Combating Buyer Fraud: Seller Strategies
Dealing with fraudulent buyer activity is an ongoing challenge that can significantly impact your business. With Prime Day now behind us, it's the perfect time to review strategies for detecting and addressing buyer fraud.
You may have read A Seller’s Guide to Handling ‘Item Not Received’ Claims a few weeks ago. In this post, we'll dive deeper into the steps you can take to protect your inventory and business against abuse. From reporting to protections, we'll cover the key tactics for combating buyer fraud. Let's get started.
First line of defense: When a customer places an order in the Amazon store, Amazon will verify the order and validate the buyer’s payment method and other details. If payment authorization does not succeed or in cases of fraud detection, Amazon will cancel the order.
Amazon is responsible for any payment-related fraud chargebacks, such as stolen credit cards or other payment fraud attempts.
Before initiating a return request, customers are not made aware of which items are offered a Returnless Resolution. Only if all eligibility criteria are met, a customer is offered a Returnless Resolution during the return process.
If you suspect fraud or abuse, report it through Amazon's Report Abuse tool. Include relevant order details, product information, and any supporting documentation. Amazon encourages sellers to report abuse or violations of Amazon's policies and applicable law. All reports are thoroughly investigated. Amazon will take any disciplinary actions appropriate.
To safeguard against fraud:
- Track your orders
- Save all communication with buyers via Buyer-Seller Messages.
- Use Amazon Buy Shipping "Claims Protected" services
- Consider signature confirmation for high-value items to reduce reported lost orders
- Wait to refund until you receive the item back for orders that weren’t granted a refund at first scan
Defense tips:
- Use the provided shipping address to avoid liability for disputes
- Keep shipping records for at least 6 months
- Photograph any discrepancies where applicable to use as evidence in your report
What tips do you have to protect your business against fraud?
Combating Buyer Fraud: Seller Strategies
Dealing with fraudulent buyer activity is an ongoing challenge that can significantly impact your business. With Prime Day now behind us, it's the perfect time to review strategies for detecting and addressing buyer fraud.
You may have read A Seller’s Guide to Handling ‘Item Not Received’ Claims a few weeks ago. In this post, we'll dive deeper into the steps you can take to protect your inventory and business against abuse. From reporting to protections, we'll cover the key tactics for combating buyer fraud. Let's get started.
First line of defense: When a customer places an order in the Amazon store, Amazon will verify the order and validate the buyer’s payment method and other details. If payment authorization does not succeed or in cases of fraud detection, Amazon will cancel the order.
Amazon is responsible for any payment-related fraud chargebacks, such as stolen credit cards or other payment fraud attempts.
Before initiating a return request, customers are not made aware of which items are offered a Returnless Resolution. Only if all eligibility criteria are met, a customer is offered a Returnless Resolution during the return process.
If you suspect fraud or abuse, report it through Amazon's Report Abuse tool. Include relevant order details, product information, and any supporting documentation. Amazon encourages sellers to report abuse or violations of Amazon's policies and applicable law. All reports are thoroughly investigated. Amazon will take any disciplinary actions appropriate.
To safeguard against fraud:
- Track your orders
- Save all communication with buyers via Buyer-Seller Messages.
- Use Amazon Buy Shipping "Claims Protected" services
- Consider signature confirmation for high-value items to reduce reported lost orders
- Wait to refund until you receive the item back for orders that weren’t granted a refund at first scan
Defense tips:
- Use the provided shipping address to avoid liability for disputes
- Keep shipping records for at least 6 months
- Photograph any discrepancies where applicable to use as evidence in your report
What tips do you have to protect your business against fraud?
0 replies
Seller_jvfhuXWiqaKrs
Hi @TaylorR_Amazon! How can sellers protect ourselves from a fraudulent second chargeback, when Amazon doesn't submit any info to the financial institution to support our representation, nor share info about the financial institution with the seller so we can represent the claim on our own?
Seller_jvfhuXWiqaKrs
Hi @TaylorR_Amazon!
We understand that when a buyer chooses "arrived damaged" and initiates a return, we can't charge the buyer restocking fees, because this return code is supposed to mean that the problem is the seller's or shipper's fault. However, fraudulent customers have caught on to this, and are exploiting the "arrived damaged" return code in order to return empty cartons, counterfeits, or materially different products, thereby stealing the original item, knowing there's no recourse for the seller to charge them a restocking fee or file a claim. How can sellers protect ourselves from this fraudulent abuse of "arrived damaged" return policy?
Seller_4zBzdtgCyS9EI
"Amazon will verify the order and validate the buyer’s payment method and other details."
According to what I have seen posted, no, they will NOT EVEN make sure the address is correct, as frequently incomplete addresses are given. Even the most basic postage program can check an entered address against USPS data.
And none of these tips help any seller getting defrauded on a daily basis. Hundreds every day, even by the SAME buyer over and over, reporting it right and left and getting NOTHING.
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
Holy fark! Do you know how your platform works? Do you understand that we have ZERO protection against fraud here? That even if we KNOW the order is fraudulent, we must fulfill it, or face other consequences?
