Amazon announced a new return policy that has sellers worried over potential abuse by buyers, who can now request an instant replacement for their purchases.
“If buyers receive an item that is damaged, defective, or different from what they ordered, they may be able to select a free, instant replacement during the returns process,” Amazon announced on Thursday, giving sellers only days to adapt to the new policy that took effect on Monday.
Because the returns go through Amazon’s Prepaid return label program, the company will know if the buyer doesn’t ship a package back to the seller. According to the new policy: “Buyers are required to return the original item within 30 days of receiving the replacement,” and Amazon said sellers would be eligible for automatic reimbursement if buyers fail to do so.
In addition, sellers can file a SAFE-T claim if the buyer returns an original item that was used, damaged, or different from what was sent to them.
Amazon explained in last week’s announcement: “With this change, buyers will have a consistent process for returning products across all our fulfillment options.”
One seller said all of their replacement orders are because the buyer ordered incorrectly and want a different size or different color. Under the new policy, the seller said those customers won’t be satisfied since they’ll receive the same exact item they originally received. “Why not listen to the Amazon Customers and Amazon sellers and just keep it simple: return for a refund,” they asked.
The article says, “sellers can file a SAFE-T claim if the buyer returns an original item that was used, damaged, or different from what was sent to them.”
That is false in my experience.
It is true that Amazon makes that claim, but, in practice, Amazon did not follow its own policy.
It was not possible to file a claim.