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Amazon Is Banning People For Making Too Many Returns (businessinsider.com)
Amazon -- which for years has maintained the standard for free returns online -- might now ban users for making too many returns. From a report:The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday documented complaints that the e-commerce giant had barred customers who had returned items. Amazon apparently failed to alert the customers that they had returned too many items before the bans. The Journal spoke with two people and cited dozens more online who said they had been barred from Amazon, as well as others who received emails from the company after returning some items. The two people who spoke with The Journal seem to be part of a wave of hundreds of people who were barred from Amazon in late March and early April, as previously reported by Business Insider.
From better articles about this, it appears a large number of the bans were actually people who used returns as part of a fake review scheme. They'd 'buy' something, review it as a 'verified purchase', then return it at the last possible minute to get discounts, freebies or pay outs.
Because if you were buying it in a guitar shop, they would never have refused you to try the pedal first, and a large reason why Amazon is so big is that they want to give the experience of a real store. Ergo, Amazon needs to decide whether they want to continue their success by going further than any other internet sales company or not.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
So 'Free Returns' means 'Infinite number if Free Returns'?
Non-defective returns cost retailers money, retailers are not in the business of loaning out their products.
Obviously, the people banned did not get infinite number of free returns!
The point is that there is no limit discussed in Amazon's terms of service for either their Prime membership OR their Free Returns section. So if there IS a limit, there is a reasonable expectation that customer would be made aware of that limit before they exceed it and get banned for life from Amazon.
That said, Amazon appears to disagree. Here is the termination section of their Prime Membership terms
Termination by Us:
We may terminate your Prime membership at our discretion without notice. If we do so, we will give you a prorated refund based on the number of full months remaining in your membership. However, we will not give any refund for termination related to conduct that we determine, in our discretion, violates these Terms or any applicable law, involves fraud or misuse of the Prime membership, or is harmful to our interests or another user. Our failure to insist upon or enforce your strict compliance with these Terms will not constitute a waiver of any of our rights.
BUT if a retailer wants to advertise that they take no returns
Illegal in the EU for remote-ordered items (everything you buy online and never see in person until you open the package containing it).
Legal for items you buy or pick-up in person.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)