Urgent Escalation – Buyer Exploiting Amazon’s Return Policy
Dear Seller Forum Members & Amazon Leadership,
We want to highlight a critical issue regarding buyer fraud and loopholes in Amazon’s return policy, which are causing unfair losses to sellers. Our recent experience exposes a clear case of buyer manipulation, where a customer has abused Amazon’s return and refund policies to obtain free products at the seller’s expense.
### Case Details:
- Order ID 1: 408-1197255-6709107
- Issue: Buyer ordered a pack of 2 towels but returned only 1 towel, which was in poor and unsellable condition. Now,Buyer got refunded and gained one towel.
- Amazon’s Response: Despite clear weigh scale and unpacking video , ATS accepted the partial return, and our SAFE-T claim reimbursement was only INR 99.75, against an actual loss of INR 322.54.
- Buyer’s Suspicious Behavior: Immediately after we received the return, the same buyer placed another order (Order ID: 402-9666786-6338727) for a different combo, which included the same towel she returned earlier. We are forced to ship the order, due to pending response from internal team even we submitted for suspicious order
- This proves the buyer’s intention of exploiting the return policy for personal gain.
### Critical Questions for Amazon:
1. Why does Amazon allow buyers to return only part of a product while keeping the rest?
- Is there a policy that allows this? If so, sellers must be informed.
2. Why was our SAFE-T claim reimbursement so low, despite clear proof of fraud?
- Sellers are already paying refund commissions on returns. Why should we bear losses caused by fraudulent buyers?
3. What action will Amazon take against such buyers?
- If a buyer consistently returns used or partial products, shouldn't Amazon flag their account for fraud prevention?
This is a serious policy loophole that encourages buyers to misuse the system while sellers suffer financial losses. We demand a review of this case and immediate action to prevent such exploitation in the future.
We urge fellow sellers to share similar experiences and request Amazon’s leadership to take a firm stand against such fraudulent activities.
Best Regards,
Basil House Team
@Noor_Amazon_ @Adam_Amazon_
Urgent Escalation – Buyer Exploiting Amazon’s Return Policy
Dear Seller Forum Members & Amazon Leadership,
We want to highlight a critical issue regarding buyer fraud and loopholes in Amazon’s return policy, which are causing unfair losses to sellers. Our recent experience exposes a clear case of buyer manipulation, where a customer has abused Amazon’s return and refund policies to obtain free products at the seller’s expense.
### Case Details:
- Order ID 1: 408-1197255-6709107
- Issue: Buyer ordered a pack of 2 towels but returned only 1 towel, which was in poor and unsellable condition. Now,Buyer got refunded and gained one towel.
- Amazon’s Response: Despite clear weigh scale and unpacking video , ATS accepted the partial return, and our SAFE-T claim reimbursement was only INR 99.75, against an actual loss of INR 322.54.
- Buyer’s Suspicious Behavior: Immediately after we received the return, the same buyer placed another order (Order ID: 402-9666786-6338727) for a different combo, which included the same towel she returned earlier. We are forced to ship the order, due to pending response from internal team even we submitted for suspicious order
- This proves the buyer’s intention of exploiting the return policy for personal gain.
### Critical Questions for Amazon:
1. Why does Amazon allow buyers to return only part of a product while keeping the rest?
- Is there a policy that allows this? If so, sellers must be informed.
2. Why was our SAFE-T claim reimbursement so low, despite clear proof of fraud?
- Sellers are already paying refund commissions on returns. Why should we bear losses caused by fraudulent buyers?
3. What action will Amazon take against such buyers?
- If a buyer consistently returns used or partial products, shouldn't Amazon flag their account for fraud prevention?
This is a serious policy loophole that encourages buyers to misuse the system while sellers suffer financial losses. We demand a review of this case and immediate action to prevent such exploitation in the future.
We urge fellow sellers to share similar experiences and request Amazon’s leadership to take a firm stand against such fraudulent activities.
Best Regards,
Basil House Team
@Noor_Amazon_ @Adam_Amazon_
12 replies
Seller_qhh5EPOkeXHII
These type of frauds happens very often on Amazon platform almost with all the sellers. Epecially when product has 3/4/5 pieces Customer return 1 or 2 pieces less only, dont know who in between stole our product pieces.
Amazon has made on its own theory of Full refund to customers but only limited percentage % of cost of product to sellers. This practice too is fraudulant in its own way.
Seller_gghlQ4LCiWYb2
We are also facing the same frauds in which amazon delivery team and all are involved. Shameful people are not taking any action against fraud people and harassing the sellers
Seller_BEZjSVfwp40bW
there is no point in talking with amazon support. they will simply ask you to raise a safe-t claim. the funny part is, amazon will only refund part of the safe-t claim.
amazon does not have the guts to ban exploiters like these from their platform.
Seller_GQWVXQ7pRMrbB
I has recently shifted to self ship instead of easy ship . This allows seller to accept / reject the customer return request . Also we can partial refund the amount to customer, if the product is not in good condition .
Seller_orBYxdPgJyVYv
AGREE WITH YOU. FOR PAST FEW MONTHS WE ARE ALSO FACING SAME ISSUES. TOO MANY FAKE ORDERS AND RTOS. LOW CLASS THIEF CUSTOMERS WHO ONLY STOLE PRODUCTS. TOO MANY COD ORDERS FROM PAST FEW MONTHS.
Seller_9HPakmCyWbOQe
i do not think hat amazon will take any action against this kind of fraud customer as i have already faced this kind of situation where amazon has refunded money to the customer and the customer has not provided me my product
Seller_RdBxDcxEmOjQq
I think @amazon must start taking returns only when they verify product and quantity are same as shipped. We have also faced same issue in past and it is really frustrating when you are earning less profit just to get more business.
Seller_fTSRwkMn8B3Un
Many marketplaces have implemented mechanism of showing product photo and quantity while accepting returned products from buyer.
This becomes first check against short returns & wrong returns.
Request Amazon to implement and enforce this feature for reducing such cases.
Seller_AzoaPFdoGEVqV
Who should the seller escalate this to? Amazon?
"You tagged community admins in your post. Have you noticed that they saw it and ignored it? This alone shows how little they value sellers on this platform".
These thefts are being carried out by Amazon ATS staff. Since returns are processed under Amazon’s Secure Return Cover with a dedicated QR code, the evidence clearly points to internal staff violating Amazon’s own return policy.
Furthermore, these thefts, returns, and SAFE-T claims appear to be more profitable for Amazon than regular sales. Instead of protecting sellers, Amazon prioritizes ad revenue—pushing sellers to spend more without guaranteeing actual sales.
It’s time to see through this system—selling on this platform is not sustainable unless you are an Amazon insider or selling through their network.
Seller_4ZL7L9BySsOd6
I will suggest to use Self Ship option instead of Easy Ship. This allows seller to accept / reject the customer return request . Also we can partial refund the amount , if the product is in bad condition. This option allows seller to act on return shipments.
