Amazon Returnless Refund feature

[kulture]

Just read this little joke from Amazon

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Dear Seller,

We are excited to announce the launch of a new feature called ‘Returnless Refunds’ available for all self-fulfilled orders in UK and DE Marketplaces.

What is this feature?

‘Returnless Refunds’ allows you to set rules in the return settings within Seller Central such that the customer is automatically issued a refund on an item without having to return it. For such return requests, you do not need to take any action to authorize the return request or issue a refund to the customer – everything happens automatically based on the rules you have set.

How does it work?

To set “Returnless Refunds” rules go to Seller Central > Settings > Return Settings > Returnless Refunds tab. Click on ‘Add New Rule’ button and set your rules. You can add multiple rules at one time and you can edit or remove a rule at any time. All return requests that qualify per the rules set by you will get a returnless refund. The customer will get a message “We are processing your refund. You don’t need to return the item back to us!” The return request will be automatically authorized and refund sent to the customer from your account.

What is the benefit of this feature?

This feature would be useful for you if the cost of return is uneconomical compared to the price of the item, and you prefer that the customer keep the product rather than return it to you at a cost. This is an opt-in feature. It is up to you to set the rules that would qualify a return to receive a returnless refund. You can set rules based on price of the product, reason for return, product category, return window or a combination of the four factors.”

We hope this feature will greatly enhance the customer experience for your orders and reduce your cost of doing business at the same time. To learn more about Returnless Refunds, click here.



Thank you,

The Amazon Marketplace team

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Personally I look on returnless refunds as an invitation to steal from me. Whilst I occasionally refund a customer without a return, I only ever do it after seeing pictures of the item broken in the post. I cannot imagine ever doing this on auto pilot.

Has anyone else taken up Amazon on this "feature"?

 

[alan1302]

Wouldn't want to take them up on their 'offer' but eBay have done the same recently. Seems to be the latest thing - seem an awful idea from a sellers point of view and very open to dodgy buyers.

 

[Mr D]

This is a joke?

Good grief, this facility has been around for years elsewhere.

Makes things easy to run. Certain types of items I don't want the cost of returning.
Here's ebay return policy. Very similar?




To save time when managing return requests, you can set up rules to automatically accept returns or send immediate refunds.

When you sell on eBay, you need to state whether you accept returns or not, and if so, under what conditions. For example, you might include information on who pays for return postage, or that you're willing to accept returns for a specific period of time after a sale. Whatever you decide your policy is, it needs to be clearly specified in your listings.

If your policy is to accept returns, you can set up rules that automate the way that you manage different parts of the return process. For example, you can create rules to:

• Accept some returns automatically, while continuing to process others manually
• Refund the buyer automatically and allow them to keep the item, if the return postage cost is higher than the item's cost
• Provide different return addresses for different items

Handling some returns automatically not only saves you time, it's also great customer service, as the buyer gets their return request sorted out straight away.

Setting your returns rules
Here's how to set your returns rules:

1. Go to your Returns preferences - opens in new window or tab.
2. Under Send a refund, you can choose to let buyers keep the item and automatically refund them if the refund amount is less than a certain amount. Simply enter the amount you're comfortable with.
3. Choose the return reasons when this rule will apply.
4. Under Approve a return, you can choose to automatically approve a return if the total refund cost is less than a certain amount. Enter an amount you're comfortable with.
5. Choose the return reasons when this rule will apply.

Changes to your return rules will automatically apply to all future return requests, but won't apply to returns already in progress.

Creating advance returns rules
You can also create your own advanced return rules - opens in new window or tab. Here's how:

1. From the Select a rule dropdown, choose Send a refund automatically or Approve a refund automatically.
2. Fill in the total refund amount(s) and the return reasons.
3. Create a list of items the rule applies to.
4. Select the applicable selling categories.
5. Give your rule a name and then select Save and turn on.

 

[Mr D]

Wouldn't want to take them up on their 'offer' but eBay have done the same recently. Seems to be the latest thing - seem an awful idea from a sellers point of view and very open to dodgy buyers.

Depends on the seller.
It probably only saves a few minutes a year currently, maybe in a few years it will save me several hours a year.

I used to have a certain range of items, the one item in the range had a known problem that I padded best I could for transit but with sufficient shaking of parcel would shear off part of the item. Stress point in construction, not my design so I couldn't correct.
Around 1 in 10 was damaged in transit so that item had return rules that meant I simply refunded when told about damage. It was always the same damage and I'd get 4 or 5 of those a day reported.

