wrong reason to return and that they showed the real reason of Too small (screenshots seem to be great as then Amazon staff do not have to do any work looking things up)
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