If you are an Amazon shopper in the United States, you must be very happy with their service and generous return policy, especially when you buy items shipped and sold by Amazon. Basically, we can return items without explanation as long as they were purchased within 30 days. They even pay for return shipping if your received item is defective or doesn’t match the description.
However, it doesn’t mean that you can abuse the system and use it as a try-out/rental service. The Seattle-based company has tightened the policy and over the last few years, a lot of Amazon accounts have been suspended when users request refunds excessively and there is no way to appeal the decision. So, what is the return limit and how to avoid being banned by Amazon?
Why Amazon Bans Accounts for Returns?
The National Retail Federation highlights that retailers face losses exceeding $800 billion due to merchandise returns, a figure that’s on the rise annually. Amazon incurs billions in losses each year because of their return policies. If you return items excessively, it might jeopardize your membership. Amazon makes it easy and free to make the returns; You can either mail them back or drop off at Whole Foods, Kohl’s or a UPS Store. It’s not even mandatory for the item to be in its original packaging.
However, the process becomes more complex if your purchase comes from a third-party seller on Amazon. Each of these sellers has their return policies. While you might be eligible for a refund within a month, return shipping fees might be on you. Retailers, on average, anticipate nearly 18% of their merchandise will be returned for various reasons. Retailers offer product returns and exchanges to enhance the shopping experience for customers, but these policies can prove to be financially burdensome. The high costs associated with product returns include shipping, inventory processing, and other miscellaneous expenses.
What’s the return limit? When will Amazon ban your account?
Amazon is collecting data of all your transactions and they will stop doing business with you when they lose money. Till now, no one knows the exact return limit. In my case, I shop a lot on Amazon in the last 5 years, I sign up for Prime membership, and spend around $1200 per month on the site. I buy almost everything on the site, from cheap products like groceries, books, toilet paper to expensive laptops and electronics. That means I also return more when they don’t meet my expectation. In the last 2 months, I returned 2-3 items each month and the value of refunded items was higher than the value of what I kept. That’s the reason why I received a warning from Amazon:
“We’re writing to apologize for the number of issues you’ve experienced with your shipments. Your correspondences with us indicate you’ve required refunds on a majority of orders for a number of reasons.”
They also said that I had an unusually high rate of problems and they will evaluate each account on a case-by-case basis and might close my account if necessary. Fortunately, this is just a warning and Amazon want to work with me to avoid the worst case. They recommended to comply with Amazon policies or both of Amazon buying and selling accounts will be banned.
I tried to access my order history on the website but it failed to log in or redirected me to the digital content library. Fortunately, I managed to check my orders in the Amazon app on my phone. In the last 6 months, I ordered 104 items and returned 18 items, so the rate of return is approximately 17% of the total number of purchased items. Besides, the total value of returned items is just over 10% of total purchases.
On the Returns Center page, Amazon mentions that they send full refund for new, unopened items sold and fulfilled by Amazon within 30 days. Many of the items I returned were no longer in brand new condition, so this might be another reason they decided to penalize my account.
I sent Amazon an email to appeal the decision but they decided not to restore my account and said the decision is final. This is quite surprising because sometimes they sent me the wrong item; For instance, I ordered a snow pant and received an apron.
Read also:
- Amazon Associates Banned my Affiliate Account multiple times, What I did wrong?
- No More Refund for Price Change on Amazon
Update 1: My wife returned a bicycle purchased in her account. Just a few days later, Amazon decided to cancel both of the accounts for not meeting the terms of Conditions of Use agreement. They said I cannot open a new account or use another account to order on the site. All open orders were canceled, I just could access digital content purchased in the account. I had over $100 in my gift card balance and Amazon agreed to send me the refund, I received a check in my mailbox after 1 week.
Update 2: Since my Amazon.com customer account is banned, all other services including Amazon Seller and Amazon Associates accounts were also closed. After contacting the customer service and explaining how I was a valuable member, they investigated and sent me another email welcoming me back to the program. Afterwards, I’ve used the new account for shopping and making money online for a while and haven’t got any problem so far.
“I’m very sorry that I’ve had to close your Associates account with Associate ID because we’ve been told the attached Amazon.com account will be closed within 24 hours. If you should ever wish to reconsider, we’d certainly welcome you back to the program with a different email address. You can apply for a new Associates account anytime. Your unpaid balance due to you will be paid out 60 days following the end of this month. You’ll continue to receive monthly payment reports and occasional announcements regarding tools, and features for up to 60 days after the end of this month. We look forward to seeing you again.“
How to Avoid Being Suspended
When you receive the warning email, you should immediately check your Amazon account to find out unusual account activities. If you return too many items lately, you should have good reasons and don’t forget to take some pictures if the products are defective or different from what you ordered. Then you should reply to [email protected] and explain what went wrong with your orders.
In case you are abusing the system and returning items without legit reasons, you should stop immediately and also send them an email saying you will be more careful buying products in the future. Try to keep the return rate lower than 10%. Some banned users reported that Amazon also terminated their accounts after the return rate overcame 10%, so it is best to keep the rate as low as possible.
