Amazon's New Refunds Policy Will 'Crush' Small Businesses, Outraged Sellers Say (cnbc.com)

Amazon sellers are up in arms over a new returns policy that will make it easier for consumers to send back items at the merchant's expense. From a report: Marketplace sellers who ship products from their home, garage or warehouse -- rather than using Amazon's facilities -- were told this week by email that starting Oct. 2, items they sell will be "automatically authorized" for return. That means a buyer will no longer need to contact the seller before sending an item back, and the merchant won't have the opportunity to communicate with the customer. If a consumer is returning an electronic device because it's difficult to use, for example, the seller won't be able to offer help before being forced to pay a refund. "Customers will be able to print a prepaid return shipping label via the Online Return Center instantly," the email said. Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell.

Comments

Easy Guaranteed Returns are why I Use Amazon

[MikeDataLink]

After my return experience with NewEgg where I bought a defective gaming motherboard and took three days of back and forth emails with tech support before finally having to pay for my own return shipping I switched to Amazon. Yes, I'll pay $5 more for that motherboard, but it takes 30 seconds to return it and the replacement will arrive in 24 hours.

Re:Easy Guaranteed Returns are why I Use Amazon

[nospam007]

"i havent gotten anything from them in a while but its always been painless for me. "

For me too. I'm living in the EU and we can return _anything_ for any reason or no reason at all, if bought online.
It's the law.
The return label is included and I can put it in any delivery box nearest to me and the post-office will pick it up there.

This is law in some places

[Anonymous Coward]

Like in the Netherlands where sellers are required to take anything sold online back in 14 days no questions asked and refunds include shipping cost (to get the product to there customer, not back to the seller)

Re:This is law in some places

[bsolar]

The 14 days cancel and return of online purchases no question asked is mandatory in the EU.

Chinese sellers VS eBay and others

[phorm]

This seems to be a big issue with overseas sellers - I point to China because they're the most common - and shipping. My $5-20 item may come with free shipping, but when it arrives and is broken or turns out to be a fake piece of crap, the return cost may end up being more than the value of the item (especially if I want it tracked and within a reasonable time period).

It will crush them

[DogDude]

Amazon is already taking 30% of the sales price PLUS 30% OF SHIPPING. There are very few things that can be sold for enough of a margin to make a profit with costs like that. Unlimited returns will remove any remaining profit from most merchants selling through Amazon.

But hey, who needs profit, right? Just keep selling things below cost, and eventually, you'll make a profit, right?

Re:GTFO

[Oswald McWeany]

ebay is still a big place to sell your products.

As a consumer, I, and many other people, won't touch e-bay with a 10ft pole. Jet on the otherhand, if it had better variety, like maybe even 1/3 of what Amazon has, would be an excellent place to shop.

Re:GTFO

[green1]

yes, and you know why we, as consumers, won't touch e-bay? precisely because it's a haven for these exact sellers who don't care about their customers.

If you won't stand behind your product, e-bay is the perfect place to sell, as the buyers there expect that level (or lack of) support.

If you DO stand behind your product, than continue to sell on Amazon, this change won't affect you.