Recent changes to Amazon’s return policy appears to have angered some buyers who don’t want to wait 30 days to receive a refund. But in a September TikTok, a former Amazon seller explained why she believed the multinational tech company implemented newer rules: Dishonest customers.
Kiki (@just_ask_kiki), who previously sold phone cases through the site, said she empathizes with customers’ frustrations. Still, she said she understood Amazon’s latest policies because she, too, was tired of “being duped.”
“There’s a consequence for everything, and this is what it is,” Kiki said. As of Friday morning, her clip had amassed more than 74,100 views.
What is Amazon’s new refund policy?
According to one Amazon forum, the company can now take up to 30 days after receiving a returned item to issue customers their refund. Kiki added, too, that customers who return items won’t get their money back until Amazon has inspected the item to determine whether it’s sellable.
According to another post from JungleScout, Amazon will accept returns for unused or damaged projects. If Amazon caused damage to the product, it added, customers will receive reimbursement in exchange for the project return.
It noted, though, that if the customer or shipping carrier caused the damage, Amazon “will not reimburse you, and the product will be marked ‘unsellable.’”
There are other updates to Amazon’s return policies, too. Starting June 1, Amazon introduced a returns processing fee for high-return rate products in all categories, excluding apparel and shoes, to address the operational costs of returns and reduce waste.
Amazon’s old policies had detrimental effects on sellers
Kiki said that she walked away from being an Amazon seller after dealing with dishonest buyers. The content creator, who said she sold low-cost phone cases, noted that she created the designs for her cases, licensed them, had them made at a manufacturer, and would have to pay for shipping from China, among other things.
After receiving her cases, Kiki said she would inspect, package, and box them and then “pay to ship them to Amazon.”
In other words, she was already spending a lot of money. But then certain customers made her experience as a seller even worse.
When customers returned her cases, Kiki said, Amazon would present her with two options: Destroy the case—for free—or have Kiki pay to have the case shipped back to her.
“Obviously, if the case is supposed to be new, I want the case back,” Kiki said. “So I’d have to pay Amazon to ship that case back to me.” But she noted that this was expensive, too. And, it turns out, certain buyers were duping the sellers. Kiki said that when she received allegedly defunct cases back from Amazon, she realized that certain buyers had swapped in their “old, crusty [expletive] cases” for hers.
“So they took my case. They put it on their phone. And they took their case—that was dirty and filthy—put it back in my box and sent it back to Amazon saying they didn’t like my case,” Kiki said. What’s worse, she said, is that “there was no veto process. I just had to take it.”
“I started losing money left and right because people were dishonest,” Kiki said.
How are viewers reacting to the change?
Kiki suggested that she appreciated Amazon’s new return policy.
“I’m tired of being ripped off and there’s no appeal process,” she said. “Not only that, my rating as a seller was being vilified.”
In addition, she guessed that Amazon put these adjusted protocols in place because some bad apples took advantage of its lax return policies.
“When I tell you there’s a consequence for everything. This apparently is Amazon’s consequence. [Jeff Bezos] is not going to let you, who is gaming them, continue to game them and have that come out of Amazon’s pocket.” Kiki guessed, then, that this is “probably why Amazon is clapping back.”
“I know it sucks,” Kiki added, “but this is how it works.”
It seems that, after hearing Kiki’s predicament, users started to understand Amazon’s thinking.
“The anonymity of the internet makes fraud so much worse,” one viewer said. “The deplorable things people do online aligns with this stuff happening. So frustrating.”
“It’s totally fair because people are scamming,” another wrote. “It’s just frustrating as someone who likes to get clothes on Amazon, especially for events. The quick/easy returns made things manageable.”
“I agree with you,” a third person told Kiki. “I know people that would use the product (clothes) then returned it after. That is super messed up.”
To this comment, Kiki replied, “Sooo messed up.”
@just_ask_kiki #fyp #fy #viral ♬ original sound – It’s Kiki!
The Daily Dot reached out to Kiki via TikTok comment and to Amazon by email.
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