After sending them an email, I received a polite response from Amazon and seemingly my account will be alright.
Hello,
Thanks for writing to us and we are sorry for any misunderstandings with the email you received.
We’re concerned about the activity on your account and want to do all that we can to avoid the inconvenience you experience having to make frequent and possibly avoidable returns of the items you purchase from Amazon.com and with any delivery issues with your orders.
We contacted you so we could better understand the activity on your account and learn how to improve your shopping experience.
Your account remains open and available for your use. If you have any concerns regarding your orders, please contact our customer service and they will help you accordingly.
We appreciate your understanding, and hope to see you again soon.
Best regards,
Account Specialist
Many people assumed that online shopping is similar to in-store shopping, which means you could try on items and return in case you are not satisfied. However, their system analyzes your purchase history and will mark your account as “Concession Abuse”. They will stop accepting returns for all of your future orders and if you somehow keep abusing the policy, your account will be permanently suspended.
When initiating a return, you will be asked for the reason such as defective or broken item, exchange for a different size or color, etc. Make sure to answer the question honestly because Amazon will actually examine the return to check its condition. Your account might be flagged if they find out there is nothing wrong with the item.
Besides, you might be in trouble if you order a lot of clothes on Amazon to try on and only keep a few. When shopping for clothes, you should find item eligible for Prime Wardrobe. It is free for Prime members and allows you to try up to 8 items at a time; Then you can keep what fit you and return all others without any penalization.
Another tip is avoiding ordering bulky items like bicycles or furniture from Amazon. They arrive damaged very often and when Amazon accepts the free return, they probably has a loss for this transaction. When this happens repetitively, obviously they wouldn’t want to continue doing business with you.
Last but not least, if you buy an item from a 3rd-party seller (shipped by Amazon) and have an issue with it, try to contact and resolve with the seller first instead of returning it to Amazon. In many cases, the seller might even send you a full refund without item return. This would help you avoid a strike in your account.
In a recent statement, Amazon mentioned that they are forced to close accounts when they detect extreme abuse but it only happens after they carefully review the account and work with the customer over an extended period of time. In early 2023, Amazon started flagging frequently returned items to encourage customers to check out more details and customer reviews before placing the order. The return labels can negatively impact sales, prompting sellers to modify their listings or products to be more accurate. While retailers factor in returns when pricing their products, current economic conditions, such as corporate cutbacks, have resulted in higher return rates, necessitating tighter policies.
Have you got any issue with your Amazon account? Share with us in a comment below.
Disclosure: We might earn commission from qualifying purchases. The commission help keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!
Antonio Perez says
amazon sucks big time they take for ever just to process and ship your order even for prime members that’s why I closed my amazon account and moved to other online stores that ship the same day or at least has a more reasonable time frame, waiting 2 weeks for a computer mouse is just plain ridiculous, amazon being the seller and me being a prime member, it never been a payment method delay it has always been amazon slow shipping department, they also don’t accept any by pal because pay by pal will only pay after they sent the order, what I did to them to showed them how I protested, I cancel every order after not being shipped after 3 days, I got mad because I had many orders not being shipped even after the order was made a week ago, I personally moved on, amazon was good but they ruined, amazon still good if you don’t mind waiting your entire lifetime for an item, I personally don’t like waiting, I need my item fast that’s why I don’t use amazon any more, amazon if an item arrives damage what you expect people to do, also if you take an eternity maybe the persona change their mind and they don’t want the item any more, all majors store suffers from excessive return, Kmart, Walmart etc, maybe you should close your store that way you won’t get any returns
Steve says
What other stores have free 2-day or same day shipping? Asking for a friend.
Elvira says
This is ridiculous. I order so many things from amazon and I used to get good quality items, now everything that I get is either damaged or defective. And now they are going to ban me for returning a unusable item? No. They are going to loose so much business for this. I have not been banned but after hearing about this will be canceling my membership. This is not how a business should be running, especially when they are the ones sending you damaged products that you payed good money for, then they tell you that you will be banned for returning a damaged item they sent you. This is outrageous. Shame on you amazon.
omega says
So tell us Elvira, is that Amazon membership canceled?
Daniel says
So your canceling your account because you heard that if you return a ton of items it might get canceled. Obviously if you still have an account your not abusing the free return shipping. Or opening those new items and deciding you don’t want it and sending it back costing the seller a ton of money because they can not resell those items as new and mostly likely will sell them at liquidation for pennies on the dollar. As long as your not doing this you will be fine.
Dan says
I noticed recently that there is alot of damaged parcels that get delivered because they have to be Why ?? I dont know the shippers are partly to blame for the damage.. As far as returns I bought clothes which were not sized right, which tells me companys are selln to Amazon miscut or wrong sized products which there dumping on them easy to get away with not brick and mortor any more rememeber you used to try these on first.. Amazon is taking the heat for this. Also third party shippers are small and you pay the return shipping. Amazon should try a return policy of who pays and when. This is huge and theres alot going on. Ask me how I know GUUESS Thank You for your Ear.
