Amazon weakens A-to-Z Guarantee protection for sellers
Every day, it seems, Amazon does something to make it harder to make an honest buck selling books. Yesterday the company revised its A-to-Z Guarantee, making it much more likely that sellers will forfeit funds when buyers claim nondelivery -- even if tracking shows the book was delivered!The bottom line is this: If your buyer is a scammer, they're going to get your money and your merchandise, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it.
Amazon posted the new policy on its "Seller Success" board last night. Here's the first part that gives me heartburn:
... If tracking information does not show expected delivery in a reasonable timeframe, the claim will be granted and the seller will be held liable. This will apply to packages lost in transit as well."does not show expected delivery in a reasonable timeframe"? What the heck does that mean? Invariably, when customers complain about delivery, the book has been sent via Media Mail, and the Postal Service hasn't made a Delivery Confirmation scan since the time of shipment (and often, they didn't bother to scan it then either).
But here's the part of Amazon's new policy that's simply unbelievable: If tracking/Delivery Confirmation shows the item was delivered and the buyer claims nonreceipt, sellers can still be held liable:
If no receipt is confirmed, the seller may still be held liable for lack of fulfillment -- Amazon will not cover service errors, including loss, theft, or postal/shipping issues.Yet again, Amazon has made major policy changes to its selling agreements with no apparent consultation with sellers or consideration of the consequences.
Here's the full statement from Amazon.
What do you think about this new policy? Feel free to leave a comment here, then don't forget to give Bezos and company an earful.
Labels: A to Z Guarantee
posted by Steve Weber at 6/12/2007
8 Comments:
Unbelievable is right! I've only been selling on Amazon for a little over a year, but in that short time, Amazon has more than amply demonstrated its disdain for its third party sellers. This is just one more in a long line of examples. Someone commented on the AZ seller boards that Amazon has been turned over to its accountants. It sure seems that way, with the constant changes that support AZ's bottom line to the exclusion of everything (and everyone) else. Here's hoping that some healthy competition comes along to give Amazon a run for its money. I bet we'd see a lot of AZ Marketplace booksellers bailing.
I think it is yet another ploy to push us into FBA, kicking and screaming. After all, in FBA all the shipping issues are handled by Amazon.
From what I understand, FBA is not going well. Looks like adoptions are slow, and I saw some ramblings on the boards that some early adopters are getting out. There were also some reports that Amazon is using straw buyers to boost ratings of FBA sellers, which apparently took a beating.
What will be interesting to see is when the FBA program goes under,which it will, and sellers having to pay to get their inventory back.
This is ridiculous. I was at receiving end of this policy about a month ago when buyer claimed that she never received item despite tracking # evidence. Claim was decided against me and I was surprised. I guess, they implemented this policy first and then declaration. I guess with this there is NO meaning of A-Z policy. If buyer states item was not received, just give them refund and encourage theft and cheating.
This policy change is all the more ridiculous because Amazon's own HELP section says: "For future orders, you may want to consider obtaining delivery confirmation and/or insurance from your shipping carrier if you are concerned about absorbing the cost of a lost shipment"
Eeeeegads!
I quit!!! I started selling in October of 06 and I am finished. Amazon just keeps making it harder and harder for us to make money. I feel like I am working for them, not for myself. Ebay is the same. They keep jacking up fees and that coupled with rising shipping costs it makes it really hard for small time sellers to make any money for themselves. I think they are all greedy!!! Like drup dealers they start small and before you know it they are taking everything they can get out of you.
I have already sent Amazon an email of disgust on this. See if they kick me off the site. This is so unfair to us. I wish I did not have to do business with them. I have been slowly taking my business to other places. I am so sick of the penny sellers on Amazon. I cannot deal with refunding people that I shipped a book to knowing that it was received. I wonder what the legal issues are here. I smell lawsuits Amazon. I think I will be the 1st. I do not care if they refund a $2.00 book under this policy. I think I will sue them over it just because I can. Here's another idea. What if we were all to order things from Amazon and then claim they never arrived? How would Amazon like it? Or do they hold these rules only to us and exempt themselves? We should all eventually group together and form our own booksellers union to fight Amazon (POWER IN NUMBERS). Start our own book site and dump Amazon. It can be done.
In 2 and 1/2 years selling books, I have only had one A to Z claim, which the buyer said she erroneously filed before contacting me for a refund b/c she didn't know how to let me know she wanted to return the item. All was resolved amicably and, with excellent customer service a priority of mine, I've never had an unhappy customer. I accept returns, no questions asked, and offer refunds for anyone who is disatisfied for any reason.
I have used Delivery Confirmation for all shipments, have only had one buyer claim she didn't receive an item even though the tracking indicated otherwise (and I believed her b/c she was at a Catholic University and the mail system there was awful -- I talked to the mail room supervisor myself).
I insure all items that are valued over $30 (thru Endicia the expense is about 75 cents). I figure if something gets lost, and Amazon doesn't want to cover the claim, I am covered by the insurance. I write off the insurance expenses with my taxes each year.
I don't like to assume the worst about my buyers -- I don't assume any one is out there to scam me, and if it happens it will be one in a very large number of other honest buyers. While I see everyone's ire is up about Amazon's change to the A to Z policy, I have to believe that the percentage of our sales that would ever fall under A to Z is quite small, and I don't rely on Amazon to back me up -- I do it myself.
Amazon has afforded me an excellent platform to start and run a small business from my home. I may not make a mint, but I enjoy it and am grateful for the large number of buyers that Amazon's name recognition has brought into my "store". I realize there are more and more constraints, but I still can't imagine where else we could have the customer base that Amazon provides (aside from eBay, which seems to continually raise fees).
Perhaps I am the lone positive voice here, but I thought I would point out the other side...
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