Today is the 11th day of the new year, and I just got my 11th INR claim of 2024.
So far Amazon has funded 9 of them, granted 1 because the first scan showing on the tracking is at the buyer’s local post office right before it was delivered 1 day after the ship date, and granted 1 because I didn’t use Amazon’s shipping for that order.
These are a mix of USPS and UPS orders, spread out across the lower 48.
This is pretty ridiculous.
February 1 can’t come soon enough.
But it might not be the end of it.
These are all INR cases, so the closing of the extended return period (this is what I’m assuming you are referring to) won’t have any impact on my issue.
We have as a buyer a number of INR’s that we get. Yes, I said buyer, not seller.
This is due to TBA contractors delivering to the wrong location. Even when our address and the extra instructions show the right location.
At least 80% of the time the Customer Service Rep, insists on providing a full refund or replacement. Even though I argue that this should not be. It is not fair to Amazon or the 3P seller.
Sometimes I give up, sometimes, I take the offer.
The system is set up to encourage INR’s and refunds or replacements.
Any slow down since the 11th?
Just gone one 2 hours ago, so… no not really.
Out of 200,000 orders, that is not bad.
Another last night and another this morning. One was INR, the other was a buyer that sent the item back then opened an AtoZ less than an hour after the item was returned to me.
My AtoZ rate for 2024 is still averaging 1 per day, with a chargeback rate of 1 every 12 days.
I’m pretty effing effed off.
Out of how many orders per year? That seems like a lot, but if it’s out of 1000 orders / day it’s not.
One thing is customers may not account for transit time in getting a refund. If they’re far from you they just think “it’s been a week and I’m still not refunded” and open an A-Z.
It’s one of the reasons Amazon refunds people while the package is in-transit, and then makes an adjustment later if needed. It helps avoid complaints. That also makes people expect a refund shortly after the return is requested. Unfortunately FBM sellers don’t have the ability to handle returns/refunds in the same way as FBA can.
Claim rate slowed down this past week, only 4 in the past 7 days.
26 claims in a month emphatically shatters my previous record.
I am watching several orders as potential INRs.
USPS routes my orders through Nashua 95% of the time. There rest through Middlesex Essex.
In the past week they have been routing through Boston when the weather is bad and there they disappear for days.
I spoke to soon.
27 claims this month.
Must be something in the air. I so rarely get INR’s that it’s not even on the radar. But I am a microscopic seller, and I have had two in January, which percentage wise is crazy high. I sell half my books in Canada, and Canadians are known for our niceness (
). But I think the Amazon buyer culture is spreading here, both of these were Canadian, and of course tracking shows they were delivered. Sigh…
I don’t mind legitimate INR claims, and some of them are legitimate. I have had packages stolen after delivery, packages mis-delivered, it happens. Of course, there is no way to know which INR claims are legitimate and which aren’t.
That said, Feb is off to a strong AtoZ start as well, so it looks like this is the new reality of my job, which I no longer want.
9 days of February, 10 AtoZ claims and 3 chargebacks.
This is really ridiculous.
I thought things were slowing down, then I saw 3 in the last 2 hours. 2 were INR’s because of delayed packages through the USPS where the pickup scan was missing. One because the buyer was too impatient to let their return arrive before demanding a refund.