And what's this? "Amazon is responsible for any payment-related fraud chargebacks"?? That makes it sound like we aren't on the hook for some chargebacks, or that we get to interact with the bank to find the chargeback code (or that the customer can't just make a 2nd chargeback that Amazon will not defend).
We have been reporting buyers for a decade ... the problem only gets worse. Amazon is famous for collecting and then ignoring feedback ... we've all been providing feedback in a dozen formats (often at the expense of our workflow), and the platform only gets more seller-hostile over time.
At a minimum, a sane policy -- such as allowing us to deduct the actual value of the damage on a return without limitation, or not granting full refunds for the many returns that come back e.g. "item not described" but with a description that indicates the buyer didn't bother to read the dimensions -- would protect us against fraud, but the platform is not set up with that. Amazon profits from fraudulent sales and from returns, so you've incentivized yourself to do evil.
And this is straight up stoopid if Amazon won't require (or even allow) address validation or customers full/real names: "Use the provided shipping address to avoid liability for disputes". It's also useless when our shipper (the same ones you use, Amazon) restates the address to match the zip to the city or otherwise improve deliverability. A customer can intentionally put in an almost-good-enough address to simultaneously get delivery and claim not delivered. That's fraud. Telling us to give even more money to Amazon (so that we can waste time filing claims that will only mostly follow your own darm rules) in order to be able to deliver to bad addresses is a form of extortion. "That's a nice package you have there ... it would be a pity if something happened to it."
A post from Amazon about protecting ourselves from fraudulent buyers is either 100% clueless or an intentional kick in the teeth. Why do you hate us so? Claiming you love us while beating us over the head with your unlevel, broken platform is not convincing anyone.
Seller_3U37OhOjkVT5E
We can do everything right and the buyer always wins! ALWAYS! Customers lie, lie, lie, and we are told we have to give them the benefit of the doubt! I don't have hours of time to spend fighting this nonsense! Doing that costs me even more than the initial loss! Amazon polices are the worst for sellers!
Seller_VKaD8B0OLgjxe
Thank you for opening this conversation. Like many other sellers, we’ve been hit hard by refund abuse and appreciate Amazon acknowledging the growing problem.
We’ve documented many cases of suspected refund fraud in the last two years, often involving customers who deny receipt despite confirmed delivery—including:
Photo confirmation, GPS-tracked delivery, Direct signature required, and Tracking data from UPS, FedEx, and Amazon Logistics.
In many of these cases, we provided full evidence—yet A-to-Z claims were still granted, and the buyer kept the product at our expense.
📦 Why We Can’t Always Use Amazon Buy Shipping
While Amazon encourages use of Buy Shipping for protection, this isn’t feasible for all sellers or product types.
We sell large, heavy, or oversized items, and Buy Shipping rates are often double or triple our negotiated commercial carrier rates. If we used Amazon’s labels across all orders, we’d be forced to raise prices significantly, making us uncompetitive.
🧾 Common Fraud Patterns We’re Seeing
Across dozens of claims, the patterns are highly consistent:
Late-night messages (often between 2–4 AM U.S. time)
Scripted phrasing, such as:
- “Package says delivered but I never got it”
- “I checked with neighbors, nothing there”
- “I can’t wait anymore, please refund”
- “My plans were ruined”
- “I’m stressed, please help me”
Multiple accounts filing claims minutes apart, Different buyer and ship to name, Shipments going to freight forwarders or business receiving hubs, and No interest in reshipments, only refund requests.
🌐 Growing Concern: Cross-Platform Abuse
We’ve also uncovered a troubling trend:
Sellers from other platforms are using our Amazon listings to fulfill their own sales.
They place orders on Amazon, then file fraudulent “not received” claims to get the items free after reselling them elsewhere.
The behavior pattern, timing, and writing style in many of these messages suggest that many of these bad actors are operating from outside the U.S. The grammar, phrasing, and sentence construction are consistently non-native, reinforcing this belief.
Is Amazon actively working with other marketplaces to stop this type of abuse? Coordinated action across platforms is essential to stop these repeat offenders.
🚫 A-to-Z Policy & Appeal Limitations
Even with Verified delivery, Signature confirmation, and Photos matching the delivery address we’ve had many claims ruled against us. That makes it too easy for dishonest buyers to exploit Amazon’s customer-friendly policies.
Another challenge:
The appeal form dropdown for A-to-Z claims does not include an appropriate option to report suspected fraud, abuse, or coordinated behavior.
This forces sellers to choose vague or unrelated categories, which makes it harder for fraud reporting to be taken seriously or routed to the right team.
🛠 Reporting Limitations
We’ve used the Report Abuse tool—but it has a major limitation:
The character limit is far too short to document complex, multi-order fraud.
We often need to report 10+ linked orders, with detailed timelines, delivery info, and buyer communication. The current system forces us to strip out important context.