Brent says
Bezos reminds me of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Plenty of promises until you read the fine print. These two seem to cheat the American people quite a bit, all while using foreign nations to sell to suckers in the USA.
I would rather buy online from American Factories Online than Amazon. Oh Bring Back the Powerful American Manufacturers, and Robots in them !
Ryan says
Both scumbaags are Jeww-Jewsies …. Remember what “JJesus-CChrist” said to their kind?
“”Hypocrite, Conniving Serpents, Brood of Serpants””
Craig says
Hey Ryan – I’ll bet you never said that face to face with a Jewish person? People like you are cowards. Not a businessman but a veteran and retired law enforcement officer – people like you were easy to identify and get the sht slapped out of them. Punk.
Steve says
Ryan he said it the teachers of the law the Pharisees NOT “the jews’. Go take your meds you clown.
mv says
install a free/an optional insurance for everyone who wants to returned already used item, like post office does it
Harry says
Boo-hoo I got banned from amazon… I might have to actually leave my parents basement now… the world as I know it is over lol
A Bosco says
Forget being banned! They closed my account after I added a $100 gift card that I bought from them! Now they won’t give it back and are basically stealing. When it happens to you, you may feel differently. Bully much?
Amazon Shopper says
If you’re returning 2-3 items a month on Amazon, you’re not a customer worth keeping. Learn to shop properly and quit buying things that you don’t need.
Amazon isn’t here to hold your hand, nor are they going to continue to put up with abuse from customers like yourself. It doesn’t matter ‘how many’ items you buy from Amazon, if you’re sending 2-3 items a month back, you have a problem
STFU says
You’re a moron. If I’m not able to physically see an item’s quality, how then can I know it’s going to be exactly what I’m looking for? The seller’s description you say? Interesting. That’s a very interesting answer. Yes, the seller’s description is the only way to truly know. Until, of course, you receive said item, and it’s not even closely related to how it had been described. You’re right, though. I should do the responsible thing and keep the cheaply made, shitty item that was just sent to me. That way, a multi-billion dollar conglomerate can ensure their bottom lines are being met.
The fact of the matter is this… People abuse the system. There’s no denying it. However, when you send a computer to do your bidding, people that are making honest returns suffer. If you buy a pair of pants that claim they’re 32/30, and when you get them, they’re about 3 sizes too big, what are you going to do? Are you going to keep them? Of course not, because you’re not a complete jackoff. So, take your thumb out of your ass, shut your stupid mouth and stop protecting a money hungry company.
Geronimo says
Exactly!!! Such a waste of product and money and they should ban these idiots that are too stupid to realize they’re just raising prices for everyone else. So wasteful and selfish! These people are leeches
Dick says
Silly comment – firstly the number you return 2-3 is meaningless unless you consider how many items he’s bought.
And he did state 100+ items within 6 months.. so 2-3 is small percentage..
and what if he bought 1000, then 5-19 would be a totally fair amount..
Also its very easy to buy items that just are not good.. how the hell will you know until you see it? No amount of due diligence will cover that.
Nearly every product with reviews has some users stating that the item broke.. or perhaps the colour was slightly different than the picture, or size didnt fit..
Scumazon hater says
You’re a amazon shareholder and a cock sucker. I spend $0-150 a year. It’s usually small cheap items, maybe 3-5 orders per year, some years i don’t shop on amazon at all, so not every year. I don’t give a shit if i have to return 100% of items. Scumazon should tell manufacturers to stop making landfill junk. I can’t feel/see how shoes fit or what fabric quality is. I can’t try clothes and shoes or any of the items before i buy. If Scumazon doesn’t get it, bezos should switch to space exploration or sell ice cream on the street, or shut up. It was some government some agency that made all manufacturers tell sellers to sell at the same price everywhere. Because prices are insanely high on everything now, and are the same everywhere, i prefer to shop locally for items that i can try first, then buy, or don’t. When prices became intolerable, nobody wanted to shop locally, because it’s more convenient to have items delivered than drive around looking for deals that didn’t exist. Many local stores went out of business. Now we’re stuck with Scumazon. Scuamazon wanted to kill competition. Bezos got what he deserves. Deal with it or get out of ecommerce business. You need to shut up and sell your scumazon shares while you still can.
Bosco says
I second that, moron! So if something comes defective over and over you shouldn’t have the right to return?
Bobby says
Aside of scammers…
IF Amazon would do their job and SCREEN their sellers for crappy Out Going Quality issues , then perhaps RETURNS would be decreased Substantially !!!! This goes for EBay Also!!!!!!! Amazon and EBay love their high volume sellers for one reason………. $$$$$$$$$$$, However, Amazon and EBay don’t monitor their big Sellers and do not work with Big Seller to improve their OUT-GOING Quality!!!!!!
