There have been several media reports that Amazon in the UK is following the Amazon.com lead when it it comes to low value returns. If this, as an illustration, is to be believed then Amazon is not expecting returns on items with a sales price lower than £10.
Here’s how it works. If you buy an item on Amazon UK, and decide you don’t want it, then it seems that Amazon is just refunding the purchase price and then also telling shoppers to keep the goods. It’s a fairly generic approach and one which may 3P sellers could scarcely be expected to emulate. As far as we can see this is simply applying to goods Amazon itself is selling and not to those of Amazon merchants. (But correct us if your experience is different.) It seems that this has been the approach in the USA for a while and the practice is now coming to the UK.
It seems likely that Amazon is monitoring the situation in the background. We know, for instance, that Amazon will suspend the buying privileges of buyers if it looks that they are making too many have-a-go refund requests in general anyway. We imagine this is a similar situation. If you make too many refund requests then you’ll be dinged.
It seems that Amazon is taking a pragmatic view that taking low value returns, specifically processing and administering them, is just not worth it. It makes more sense to simply refund and let the shopper keep the goods. Doubtless this also offers a halo affect of satisfaction from shoppers.
Have you experienced this situation?
