It’s all in the reply template for an INR. We try to incorporate as much of the instructions that Amazon gives on the buyer side to the buyer on what to do when the shipment hasn’t arrived. Then we cover our butt by telling them to wait 72 hours after contacting us. Then finally, if the customer has done all the things that Amazon asked them to do and they have waited the 72 hours … at that point they may qualify for an A to Z claim and to contact Amazon.
Doing the above, we haven’t had an issue with either the customer or Amazon.
To be fair, there’s good reason why a pretty-solid consensus of so many of the seasoned & savvy forum veterans has for so long recommended prefacing B-SM replies, for queries like these, with something along these lines: “You are welcome to return your purchased item for a refund…” before proceeding to instruct the member of the Amazon Buyer Community to open an A-to-z Claim for the Order ID in question.
Amazon undoubtedly took note of that - after all, there still exist replies, now-hosted in the NSFE, from ASF moderators applauding that same practice, that were originally created back in the Q1, 2012 - Q1, 2018 “Age of Jive” and the subsequent ‘OSFE’ of Q1, 2018 - Q1, 2023 (the “Age of Discourse”); similar even-older posts from earlier iterations of the Amazon Seller Forums are now mostly n/l/a…unless they’re archived.
I suspect it could be true that some TPTB sharpie, looking to move up the food-chain (and/or keep the bite @ the teat flowing in these days of yet another round of layoffs/firings) might well have proposed a ‘solution,’ redounding to Amazon’s coffers, designed to once again mitigate the ever-flowing wounds - inflicted upon its own bottom line & our’s alike first & foremost, methinks, by the ¼-century now-passed it’s spent accommodating disreputable, dishonest, & even downright-dastardly Buyer Community behaviour in pursuit of its Customer-centric policies - from Amazon’s pockets to ours.
Haven’t run across any more of these outmoded recommendations to post a public reply to a Product Review, as of yet, but I’ll be surprised if we don’t see this again.
I wonder what @Veeqo_Official/@VeeqoMatt* - and/or the Amazon OGC (“Office of the General Counsel”), itself - would have to say about Billy’s latest GenAI/LLM-generated crapola (emphasis mine in the "Recommendations for future orders: " ¶):
Now, it must be admitted that Amazon is always changing things to suit its own purpose(s), so it’s entirely possible that Billy ain’t spouting sheer nonsense in contravention to long-published policy, but rather has insider information regarding some recent internally-visible change in that realm that’s yet to come fully to light - but given the evidence I can currently command, I suspect I’m smellin’ something foul…
*
Matt Warren, CEO and Founder of Veeqo (link, NSFE Profile), used the forum handle “VeeqoOfficial” back in the OSFE days, when the same Discourse Platform software suite which supports the SAS/SellersAskSellers Forum today was still being used to host the ASF (“Amazon Seller Forums”); his NSFE handle is currently “VeeqoMatt” (it has changed @ least once, as did the OSFE handle, by my own reckoning, so it’ll not surprise me if it changes again - Amazon has quite a penchant for both mixing & changing nomenclature @ the mere drop of this or that hat).
You are making the unwarranted assumption that Amazon policy is actually clear. In a large number of situations, I’ve seen Amazon policy quoted that directly contradicts other stated policies; and even more often, what actually goes on (for example, how many times does “policy” mention “Debit Cards”, even though we all know that they are almost never accepted).
Of course, this does not preclude the very real possibility that the mods are ignorant robots talking out of their A**
Or perhaps even the possibility of using one to provide information for crafting a reply, as would appear to be the case with a recent post.
Replicating the same mistake made earlier by Josh (Post # 340) & Aria (Post # 348), Kam’s 040626 post here indicates that s/he/it labours under the misapprehension that 3P Sellers can still post public responses to Product Reviews (emphasis mine):
Looks like the mods are, in some cases, not even trying to read for comprehension, as Sky seems to’ve been guilty of with this 041726 reply to a 3-month old NSFE discussion about the ongoing phenomenon of “Unexpected Units” with FBA Inbound Shipments.
On 040336, a 3P Seller revived the months-old discussion to ask the OP if any resolution had been found (emphasis mine):
It should, since it’s basically just an API integration to purchase the Buy Shipping labels. I’m fairly certain the reps are wrong and ignorant.
Full disclosure, I don’t use Veeqo.
We’ve heard your questions about who we are and how we can help, so we wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves and clarify our role in the Seller Forums.
Who We Are
We’re a global team of Community Managers dedicated to supporting sellers like
you across all Amazon marketplaces. You’ll see us responding to threads, sharing helpful resources, and working behind the scenes to make your selling experience better.
What We Do
Think of us as a bridge between you and Amazon’s business teams. Here’s how we support the community:
Track and moderate discussions across the forums to keep conversations helpful and on-topic
Respond to seller-created threads with guidance, resources, and clarification
Observe trends in seller feedback and share insights with internal Amazon teams
Escalate stuck issues when standard support channels haven’t resolved your problem
Important to know: While we can help escalate issues, we don’t always have direct access to unblock every problem. We work with the appropriate teams to get you the help you need.
How to get Category Expert Help
You’ve probably noticed certain Community Managers showing up in specific categories—and you’re right to notice! Our CMs have specialized expertise, which is why it’s so important to post your question in the right category. You can hover over the categories to see examples of topics.
No need to tag or mention a Community Manager directly. Once you post in the correct category, the category expert will review your thread.
How You Can Help Us Help You
If you’re posting about a specific account issue, please include your case ID in your thread. This allows us to investigate quickly and accurately, and connect with the right teams on your behalf.
We’d Love to Hear From You
We’re curious about your experience with our team:
Have you noticed that some Community Managers specialize in certain categories? Which CMs have you seen more active in specific areas like FBA, Account Health, or Listings?
Do you follow any of our Community Manager profiles? If so, have they helped you with a specific issue? What category did you post in?
We’re here to support you and make the Seller Forums a valuable resource for your business. Thank you for being part o this community!
Aye; that’s why we continue to see such insipid folderol as Aria’s 042426 post here (emphasis mine):
Is it really too much to ask that Amazonians are competently trained on how the systems actually work?
I’ve been a Systems & Solutions Engineer - in basest terms, a troubleshooter - for a ½-century passed; long centuries, and more, before that it was true that if one wanted to diagnose a malfunction in order to effect a fix, the proper prerequisites began with a thorough understanding of said systems Theory of Operation.
It can’t be gainsaid that such proprieties are often given but short shrift by many corporate conglomerates, governmental entities, and the like, to be sure, but Amazon seems particularly egregious in its shortfall(s) on this score - leading to members of the FMT-CMT (human or otherwise) continuing to make such fundamentally-wretched mistakes as failing to understand the difference between Product Reviews & Seller Feedback.
Inconsistency, unfortunately, has long been one of Amazon’s hallmarks.
As our friend @oneida_books (among others) has pointed out over the years, there aresome instances where Amazon will accept Retail Receipts for Supply Chain Provenance documentation, perhaps most-recently in this 032225 SAS post (link) to your now-closed “Letter of Authorization” thread.
Over the years, mentions of the acceptability of receipts, in various of the published policies have come and gone and come again, often enough with little if any easily-discernible obvious motivation for such changes.
Manny made an interesting 050626 post which I believe demonstrates some evidence of such inconsistency (emphasismine):
To my way of thinking, a good deal of the ‘art’ for Selling on Amazon rests upon an ability to navigate the pitfalls found in this or that inconsistency.
Who We Are
What We Do
How to get Category Expert Help
How You Can Help Us Help You
We’d Love to Hear From You