Deborah Lewis says
I agree, if an item is defective or not as described when I receive it, I am going to return it, the same way I would if I purchased it at Target or Dillard’s, if you don’t approve returns then don’t offer them and I wont do business with you. I have spent $21,466.00 on Amazon since opening my account and if I were to be banned by following their rules regarding returns then I would say good riddance and take my business elsewhere.
Scumazon hater says
i keep telling scumazon’s customer service but they keep emailing more insulting tone. I spend very little, very few items, once or a few times a year, not every year. some years i don’t go on scumazon site at all or just browse for what’s available on the market and then order elsewhere. Ridiculous. Make a mobile try before you buy truck bus van, i don’t know…. enforce strict quality control for all chinashit manufacturers. Problem partly sold. It’s time consuming to initiate a return, print label, pack, take to ups or other locations. Not only i waste time and money (gas isn’t free, i could be working instead of driving to return shit) to return defective items or when clothes shoes don’t fit, it’s aggravating when chinese crap fails. MOST sellers don’t even list a clear return policy. Only popular overpriced brands like Anker, Aukey, etc have their warranty info listed. Unfortunately their prices cover 18-24 months warranty. They still have high failure rates. What are customers supposed to do when sellers don’t have warranty info listed and don’t reply or cooperate. Customers go after scumazon. Scumazon wants to make THEIR problems OUR problems. Not going to happen. I no longer shop on scumazon but i keep my account active because i post bad reviews for bad products.
Allie says
I have been an Amazon prime member for many years, well over decade. I have returned many clothing items that did not fit, but I have always returned them new with tags and unused. I buy all kinds of things on Amazon, and have never had a problem. One time, I called Amazon and asked about an order where I mistakenly ordered the regular and not sugar free. I asked what if there was anything I could do, since it did not show free returns (the product was pretty heavy – bottles). Amazon refunded the $80 and told me to not return. I gave them to a friend who was not on a sugar-free diet. I only had to return one electronic item that malfunctioned. I have never had a problem with Amazon.
E says
It’s great Amazon worked with you, and one of the things I praise them for. But you bring up a good point about how Amazon is inconsistent in enforcing their own policies.
I recently opened a return for an unopened sunscreen stick, because I misread part of the description. I selected “bought by mistake” as the reason, and fully expected to have to either pay to return myself, or be offered an Amazon return label and have the cost taken out of my refund. Instead, Amazon automatically refunded me without requiring me to ship the item back. Incidentally, they DID want me to ship back the defective lip palm I ordered, which was like 1/3 of the sizes of the stick. Weird they’d want to pay to ship that back but maybe they wanted to inspect it?
Anyway, my point is that Amazon chooses to lose money at times by not enforcing policy, even when a well meaning customer like myself understand and means to comply. So they better not be counting those loses when they decide when to warn/ban accounts.
Really the only time they should be banning accounts is for actual violations of policy, not someone using the benefits they paid for. Even non Prime members shouldn’t be banned if they are following policy. If Amazon is concerned about losing money then they need to fix that on the backed, not go on these ridiculous witch hunts.
Ben says
The return system is incredibly abused, as usual unethical buyers who use the free easy returns, as a way to rent items, or as a try on closet, ruin the return system for buyers and sellers. Ebay at least required the buyer to at least reach out to the seller, before a return.
We sell travel bags, have professional quality pictures, from all angles, and had a increase on returns lately. The reason “we did not like style of garment”
Its not a hat!
I tried reaching out to some customers, I did reach one, she said they bought several bags, and her husband liked a different one, so they sent ours back.
I suspect many buyers are doing the same thing.
We also get a few false defects, all so called defects were inspected by us or Amazon, and were found to be perfect.
The last return said “item defective”, but no comment or reason why it was defective. Its a becoming absurd.
Lynn Ava says
I understand this from all angles but Amazon protects it’s consumers to retain them and are not so concerned with seller expenses. There will always be risk when selling merchandise that someone will either steal, or fraud or want a refund. Retail chains have known this forever and sellers can choose to open a brick and morter store with all the overhead and advertising costs, criminal activity, robberies and potential lack of inventory or sales. People who sell on ebay or Amazon do so to avoid all of that as a trade off for having to hire their own staff, pay benefits, insurance, but cannot evaluate the consumer in person and businesses must learn to skillfully absorb costs while making up for them in other areas. Business is hard or everyone would be doing it! I’ve worked a retail job selling fine jewelry and have seen plenty, you can belive that much, including cooked inside work from loss prevention managers and watching police haul off co workers for cash register fraud or worse.
