Hi. I have had 2 Returns recently. Both have had prior refunds applied (+ Shipping Costs Added) 1 item came back with an Empty Tube and the other never came back. There was no conversations with the buyers but how do I appeal this and get my money back? Can anyone make suggestions please

Hello

I recently had a customer that, after opening the pack (vitamins for dogs) realised that the product is not suitable for her cat so she contacted me. I agreed to make a refund without her needing to return the item, so I got to the order and clicked the 'Refund Order' button. Then I filled the amount and submitted the request - the message that the refund has been initiated showed up.

I did not receive an email confirming the refund and the customer contacted me a few days later asking if I was going to refund her.

I then contacted Seller Support and they wrote:

"[..] Please be informed that since this is an FBA order you will not be able to refund the buyer form your end. Only the customer support will be able to refund them. [..]".

So, my questions are:

1. Why sellers cannot refund orders out of their own will?

2. Why there was the information that the refund process was initiated when in reality it wasn't?

In my opinion this is bad and Amazon should change this, what you think?

It seems Amazon has introduced something new for returns and deployed it without thorough testing. They have started issuing refunds under "Refund First Scan" without providing any proof—no tracking ID, no carrier information. I have no way of knowing if the customer actually dropped off the item. They advised me to open a SAFE-T case, but I keep getting an error saying my order is not eligible. I also couldn’t resolve the issue with support. Is there a setup available that allows me to process refunds only after I’ve received the returns?