Appealing Order Defect Rate and Buy Box Eligibility

#1

Hello Fellow Sellers and Amazon Support,

I had an order damaged by UPS during shipping and when my customer received the item it was not in the same condition that I sent it out as.

I contacted Seller Support and they told me to close the case and open up an A-Z claim. Seller support told me that Amazon will refund the item and it won’t count against my metrics.

The buyer won the A-Z claim (I can’t blame her) and she was refunded with my current balance. Also my ODR (order Defect rate) was affected.

Because of this, my Buy Box Eligibility for Merchant Fulfilled items has completely disappeared.

I appealed the case to Amazon but they have been unresponsive.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

I can still sell on Amazon. However not being Buy Box Eligible is killing me. How can I get my ODR down?

Sincerely

Timothy

#2

I am sorry to hear that you fell for the “I did what the Amazon Rep told me” trap. You are not the first, you will not be the last, and for everyone who falls for this trap, we are all as upset as you are.

The ODR will fall off and your metrics will rebound. If this is the actual reason you have lost BB eligibility, you will get it back in time.

As for what you should have done instead of what Seller Support told you, You should have told the buyer to open a return and sent the item back for a refund. This is an issue between you and UPS, and the buyer should not be involved. Once you have the item back, refund the buyer and then deal with UPS on your own.

#3

It’s too late for that, they have the item and the money now.

Thank you

And for the ODR Metrics, is there anything in my power I can do to change that? Or should I just change to FBA until the ODR gets back to normal (the ODR affects only Merchant listings).

#4

Yes, the advice was for next time. There is nothing you can do to undo what has already happened on this order.

Your ODR will go down if you make more sales, but that is harder without the BB. Otherwise, AtoZ claims stay on your metrics for I believe 60 days, so they will fall off in less than 2 months and your metrics will bounce back.

As for whether or not FBA is the answer, it gets around the metrics issue, but FBA is a landmine that takes research and experience to navigate safely. It might be worth it or it might not, there are many factors that go into this determination.

#5

So should I just not sell on Amazon for the next 60 days?

This is terrible D:

#6

Timothy_s_Toys_and_G

No you should still maintain your offers, and hopefully the amount of offers will dilute the defect, and maybe you will get the buy box…

You might want to also expand your e-commerce opportunities elsewhere, where you might get more sales…

But you want to keep the same pricing you have on Amazon, because that also will devalue your Amazon offerings…

Stuff happens…

#7

What do you mean by devalue Amazon offerings?

#8

Timothy_s_Toys_and_G

Amazon does this little thing where they search the internet for comprable pricing…

And you don’t want to get stuck, not getting the buy box --because you have bad pricing you’ve done elsewhere…

I’m not sure if they call it price parity…

So let’s say that somebody is dumping a bunch of products on the internet, that are the same as yours…

You might not get the buy box…

Until you start racing to the bottom price wise…

Good luck I can’t help you anymore…

#9

You might want to read the below announcement, and possibly the thread attached to it…