The only time I had any issue with Amazon is when my significant other’s adult child decided to handle his billing to ‘help’ us then turned around and made fraudulent cashback claims that some charges made on my Amazon account weren’t authorized! To this day he has no idea she did this or doesn’t want to believe it, but Amazon came after me to pay for these items and because I didn’t know what was going on in the backdrop yet I thought they were trying to double dip on me. Naturally I protested as would anyone in a similar situation, but it got to the point where Amazon shut down my account until I paid them. I promised I would, they unlocked the account, I put another credit card on it in my name then said go ahead and charge me for what was less than $100. To us this was mere peanuts to make a rucus over but I continued to insist I’d done nothing wrong whatsoever on principal and let them know the only reason I paid was because my living on an island and being disabled meant I could no longer shop in a normal store and needed to buy all of my food from Amazon or Walmart. Next thing I know they tell me they are sorry for the misunderstanding, didn’t charge anything and life resumed as before but I’m still stunned over what they did, how I was treated and how impossible it was to speak with them directly about the matter. All I had was email back and forth to communicate through and they were some separate entity with no connection to Amazon themselves. I suspect Amazon hires out their billing to an agency and they don’t go near the unwashed masses because the Amazon customer service representatives were the opposite in how they spoke to and treated me. They were like good cops being sympathetic and kind, the billing department was bad cop demanding payment and no excuses. It was horribly upsetting and stressful but so far Amazon as a business has been more than fair and honest and kind toward me other than this one event which was really their billing department going too agressively overboard.
Kc says
This is very similar to what I experienced. Good cop bad cop scenario. One person telling me they may close my account… so I call to cancel my prime and plan to not use Amazon until I have more information on my unusual activity and then the rep tells me it was a misunderstanding and my account is fine now.
thetechguy says
Don’t bother trying to return. When I recieve a faulty product I always make sure to post a bad one or two star review on Amazon, detailing what’s wrong with the product as well as some pictures, and a video on YouTube as proof. When you do that either Amazon or the seller will contact you asking if I would like a refund or a replacement, and if I could take down the bad review.
JC says
And posting honest reviews have gotten me banned from posting reviews without warning. And I am not saying I post bad reviews. I was giving 3-5 star reviews. Amazon just said I violated some guideline with no details. Meanwhile, I’ve spent tons on Amazon. None of the reviews were for free items or discounted items (except when Amazon has a lightning deal on it). Still Amazon gives no reason and then shuts you down.
Scumazon hater says
I tried to post a link to a youtube review in my scumazon review but scumazon removed the link. I don’t think they allow outside links. Maybe different now. I always review bad items. Good items don’t need to be reviewed. There are very few or none of those. Only chinese landfill junk.
Ethical Shopper says
Hi everyone. It has now been s couple of years since I last shopped at Amazon. Do I miss shopping at Amazon, or do I need Amazon in my life. Not really. Reasons why I no longer shop at Amazon are mainly because of Amazon not being honest about their returns policy and stating in their terms and conditions about what possibly could trigger a ban. Secondly a lot of people are receiving used items from Amazon which have been returned, rather than new items as they should be. Thirdly, the way Amazon packs items without proper due care and attention is really bad and this seems to be a continuing trend. Amazon and other similar companies have been allowed to get so big and now they think they can dictate to everybody about what is wrong or right. In the UK, they were featured on a programme called Watchdog with regards to banning customers and they were absolutely arrogant in their reply to Watchdog. Recently they have been in the news for treating their staff really poorly and like robots. Why give your business to a company like this?
Kc says
What do you use instead of Amazon?
Rhonda Friscia says
But just today, Amazon had a banner add for Amazon Wardrobe, which encourages you to order more things and send back what you don’t like.
Andy P. says
Anyone know if you can get banned from returning clothes ir shoes through Amazon Prime Wardrobe? If that can happen, then I will think twice before using Amazon Prime Wardrobe. I think Amazon should give warning before banning for life. They should also try incremental banning. Warning. 6 month ban. 1 year ban. And if they feel the problem continues then do the life time ban. Otherwise, I’ll have to limit my Amazon shopping to inexpensive items and buy expensive items at elsewhere where they don’t ban for life at 1st time going over the undisclosed return limit.
Paul says
I closed my own account. I spent a small fortune with Amazon over the years but they’ll never see me again. All because a 3rd party seller sent an expensive product to the wrong address, someone signed for it and Amazon refused to refund my money. Don’t wait for Amazon to ban you, close your account and use word of mouth.
Joanne Goode says
No thanks.
E says
Unfortunately that’s another reason not to buy directly from third party sellers. I have Prime so I want my free 2 day and free returns (I buy a lot of clothing/ shoes) but I’ve heard horror stories about third party seller. I buy “Fulfilled by Amazon” whenever possible so I only have to deal with Amazon if there is a problem. Some sellers using “Fulfilled by Amazon” have reached out when I had a negative experience and wanted to make it right so I have graciously worked with them. But I find it easier in general not to deal with a middleman.
Darrell says
The problem is amazon letting all this china man garbage on their site. People lie in the descriptions and do fake reviews. I spend 50k or so a year and my return rate has to be 30% i just have them put the refund on a gift card and order something else. I only order prime items. Another issue is not getting stuff in the 2 day period for being a prime member. Ive never got a warning email yet. They are always handing me out 10 dollar credits for having to deal with late shipments which so far is 300 bucks or so.
