Do you allow customers to return after 30 days? I'm worried about receiving a 1 star review or A to Z claim.

Selling on Amazon
,
1

Hi,

I have a buyer who direct messaged me asking if I could sell her my product at $60 instead of $69 (the listing price). I gave her a link of other similar product that sells for $75 and politely explained to her that my price was already affordable and I planed to slowly raise it to $75 to match with the market price. She bought one item on Feb 6, 2023. It was shipped to California. Never in a million years that I had a buyer trying to haggle online. So I googled the strange name on the order. It’s a name of a female India lady. Today I received a message from her again saying that the product doesn’t perform to her satisfaction. She knew that it was already over 30 days but she still wanted to return.

What should I do? It’s already over 30 days. Two things that I’m concerned:
(1) Receiving a 1 star review from her. This product only has 200 reviews with rating 4.7
(2) A to Z claim. I never received one and don’t know much about it but I’ve heard it’s pretty bad to receive one.
What’s the worst case scenario that could happen?

I would like to find a compromised solution to not make her angry and also not to get cheated by her. What would you do if you were me? Please advise. Thanks.

1 Like
2

First never search your customers online, it’s creepy, violates the ASBSA § 3, and is immaterial.

You have two choices, authorize a refund in the hopes she goes away, or just hope she goes away.

The A-Z window should have expired (so shouldn’t be an issue), don’t worry about the review (you can’t control it and a full refund is no guarantee preventative, the old bat might feel you clicked the button rudely). The only consideration is do you want this to go away (in which case authorize the refund and click “no response necessary” button. Or do you really want the money more (in which case respond with an apology, that the return window has expired and thank them for being a valued customer (This does not guarantee that the customer will not file a charge dispute with their card issuer).

In the future, consider not responding to customer messages of this nature (use that beautiful, no response and/or report button). Every experienced Seller could have advised that the initial “Give me a better deal” missive was a huge red flag. Your response indicated two things, that you weren’t a bot and that you gave a {fill in the excrement blank with appropriate four letter French word}. This makes you an easy mark for this type of grifter excuse me, I meant to say customer.

3 Likes
3

I agree with SawleMill. Everything about that first contact screams – don’t engage.

Never try to explain or justify your pricing. Never.

You might decide to view her first contact date as the time-frame to judge if you are going to allow return for refund.

4 Likes
4

Thank you for your reply. Glad to know that it’s already over the A to Z limit claim. I think it’s 90 days.

What does this mean? Sorry for my limited knowledge.

I’m thinking along this line. Since she likes to haggle. I’m considering asking for the photos and return the item at her own expense to me (which would cost half of the product price already) and hopefully she would go away. Worst case, she gives a star review.

Yes thank you. You’re right. I was too stupid and eager to perform a good customer service. Lesson learned.

Sorry I only wanted to learn about the nationality of this kind of behavior. It’s not possible to get to her personally from only first name. It’s like the name Jose is a Spanish descendant name.

Hahaha XD appreciate your sense of humor :grin:

1 Like
5

You’re right.

Since she likes to haggle. I’m considering asking for the photos and return the item at her own expense to me (which would cost half of the product price already) and hopefully she would go away.

6

That is a little offensive, actually. She may not have been a good person, but don’t pin that on a whole nationality.

4 Likes
7

That’s not bad.

8

This was a mistake. Buyers will ask for discounts sometimes, and it’s a business decision on your part if you want to give it to them or not. Either way, the answer is, “sure, we have refunded you the difference, thanks for your business” or " we regret that we cannot offer a discount on this item. We appreciate your business." No other answer is really appropriate, and any other answer invites an escalating vortex of soul-sucking doom. There is no good outcome, so don’t.

I agree with the previous posts that this is both not a good idea and sort of useless. The only time I look up a customer is if I am having a problem with a shipping address and I want to make sure that the given address makes sense before I ship something.

The risk of a 1 star review on the item over this complaint seems fairly low. The greater risk would be negative feedback on your account.
Every order has the possibility of resulting in bad feedback. Unless it’s your first hundred orders or so, I am a strong advocate of doing what you need to take care of your business. Living in constant fear of negative feedback is bad for your business and your health. If you think the best business decision is to take the item back, then take it back. Otherwise, don’t let the worry of potential negative feedback drive you into giving away free money.