 

[kulture]

It is not the automation of returns I have a problem with. I accept all return requests and am happy to automate that part. It is the idea of automatically refunding regardless. Not bothering about getting the item back. It is a recipe for giving stock away. There are times when I DECIDE to not bother getting them to return the item, there are times I pay the return postage. There are times I INSIST on them returning the item AND THEM paying the return postage. It all depends on what they say and how they say it.

 

[Mr D]

It is not the automation of returns I have a problem with. I accept all return requests and am happy to automate that part. It is the idea of automatically refunding regardless. Not bothering about getting the item back. It is a recipe for giving stock away. There are times when I DECIDE to not bother getting them to return the item, there are times I pay the return postage. There are times I INSIST on them returning the item AND THEM paying the return postage. It all depends on what they say and how they say it.

So automation will not work with your processes.

 

[Ian J]

Personally I look on returnless refunds as an invitation to steal from me. Whilst I occasionally refund a customer without a return, I only ever do it after seeing pictures of the item broken in the post. I cannot imagine ever doing this on auto pilot.

There is no doubt that many dishonest people will take advantage of it but it has it's uses for the more honest of us.

This Christmas I bought a wooden block with three slits in it to accommodate miniature cricket bats. This cost me £18 and none of my six autographed miniature cricket bats will fit in it. The seller told me to return it but that entails driving into the town centre to the Post Office which will be a round trip of a couple of hours which I don't have time to do before Christmas.

The outdoor rope lights that I bought a couple of years ago failed this December after just one day so I ordered another set via Amazon. Having put them up I tried to plug it in but the plug wouldn't fit. These cost me £14 and again I was promised a refund if they were returned so again I will probably just have to bin them and write off the cost

 

[kulture]

The problem is separating the genuine cases from the scammers. In the case where the product has failed, and is not fit for purpose then I can see the need for just a refund and not getting the product back. But there will be times even then when I would pay to get the item back to check it and/or filter out the potential scammers.
To be fair, all the stuff I sell (resin figures) it is either obvious (broken in the post due to excessive poor handling) or the customer has changed their mind for some reason on seeing the product. For the former all I ask for is pictures of the damage, and for the latter I want it back. In either case I would like to discuss the matter individually rather than automated messages.

My concern is that with an automated refund without return basis, then scammers may communicate with each other to keep extracting the money by following the "rules". I wonder if this is likely to be a problem regardless of the processes of a retailer.

 

[Mr D]

The problem is separating the genuine cases from the scammers. In the case where the product has failed, and is not fit for purpose then I can see the need for just a refund and not getting the product back. But there will be times even then when I would pay to get the item back to check it and/or filter out the potential scammers.
To be fair, all the stuff I sell (resin figures) it is either obvious (broken in the post due to excessive poor handling) or the customer has changed their mind for some reason on seeing the product. For the former all I ask for is pictures of the damage, and for the latter I want it back. In either case I would like to discuss the matter individually rather than automated messages.

My concern is that with an automated refund without return basis, then scammers may communicate with each other to keep extracting the money by following the "rules". I wonder if this is likely to be a problem regardless of the processes of a retailer.

Its resin figures I'd be more likely to use rules based returns and refunds.
Certain ones anyway.

 

[alan1302]

There is no doubt that many dishonest people will take advantage of it but it has it's uses for the more honest of us.

If everyone was honest then it would be fine...how do you know if your customer is honest or not though?

 

[Taobao agent]

It is unfair to seller, Amazon is over care about the customers shopping experience on their platform.
My product has been damaged by customers and they returned items, so the goods is unsalable.
I was trying to contact with the seller support to solve this problem.
The answer from seller support is nothing we can do.

 

[Mr D]

It is unfair to seller, Amazon is over care about the customers shopping experience on their platform.
My product has been damaged by customers and they returned items, so the goods is unsalable.
I was trying to contact with the seller support to solve this problem.
The answer from seller support is nothing we can do.

What would you expect seller support to do?
Its between you and buyer.

 

[Taobao agent]

What would you expect seller support to do?
It's between you and the buyer.

It's really hard to fix this issue with buyers, Amazon is overprotecting customers.

 

[Mr D]

It's really hard to fix this issue with buyers, Amazon is overprotecting customers.

Buyer focused organisation that has proven to be very successful is overprotecting customers?

Then find a way around Amazon. They set the rules only for their site.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Corrected version...

Dear Seller,

We are excited to announce the launch of a new feature called ‘Returnless Refunds’ - the reason we are excited is because our customers will love us ... & it costs us jack sh1t - it's your loss!

Thank you for selling on Amazon.