Kirk says
It’s been several years now since I learned about Amazon buyer accounts being banned for too many returns. Until I read the discussion here I was convinced that these were mostly due to people taking unfair advantage of Amazon’s customer service, however unconsciously. But too many believable reports here of unfair suspension to ignore. The only question is why I have never been banned.
Since first learning about these bans I have cleared my every return on the phone with customer service asking for assurance that I was not being unfair. Almost all of my returns have been defective items, with a very few for other reasons such as gross misrepresentation of a product. Never because I changed my mind and did not want the product. In the past year or maybe more, the number of defective products I have received has begun to exceed the number of products in usable condition. Customer service continues to assure me with every return that I am in good standing with them, I have not seen anything to the contrary, and I have been satisfied with the way every return and refund has been handled, but I have become alarmed at the percentage of defects. I think I have figured out what is happening. I thought I would post this here since this is the most level headed discussion of the subject I have found.
Take a look at the article below and also at the references in the article and you will see that products that are fulfilled by Amazon and sold by Amazon all go into the same bin at the Warehouse, with no way to trace where a particular shipment comes from:
forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/12/13/how-to-protect-your-family-from-dangerous-fakes-on-amazon-this-holiday-season/#179584797cf1
The Forbes article suggests sellers use this lack of tracability as a smokescreen to sell counterfeit products. I have never received a counterfeit product that I know of, but what I believe is also happening in addition to the issues suggested in the Forbes article, is that unscrupulous distributors are buying up damaged merchandise, for instance store returns from large chains, and dumping them on Amazon in fulfilled by Amazon sales to hide behind the smokescreen offered by the lack of tracebilty of this system, in the same way the Forbes article suggests that counterfeit sales are hiding behind this same smokescreen.
If I order something shipped from and sold by a third party on Amazon and it is defective, that is a no brainer, it’s the sellers fault and I and I can avoid that by only ordering from third party sellers with a great reputation. But if I order from a third party fulfilled by Amazon or shipped from and sold by Amazon, there is no way to trace which seller provided the item because the stock is mixed together and no way to trace it.
At this point I don’t blame Amazon for any of this. Until there is proof (or Amazon bans me! :-) I will continue to give Amazon the benefit of the doubt they are a victim of other sellers and of their own system being too big to easily change. Why do I continue to order from Amazon if I get so many defective items? For the cheapest price yes, but also because I find many items on Amazon I can not find anywhere else.
My return rate is now far higher than anyone that has been banned has reported in this thread. Since Amazon continues to assure me that my account is in good standing, I think that may be a key to returning items without undue risk of being banned. Call and explain the reason honestly for each and every return. Ask customer service to decide the resolution. If you use the return form the software decides whether your return is suspicious, and it can not read your comments. I also note thinking about this now that many times when I questioned Amazon about my fear of being banned for returning defective items, they advised me to always call customer service to arrange a return if I wanted to make sure it was recorded properly. This went over my head at the time, but now I think it’s of prime importance.
Since Amazon has so far always been good to me, I honestly want my business to be profitable for them, but the number of defective items I am getting is making this difficult. I agree with comments here suggesting that buyers including me are asking for trouble by choosing the lowest price, but I am referring here to items sold by and shipped by Amazon. Am I still asking for it if Amazon is the one offering the cheap price? Apparently so but I am having a hard time accepting this. I continue to hope that Amazon will grow to understand the issue and fix it when I return these items instead of banning me. As far as people here commenting they make countless purchases with no defective items, I do not think it is necessarily because they are overlooking defects. I think they may simply be ordering items that are far less likely to be defective. All the items have received that were defective do have a very high probability of being defective in general. I reserve the right to not accept a defective item of course, but just to try and explain why some people such as myself get a much higher percentage of defective items. I have begun ordering anything that I think might be defective outside of Amazon when possible, to give someone else the headache for a change, but Amazon is simply so big that I can not often do this. Amazon simply has more products available and I can not resist in spite of the issues.
What do you think?
Susan Davis says
Hello, I think that it is wrong for Amazon not to put the “ban for too many returns” into their returns terms and conditions. I have an Amazon Prime account and had assumed that it was fine to return an item free if the ad said, “free returns” or if I paid for the return. I’ve returned a lot of items both ways! I’ve also never called customer service to apologise. I’ve purchased many articles of clothing, and it’s so difficult to know if they will fit me, look right on me, or whether the fabric is nice. Plus, so much is made in other countries and is very cheap and poorly sewn. I’ve especially been running into these problems with poor quality workmanship and fabric this past year. The information in this article and the comments really shock me. I used to be a furniture salesperson and we never banned a buyer for too many returns and they got to feel the fabric, actually see and sit on what they were buying!
Now that I know Amazon will boot customers who return too much, I’ll probably never buy an article of clothing there again! I’ll only buy items that are small and very inexpensive.
