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Fri Apr 21 2023 09:48:08

Are Bad Sellers Exploiting Amazon FBA Refund Policies?

By: Reader

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Dear Ina,
This letter concerns a possible Amazon seller scam which involved the fulfillment by Amazon "service."

In short, I bought a fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) item on Amazon from one of their third-party sellers / Amazon marketplace that was not authentic and was refunded immediately once the return label was scanned at a UPS store. Further details below indicate why I suspect a scam.

The item was marked "Prime," so I knew the item was shipped to an Amazon warehouse so that it might entice buyers. Indeed, it did arrive in an Amazon-branded bubble mailer. I immediately knew it was not authentic. I opened a return, was provided a return label, and took it to the UPS store. I saw the refund had been applied when I came home.

This seller has been around for years on Amazon and eBay. On Amazon, they have items shipped to Amazon warehouses (Prime, FBA), but also some items are shipped directly from their location. I believe they've also had a brick & mortar store for years.

I have seen negative feedback for Amazon sellers removed with a message stating the order was fulfilled by Amazon, so they take responsibility. The feedback is still readable, even though it has strike-through the words. Ironically, I notice many times this feedback is well-deserved, but I believe the seller has it removed due to some FBA privilege.

I am not a seller on Amazon, but I suspect there are privileges FBA sellers get. I suspect the item I returned due to not matching the description did not take the refund money from the seller, but from Amazon. 

The item cost $75. Normally, it sells for $200. I believe the seller buys lots and resells the items. Those which are problematic or not authentic get shipped to an Amazon warehouse and sold cheap. A buyer buys it and gets refunded, while this seller keeps their money because of some FBA privilege. Again, this is my speculation about this situation, since I don't sell on Amazon.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated,
Eric

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Readers Comments

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by: redcyclone02 This user has validated their user name.

Fri Apr 21 10:24:01 2023

Not sure if agree with OP's rationale on this.  

As a long time Amazon sellers, I can tell you if you create a return for inauthentic item or have any of those words in seller or product feedback, Amazon will hit you with an Product Authenticity complaint & the seller will have to provide invoices / receipts to prove what they are selling is an authentic product.

There can be multiple ways you received an inauthentic product & it has nothing to do with what the seller sent to FBA.  1) If a product is returned to Amazon that was sold via FBA, the returning customer can easily do a switch-a-roo with a product (happens more than you think).  The return process with Amazon FBA is terrible for sellers -> it can get put back into sellable inventory very easy and the seller has no way to know or stop it. 2) The Amazon seller could have what's called commingled FBA inventory. This is where the seller sends in their inventory to FBA but it's put in with everyone else inventory, including Amz & other sellers. Basically think of it as the item gets thrown into a big bin all together.  When it's time to fulfill the order, the picker takes any item out of the bin & may not be the actual unit sent in by the seller you purchased from. If a different seller sends in an inauthentic unit, it can get sent out for your order. This is actually the default setting for Amazon FBA so unless the seller turns it off, this will happen with their inventory.  Amazon prefers this method since they don't have to move inventory around the country & is faster to shipping to customers. We have commingled FBA inventory turned off for this very reason.

While I do believe some sellers know how to game the FBA strike through feedback process, I would doubt a long time Amazon seller with brick & mortar store would purposely send in inauthentic product to game the feedback system.  The 2 reason highlighted above are more likely why you received the product you did from Amazon FBA.

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by: Fruitylovesyou This user has validated their user name.

Fri Apr 21 22:28:32 2023

I think you've been shopping on eBay too long to know about amazon.

As an Amazon buyer i can say that they credit you many ways (immediate, courtesy until returned, upon  return) based on what you communicate to them. Sometimes I've sent a picture after my call,  sometimes they check something maybe check the sellers the stock..it varies. How they credit or expedite a credit isn't a reasonable data point to determine whether its Amazon footing the bill. Businesses especially corporations have some type of reserves but they also have relationships with Other businesses... who provide them I guess the best example is indemnification.. Like insurance they can tap into.

Amazon prime is it.  You say entice like  prime is nefarious or something..no I think you as a buyer receive big benefits.  In all honesty I have never spent alot of detail about whether any of the marketplaces clawed the money back from the seller because I don't care. that sounds so ebayesque If I buy something and I feel cheated then i want my money back. I msg the seller and if we can't work something out then I do a formal. Game over.

With all the detail you gave I am curious what you bought in general and when you say not authentic and not as described you're not saying counterfeit.. So what was it?

Prices always change. Just because it retails for xyz price doesn't mean because its a flash price its sketchy.  If you do cost averaging then you can sell lots of thing on the cheap which makes retailers really irked!!!! Mix of fba and non is to save on fees.  I wanted this particular brand of shoes and the size and color wasn't fba.. Only the ugly Bigfoot colors were. Lol

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by: Fruitylovesyou This user has validated their user name.

Fri Apr 21 22:33:11 2023

EBay and Amazon are 2 different beasts altogether.  Even when eBay does their FBA they just are never gonna be what amazon is. I love shopping on Amazon  

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by: NYSteve This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 24 11:02:26 2023

wow! 'not a seller on Amazon', but you have the free time to speculate on things like this? maybe you should try to sell a few things on Amazon and learn 1st hand...

"while this seller keeps their money because of some FBA privilege"

NO, Amazon does not reimburse returns out of their own pocket, are you kidding?
they make gazillions by pinching pennies from nearly every American, they're going to reimburse a seller's return...rotfl

fyi, i stopped selling on FBA when my (total) commissions hit 40%, not to mention all the BUYER privileges  

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by: Fruitylovesyou This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 24 22:23:31 2023

Wow NY that is huge amount of loot! I sometimes try to negotiate with sellers, only if I'm wanting to buy alot of items at once though and then through their website. I am a thrifter at heart. I usually try to fill the box or go cheapest ship or ask them if theyre open to anything but by then I'm already a repeat buyer.. Many of them are nice to me and give me a discount.  Then there's the others...lol

I don't know why I'm talking to you about this lol

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by: NYSteve This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 24 22:26:49 2023

@Fruity- you can actually correspond with sellers before you make a purchase on Amazon? i know how difficult it is to communicate with buyers- many of whom think they are 'buying directly from Amazon'

E and E are much better at buyer- seller communication, but still not great
(esp those sellers from china pretending to be in the USA-  lol)

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by: CT Bay This user has validated their user name.

Tue Apr 25 05:57:36 2023

@Fruity

EBay did their FBA in 2012-13 and it went over like a turd in a punch bowl. They let people send in garbage for free and it got overrun with crap.



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