AtoZ claims can be opened for up to 90 days, just like feedback, so this might be a risk. However, the buyer opening a claim isn’t the end of the world, and your metrics only take a hit if you lose the claim. In this case the odds of you winning the claim would be pretty good since the buyer doesn’t really have anything to file a claim for.

How you handle each AtoZ depends on the claim reason the buyer used. If they open a claim for INR, for example, then you focus strictly on the issue of tracking and delivery, regardless of what other complaints the buyer may have made. Assuming you used Amazon’s shipping and the tracking shows a scan proving you shipped on time, you should win INR claims.

In this case, the buyer has limited options to open a claim, and you should be able to defend all of them. Unless you didn’t use Amazon’s shipping, you can defend INR claims as the buyer clearly has the item. The buyer never opened a return request so they can’t make any claims about you not refunding. In short, I don’t think there is much danger from a potential AtoZ claim.

Unfortunately, that ship may have sailed when you answered her about how other sellers were selling for more and you were going to raise your price. Regardless, the choice you have now is to:

A) give the buyer a label to send the item back and a full refund, thereby doing everything you can to try to make the buyer happy,
B) tell the buyer to send the item back at their expense and then refund based on the condition of the returned item, which might sound like a reasonable compromise but in my experience will just upset the buyer further because you aren’t giving free returns and a full refund, or
C) tell the buyer that Amazon’s return window of 30 days for returns has passed and you can no longer accept the return.

Considering the previous interactions with this buyer, I would choose option C simply to end the issue before it gets any worse.

9 Likes
9

Nicely put.

The important thing to remember in such situations…

They don’t care about your side. They don’t actually pay the slightest attention to what you say. They may approve of capitalism in theory – just not on their transaction. Making any profit on their transaction is immoral.

It’s like kids who switch from arguing about being allowed to do something to wanting to know why. They don’t want to know why – they just want a new arguing point.

Experienced parents don’t engage.

1 Like
10

I wouldn’t it all but guarantees losing a charge dispute.

11

Thank you for your reply. Yes I’m only worry about the product review because it only has 200 reviews. I’m a long time seller and have over 10K seller feedback review. One 1 star wouldn’t make any different.

Thanks for another confirmation on this. You’re correct that this is FBA which Amazon packed and shipped the item.

Agree with your wise advice. I also believe that C is the best option.

12

OH!
If this is FBA, then tell them to talk to Amazon Customer Support. This just got very easy.
Dear valued customer,
Your order was placed through the Fulfilled By Amazon program, which means that we only provide Amazon product, and that Amazon handles all shipping and customer service related issues including returns and refunds. To inquire about returning this item for a refund, please contact Amazon Customer Support, as only they can assist you with FBA orders.

Thank you,
ETC.

End.

3 Likes
13

Bookworm, you nailed it!

14

Thank you for the template. Wouldn’t Amazon give a refund no matter what (even after 30 days)?

15

No. If the return window has closed, Amazon won’t allow a return unless the buyer claims the item is defective, and even then only if they can bully a customer service rep into opening the return for them, as they will not be able to do so themselves. If they do bully a return out of a gormless rep and then actually return something, you can open a claim requesting reimbursement. These claims are annoying and don’t always work, but they are another layer of protection you have to fight against buyers trying to take advantage of you.

3 Likes
16

Ah, thanks for the info of what could happen. Ok I’ll use your template to route her to Amazon customer service. That’s best option. Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

17

When I first started selling I remember someone telling me, something to the effect of… If a customer’s first interaction with you is to ask you to compromise on your fair price, nothing good will follow.

2 Likes
18

Like it or not there are cultural issues that can come about due to where people came from.

I teach EMTs and Paramedics and we have a whole chapter on cultural “complications” which is a nice way of saying in some cultures no man other than the husband can touch a woman and men will have no respect for a female provider.

1 Like
19

That may be true, but what the OP was doing is different, IMO. It has nothing to do with trying to understand another culture. Most of the time, when someone does this, white gets a pass, everyone else = see how bad they are.

BTW, no matter what your understanding of the culture, I’m sure they did not teach you to avoid saving the woman because she might be from that culture.

1 Like
20

Or the I ordered it yesterday and I want it tomorrow. Sure for $55. No blinking on my end…she says express mail is $26? I said my time and gas is with something too because I have stop everything and take care of this. Shall I cancel? She said yes. I said no problem.