Amazon has adjusted the Seller response policy for the A-to-z Guarantee
We are making two changes to the A-to-z Guarantee Seller response policy to help in providing customers with a positive and timely post-order experience.
What is changing?
- In the event that a customer files a claim and you have not provided a response to the customer’s contact, we will grant the claim and debit your account.
- We no longer require that you ‘Respond to Amazon,’ when a claim is filed. Our team will review it using the information provided by both you and the customer leading up to that point to make a decision.
To help you avoid any potential or unnecessary A-to-z Guarantee claims, we will continue to ensure that customers either contact you or submit a return request 48 hours prior to being eligible for an A-to-z Guarantee resolution.
If you wish to dispute a claim then we still provide you with 30 calendar days to file an appeal and provide new information for the investigation.
All customer return requests can be found on the Manage Returns page, and all customer contacts in the Buyer-Seller Messaging Service. Learn more about how you can prevent A-to-z Guarantee claimshere.
SEAmod
Hello Sellers,
We recently published this announcement regarding a change to our A-to-z Guarantee Claims policy and saw many responses asking for additional clarity. We’ve picked out some of the most-liked responses to that thread and consolidated their inputs into a few questions that we have answered here.
When customers have a problem with an order sold and shipped by you, they can either go to their account or contact Amazon Customer Service to have their issue resolved. Regardless of the path a customer chooses, they provide us with a reason for their problem, which we then categorize into either an issue with a received item, or an issue with an item that was not received.
For issues with a received item, we require customers to file a Return Request. We direct customers to file a Return Request by routing them to their ‘Your Orders’ page on Amazon.com. For issues with an item that was not received, we require customers to contact you through Buyer-Seller Messaging. A customer cannot file a claim without engaging you through one of these paths first.
If a claim is filed after contacting you, we will first check to see if you provided a response to that relevant contact path. For example, if a customer claims that an item was not received, we will check that you have responded to the customer message via Buyer-Seller Messaging (or marked ‘no response needed’ for scenarios in which the customer just says “thank you”).
Previously, when a claim was filed, we would ask you to represent your claim by providing us with the same information you had already been communicating to the customer - and you ran the risk of having the claim decided against you for not responding to us.
Today, after a claim is filed, if you have already responded to the customer directly, we can gather this information from your emails to the customer. We use that same information to investigate and make a decision on a claim.
If at any time you would like to provide us with information that you were not comfortable sharing with the customer, you can still add correspondence to claims that are ‘Under Review’, and we will take that information into consideration as well. But you are no longer required to do so.
As always, if you disagree with any claim decision, you are encouraged to appeal from your account within 30 days of the decision. We will take into account any new information you have for us.
Amazon
Seller_jZWpyInw8RkYT
Seller_KPpzwlYW3cKvb
This really sounds like Amazon is looking for loop holes in their buy shipping protection.
Yes, you used amazon’s buy shipping and yes, you shipped on time, but you didn’t respond to this customer’s 5th message demanding a refund within 48 hours so you are liable for the claim.
Plus this “In the event that a customer files a claim and you have not provided a response” and this “We no longer require that you ‘Respond to Amazon,’ when a claim is filed.” doesn’t make sense and is poorly worded.
Seller_hoOBaJWt5XW2w
When will a seller’s refund not automatically mean a defect for the seller?!
I cannot repeat strong enough, how many times I’ve come across buyers A-Z for a refund of an item that was supposed (authorized) to be returned, before buyer even shipped it out.
Now seller responds that, “As per the return authorization provided to you last week, we will issue your refund, as the return is received, inspected, and processed.”
Why should that be a defect for the seller, when they refund?
Can the bots & humans not differentiate, between a refund given in response to A-Z VS refund issued in conjunction w/ the return Authorization which was authorized, and waiting to be refunded, way earlier??
Seller_ELJjSx2LreoWs
Amazon is making decisions based on a customer AZ claim without getting the facts from the seller? This is not a step in the right direction in my opinion.
Seller_eZ3qJjvnsBANR
What about when you DO respond to the customer within 48 hours, and even with amazon documenting the dates of when you respond to said customer. But customer claims “they haven’t heard from the seller” what do you do then??
Seller_aS7YWr1zIpFxK
If a customer files an A-Z out of the blue, no previous contact, how are you given proper opportunity to respond? You could only appeal. Not even close to due process.
Seller_BXHkF0elemiSo
This is a highly confusing change.
So…as long as you always respond to customers within 48 hours there can never be a claim? Even if the customer feels his situation hasn’t been resolved? Even if you’ve gone back and forth with the customer multiple times?
Am I understanding this?
Seller_OFwhcBaxkg46g
I not bothered so much by the slight change in policy. It has always been the default position to charge the seller regardless of the circumstances. What I find more annoying is Amazon’s reluctance to abide by their own shipping guarantee. Our A to Z claims are always due to INR and Amazon is supposed to take responsibility for those without demanding an explanation from the seller. It is a matter of record. I have had to create a cut and paste text file containing the Amazon Shipping guarantee policy that I use to respond to Amazon when they charge me for a wayward shipment using their service.
Seller_KwLZ0NmaBEAu2
This change in policy does 2 things:
- pushes more sellers to FBA to avoid A-Z entirely
- Punishes 3p sellers for doing business on Amazon.
Even if you do everything right and follow all policies you will undoubtedly eventually get an A-Z filed against you. Not allowing the seller to state their case to Amazon before a decision being made = an 50% decrease in the already 1% of claims found in favor of the seller.
Time to raise fees again!
Seller_qBOzcw6cBvGrR
@SEAmod, @Chris_Amazon
This news post is confusing for a variety of points all laid out here.
This seems to be a trend with the party/dept writing these news posts about policy.
