Large increase in customers sending back used goods
We have been selling on Amazon many years, but we have seen a worrying trend of customers returning used goods and received several orders yesterday which have clearly been used. Any recommendations how to deal with this? These orders are low value under £10 and most normal customers would not return these but as amazon provide prepaid labels our return rate on Amazon is significantly higher than other sites, is it true Amazon expects buyers to have a 10% return rate?
0 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
as per any return - you can hold back the shipping costs and a set percentage for wear and tear
you must upload photos though
Seller_g9A9pMrqcDqa1
Report buyers her https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/abuse-submission/form/buyer-abuse-refund
Could the reason for increased returns be because the buyers were hoping you have a returnless refund option as some sellers do for items under £10? Returness refunds equals free goods for buyers.
As already advised if the returns cannot be resold then a 99% deduction is in order. The buyer could still then open an A-Z but these are usually funded then by Amazon and may or may not impact your metrics.
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
Do be aware, that if the customer is using the reason, not as described etc and not change of mind, they can open an A-Z claim for this kind of thing, if you don’t refund in full.
The reason is important.
Seller_h4PjQAbLrqCt7
Hi Neil thank you for the advice yes customer has put "not as described" as some customers do and is probably more a cultural interpretation of the term. Customer bought 2 ties on the same order and returned one which was clearly used, we did just refund as its so time consuming to deal with. Now they have had a refund for the first tie they have returned the other (at our cost again) for a refund. We will send photo of the item returned and deduct 95% of the refund due to item cannot be resold.
Seller_tRuvBEHDedp4q
As its a tie it will be classed as clothing - as such you have to offer free returns so you cannot withhold the return postage if it was an ordinary return.
If it was returned used and unfit to re-sell then you can try and withhold some of the refund -but you have to decide is it worth the hassle for a few pound.
Oh the joys of online selling
Seller_fRnBF2hUs68UG
The return rates are increasing but we have to keep forking out on postage when sending the items out again and again. The way amazon treat their sellers is disgraceful. My sales are about a 50/50 split with ebay and amazon but can guarantee 9 times out of 10, if I get a customer being an A-hole, its always an amazon customer. They literally have opened the doors to return and refund abuse.
Seller_HuhP221NahSdW
Tricky situation but it was the reason I stopped selling CHristmas Nativity Scenes - amazing how many were returned in January after sitting merrily on the buyers mantlepiece during December!
Seller_AVWpSzlt4hs8y
5% would deactivate your account so better to have think to deal with such situation
Seller_EeJ1yGk01BLHs
There was a time when we simply refunded without question and our returns rate was crazy high. It was obvious that most of the returns were Amazon customers seeking FREE products. Eventually I decided that enough was enough and now I challenge 100% of returns. Our products (cosmetics) are of a very high quality and mostly below £10.00 - I have taken a stand against the thieves and I wish more Amazon sellers would do the same. I don’t get that many A2Z’s and when I do I challenge these as well. I find that I can recognise the honest customers by the way they address their questions and queries and I refund them with apologies and sometimes a freebie as well. Please see a screenshot of our metrics for your interest.
Seller_Yja9oH7DLHk2I
I see the problem here slightly differently.
In my mind if Amazon introduces a policy that adds to the cost of selling then that cost should be passed onto the buyer. If all the additional costs make Amazon a very expensive place to purchase then buyers will start looking elsewhere and Amazon sales will decline.
Amazon would then have to make a decision if the policy is the correct action.
Unfortunately it does not work like that as there is always one seller that does not understand what is going on.