Refunds on Amazon
The difference between an Amazon refund and other procedures is the entity that controls the outcome of the claim. With most Amazon protocols, the buyer will contact Amazon directly through Amazon Pay.
However, with a return on Amazon, it is the bank that establishes the outcome of the claim.
These types of claims are very specific and can be made for a variety of reasons, the most common being the following:
- Credit card theft. When a person’s card is stolen, he or she can call the bank to dispute charges made on his or her account by someone other than the cardholder.
- The charge is not recognized by the account holder. As with any unrecognized transaction on a bank account, you can call the bank to investigate payments that we do not recognize on the statement.
- The buyer has not received the purchase. When this happens, most people open a standard claim; but in extreme situations, someone may contact the bank to deny the charge to the account.
- The buyer received a damaged or defective product. This is somewhat similar to the last point in that most people will open a standard claim through Amazon. But in some cases, a person may go directly to the bank.
How should we handle returns on Amazon?
We must handle returns on Amazon as soon as possible, otherwise we may suffer future penalties.
Amazon will always contact us by email or through seller central depending on our configuration.
From there we can choose 2 ways of resolution:
Immediate reimbursement
If we decide to take responsibility for the charge, we notify Amazon Pay within 11 days for them to debit the amount from our account, otherwise they will automatically take it out of our Amazon Pay account.
We must keep in mind that we will be losing money if we do not take the time to carefully check what the problem was.
Once we are absolutely sure that the fault is totally unrelated to the buyer, we will not hesitate to refund the buyer as soon as possible.
This can be done in Seller Central through the Chargeback Action Required option.
Dispute chargeback via Amazon Pay
We can dispute the claim through the chargeback claims page in the performance menu in Seller Central.
After this, Amazon will represent our case to the credit card company to seek mediation.
An Amazon investigator will review the information we provide and create supporting documentation to submit to the bank on our behalf.
They will determine who will be responsible for the chargeback. However, in most cases, it is the issuing bank that makes the decision, most of them being final and without the possibility of appeal.
How does Amazon determine liability for reimbursement?
In the case of a return on Amazon, the responsible entity can be either the seller or Amazon, which means that, after reviewing the case, Amazon will determine who is responsible for the return.
It is stated that the seller will not be responsible for returns as long as our transactions comply with all policy requirements.
To ensure us as a seller, we are not responsible for this, we need to comply with the Amazon Pay Customer Service Policy, we will need the following:
- Company or Vendor Account.
- Make sure to submit everything requested by the deadline.
- The transaction in question must be a sale of physical goods. The Payment Protection Policy does not apply to sales of services, digital content or cash equivalents such as gift cards.
- The transaction, as well as our Amazon Pay account, will need to be within the terms of the applicable agreements and policies.
- The chargeback must be labeled by the bank as an Unauthorized Payment; any other label will hold us responsible.
The seller is responsible for the return on Amazon if the claim is due to a defective product or a product that does not conform to the description in the advertisement.
If the chargeback claim is covered by the Payment Protection Policy, Amazon will take care of it. However, we will be required to provide certain documentation and make sure to submit it in time to avoid further problems.
This is some of the information we will need:
- The date of shipment of the item
- Proof of delivery
- The address to which it was shipped
- A tracking number
- The type of product (physical or intangible)
Tips for handling returns on Amazon
Managing a return on Amazon is relatively easy to handle, but it can have a negative effect on our seller rating.
There are different factors in a claim that can impact our numbers.
For this reason, it is always advisable to prepare for such an event by keeping control of all our transactions, as well as taking some precautions such as :
- Be aware of our agreements and policies, they can affect us and we must comply with them.
- Consider returns when creating policies.
- If we have a policy of not accepting returns, we are likely to receive more return claims from Amazon than a normal claim.
- Let’s keep an eye on our product descriptions and make sure we are as clear and thorough as possible.
- Be as accurate as possible to avoid misunderstandings or confusion.
- Easy to follow and enforce return policies so that people don’t feel the need to resolve issues through the bank instead of coming to us for solutions.
- Keep records of all our transactions, shipping dates, tracking numbers and all information that can help us during a claim.
The better the relationship with our customers, the less need they will have to seek outside help.
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