Noslam says
I came across a sneaky bastard bragging on a gamer forum. I don’t know how many accounts he has but he never returns cheap stuff. He only returns very high value items ($300+) like game consoles and laptops and sends back cheap shit he purchased from yard sales. He was banned twice but he kept going.
seaman stains. says
I’m glad you got banned and anyone else who Amazon decides to ban, these utter morons who just buy things knowing they can just send it back after they used it for an occasion or bought a product so they can review it and then said it back. F*** off the shitty millennials generation and your I want it all and I want it now attitude. One strike and your out should be the way they operate, and if you don’t like don’t buy cheap Chinese shit.
Scumazon hater says
is this the case with every scumazon customer? I must be a scammer if i return defective items. Next time i’ll keep shoes and clothes that are poor quality or don’t fit, or both. Cheap electronics die. No problem. I’ll keep anyway. Yep. Exactly what i’m going to do. Wow such logic, much reason. Only a retarded scumazon shareholder would say something like that. I’m done with Scumazon. Bought and returned very few very cheap items.
Ed says
So many braindead corporate bootlickers here. You must really love the capitalist dystopia you’re living in. Defending amazon is Stockholm syndrome at its best.
Test says
1. Are you guys Prime members or not?
2. Are you returning items marked “Free Returns” or not?
3. When returning, do you go through the return process on the web site, or do you contact them using the phone/chat and initiate the return?
4. When returning, do you just pick “No longer needed”, or something else like “product doesn’t match description” or “product is defective”?
5. Are you returning more dollars worth of items than you are keeping?
6. Are you returning items that you had purchased as a “gift” or not?
7. Do you use the Amazon credit card to place orders?
8. Do you enhance the community by leaving reviews? Answering customer questions?
JJ says
I’m surprised nobody hasn’t sued them for false advertising: they are not honoring agreement = free returns. They should have a tier system instead: A) tier, free returns B) tier for those that return more than 15% every quarter, and you will be paying 50% of return shipping fees C) tier, for returning more than 20% in a quarter you pay 100% return shipping fee D) 40+% in any month automatic ban for 3 months, and when your account ban is lifted, you start out and stay in the C) tier.
Victor Asher says
Amazon suspended my reviews and erased all my activity. It never provided a justification and took 4 months to answer an e-mail inquiry. Naturally, Cathryn E. (fake incomplete name from Community Team) did not say what the reason was. The only negative things I wrote were against Nazis supporting Adolf Hitler and Jew-haters. For that, Cathryn E. and the Amazon Community Team suspended me.
kyle says
They banned me for making more accounts and for contacting amazon because I got 5 charges from them. Also, they said that my name matches another seller name and that I did not meet the terms and agreement and I can not purchase any more.
“Hello,
You are receiving this email as a follow up with the recent conversation you had with customer service associate.
I’m sorry, but I wasn’t able to determine exactly what kind of help you need from your phone conversation with our Customer Service Executive.
Please do not contact Amazon’s Customer Service department, as they will no longer be able to assist you. If you require additional assistance or have any concerns, you may contact us directly at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Account Specialist
Amazon.com
[email protected]
Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 11:37 PM
to me
Hello,
Looking at your order, I see that it was placed with [SELLER NICKNAME], a seller on our website. I’ve sent your inquiry regarding your order # [ORDER ID] for [ITEM(S)] to the seller on your behalf.
Please give the seller three business days to respond. In most cases, you’ll receive a reply much sooner.
If you require additional assistance or have any concerns, please reply to this email within 30 days.
————————————-
Sent: Saturday, 20 October, 2018 01:56:05 PM PDT
Subject: Re: Your Amazon.com account has been closed
I sent in pictures of proof for the request that I am asking for and you
freaking people closed the account. Apparently, there is a limit on how much
refunds you can request and that I will post these problems to the public,
this nonsense that I am getting from amazon is unacceptable and not fair; i
order things and when it comes damaged or if I wanted to send it back
or get a refund for a REASON, the customers should be able to get a refund
with no problems… OPEN BACK MY ACCOUNT… MY BILLING ADDRESS IS WHAT IS ON
THE CREDIT CARD AND IT MATCHES. I have two different shipping address. This
is bs, that I am getting charged for 5 times from amazon for this bs. OPEN
THE ACCOUNT NOWWWW, I WANT MY REFUNDS THAT I REQUESTED AND AFTER THAT I AM
NOT BUYING FROM AMAZON AGAIN AND I WILL TELL THE WHOLE WORLD ABOUT WHAT
AMAZON IS DOING TO THEIR CUSTOMERS.
On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 8:05 AM [email protected] wrote:
> Hello,
>
> We have closed this account because you have consistently requested
> refunds for a large number of your orders. While we expect the occasional
> problem with an order, we cannot continue to issue refunds to you at this
> rate.
>
> If you had open orders on this account, those orders were cancelled when we
> closed the account.