✅ What Sellers Need
We respectfully urge Amazon to:
- Expand the character limit or allow file uploads for abuse reporting
- Add fraud-related categories to the A-to-Z appeal dropdown menu
- Offer tools to flag repeat abusers and linked buyer accounts
- Investigate cross-platform refund schemes originating from other marketplaces
- Protect sellers presenting legitimate proof of delivery, regardless of shipping method
Final Thoughts
Fraud is getting more coordinated and sophisticated. We appreciate this post—but the solutions need to match the scale of the problem.
Please continue to keep sellers informed about what Amazon is doing to stop refund abuse, both on and off the platform.
Seller_5ttu1AKpRj26d
never win a return damaged item on amazon platform
yes on ebay
yes on Walmart
yes on shein
Seller_NzEmZKTEdcpPZ
Sorry, @TaylorR_Amazon, that you drew the short straw at your department and had to start this conversation. I hope your leadership will take seller's comments seriously and will start doing something about the fraud issues we are all facing. The issue is there and, as you can see, sellers don't exactly feel that they are supported by Amazon well enough.
My two cents:
-"Amazon is responsible for any payment-related fraud chargebacks, such as stolen credit cards or other payment fraud attempts."
How come Amazon is not taking responsibility for Compliance Chargebacks? That's the dreaded scenario when first chargeback is won, and then a month or so later another chargeback shows up for the same order, but this time with a Reason Code 98, which Amazon now shows as "Compliance chargeback". If you search online, "Compliance chargeback", it says:
"Compliance chargebacks, also known as pre-compliance chargebacks, are disputes between Visa members (banks, processors) regarding rule violations, not direct disputes between a merchant and cardholder. They occur when a member (Amazon in this case) breaks Visa's rules, causing a financial loss to another member, and the violation isn't covered by standard chargeback reason codes".
But the version that Amazon tells to sellers is that "CC issuer decided to raise the chargeback again and this time Amazon doesn't get to participate in the matter, and it's all up to CC issuer/VISA/MC/whatever". Due to zero transparency that Amazon shows during the chargeback, we don't think we are told the truth. Sellers don't get to see any notes/forms that we provided to Amazon by CC issuer / processor. Sellers don't get to see what Amazon submitted (on our behalf) in the chargeback answer. Sellers don't get to see how the order was initially processed and card/charge validated.
If a seller did everything right (shipped on time, used Buy Shipping, delivered at the correct address, correct item), then whatever technical/rules compliance problems that Amazon is having with the processor should in no way affect that seller. Amazon must own its errors, and such chargebacks, even if they are forced onto Amazon, must be covered by Amazon.
-Chargeback workflow is simply broken. You can read about that in the POST I created earlier today.
Other than that, this discussion is more towards newbie sellers, unfortunately, just to cover the basics. Seasoned sellers will not discuss tips how to protect their business against fraud. They don't want to see a workaround their processes posted on Youtube for fraudsters to learn more tricks. In general, sellers here already follow everything mentioned, but they still get to hold the short side of the stick way too often, whether it's an unjust refund, fraudulent/switcheroo/damaged product return, INR claim, chargeback, etc.
-"Track your orders" does nothing. I don't see how that can help to avoid fraud, especially if we use Buy Shipping and Amazon owns the labels and controls package. Even if I see something fishy going on, from the time I submit abuse report to the time someone will look at it, it will be too late. And it's going to be AI looking at it, most likely, not a human. And even if it's a human, it's not like he/she is going to call the UPS/FedEx right away to stop the package.
And, by the way, I did track one of the orders just yesterday with two unsuccessful delivery attempts. I sent a message to the customer, warning him about this. Well, you guessed it: customer opted out from receiving emails. :-)
-Abuse report does nothing for sellers. Again, there is no transparency, as we don't know what Amazon discovered and what was done. It's not like I care what happened to a fraudster. I care about not losing money and inventory. Besides, there were plenty of examples when I would submit abuse reports for other reasons, and Amazon would report no violation was detected, even though any person would see the problem right away by looking at the evidence.
Anyway, please take sellers' comments seriously, please. We all want to minimize fraud.
Seller_yeuiATdKWqTYg
@TaylorR_Amazon
The report abuse page does NOT allow images or any other files to be uploaded. So how exactly are we supposed to submit supporting documentation? This is a major issue with the report abuse system.
Seller_7MkPDfvuAAs55
@TaylorR_AmazonI just got charged an A to Z Claim that counted against my ODR because Amazon issued a return label against the replacement order number and the original return label was never used. Buyer returned item which didn't show on original order return. Without my knowledge Amazon filed a SAFE-T Claim on the original order unreturned item, charged the buyer, then told her to file an A to Z Claim to get a refund for Amazon''s SAFE-T Claim charge. I did EVERYTHING right, used Buy Shipping for original and replacement items, shipped on time, with proof of on time delivery, and STILL was charged for the A to Z Claim because Amazon refused to refund the SAFE-T Claim they filed in error. I had to pay the refund admin fee and was charged for two return labels! So buyers will use every trick in the book and Amazon helps them!