>
> Any digital content you purchased with this account is still available to
> you. To access the content, click the “Manage Your Content and Devices”
> link on the Your Account menu on Amazon.com (
> http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle.)
>
> If you would like to appeal this decision, please reply to this email to
> reach an Account Specialist. Our Customer Service team can only confirm
> that we sent this message and help you with technical issues. They cannot
> reverse this decision or share more details on this matter.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Account Specialist
> Amazon.com
> http://www.amazon.com
>
>
Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 11:53 PM
to ofm+A3AILABT3I90HP
The reason I called is because you charged me 5 time for no reason. And they said that the billing address is incorrect??? What is going on and do tell me what to do and not to do. I will call if I want to because it’s me who is paying the bill here, NOT you. I will report this nonsense that is going on here at amazon and I want the answers to it.
Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 11:56 PM
to ofm+A3AILABT3I90HP
And apparently there’s a limit on the amount of refunds that a customer can request for example my account that u people close for stupid ambiguous reasons. I am post this bs to the public and amazon will NOT receive any money and their stock will go down until they show some leadership and respect to their customers….
Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 11:59 PM
to ofm+A3AILABT3I90HP
what are you talking about that their is a seller with the same nickname??? My name is my name Kyle as is. I dont put my real full name for a reason. Is amazon judging my name because it matches some other name. There are multiple people with the same name…. WHAT????
Hello,
We closely examined your account, any related accounts, and your order history to ensure that any decision regarding your account was made according to our policies.
After careful consideration, we have determined that we will not reopen your closed Amazon accounts. This decision is final.
We may not respond to further emails about this issue.
Sincerely,
Account Specialist
Amazon.com”
Up to this day, I still get banned for emailing them and asking why and they don’t respond and I just continue to use some other company…
Ruthie McKnight says
We have same I was wonder how can I get account? Every time I make new account they keep ban me
Me says
I buy very little from amazon. I prefer to keep the smaller stores open vice the giants.
Matt says
I’m a 3rd party seller on amazon. I mostly sell used electronics. I get a lot of returns for “no longer needed” or “defective”, and many times they don’t even tell me how its defective. I test most things before shipping them out, and most of the ” defective” items test fine when i get them back.
Example: portable cd player wouldn’t turn on. I message the buyer to check the hold switch. They didn’t reply and sent it back. I get it back, flip the hold switch and it worked properly.
Please send the seller a message if you have any issue with the product. I wouldn’t knowingly ship out something that doesn’t work. The buyer will just return it and ill have to pay shipping both ways.
At times my return rate is as much as 1 in 11 orders selling on Amazon. My return rate selling on ebay, about 1 in 200 orders.
My return rate as a buyer? Maybe 1 or 2 out of 100.
E says
Amazon has fallen downhill it seems. Most of my Prime 2 day shipping items come at night so forget about it if you need something during the daytime. It’s still technically 2 day though so not the worst thing….except several packages have been delayed. Noting the evening delivery I ordered sunscreen (and several other items I needed anyway so it was just one order) so it would arrive at the latest by night the day BEFORE. Packaged ended up being several days delayed to the point I had to cancel and do without (I have transportation issues). To be fair, Amazon sent me an email about it but they have my phone number so I wish they would send notices to that also.
Also, I swore they used to do 2 day shipping even on weekends, but now even though the item is listed as 2 day sometimes it will say you won’t get it till Monday if you order on say Friday. And my orders are shipped UPS (and once by someone in a company van I did not recognize).
I agree with others too the quality is mixed. A lot of Asian sizes , not always converted right or just don’t fit because of the cut. Most items I receive have a slight ‘chemical odor…one swimsuit so bad it gave me a headache just trying it on.
I am also a victim of Amazon account flagging. A couple months ago I was asked to send them a detailed list of my returns to date and explanations of why I returned them. I complied, telling them how much I value Prime and like a lot of people I have trouble with clothes….how as they could see most of my orders were Prime Free Returns clothing…and even personal information on how I have a large surgical star and uneven stomach which makes things like swimsuit shopping even more difficult. So, I sent them this whole document which took me over an hour to do, and they sent me back a few lines about how they just wanted to know so they could improve their service. -_- Not banned but they made me write all that and that’s ALL they could say to me? At least they didn’t say I needed to stop returning stuff I guess.
The second time just happened the other day. “Amazon Account Specialist” accused me of repeatedly sending back damaged or use items that were unsellable. They said they had spoke to me about it before (they hadn’t) and if I kept it up there would be restocking fees and some “final value” policy.
As advised in this article I checked my account for suspicious activity. Nothing out of sorts. I had recently returned what seemed to be a spoiled lip balm (natural ingredients) , that I had to open to detect the issue (foul odor)
Per the email instructions I wrote back stating there had been an error; that yes Amazon contacted me recently but NOT accusing me of damaged /unsellable returns. I still had all those documents so I attached them as proof. I said if my returns are being sent to them damaged, then someone is tampering with them after I handed them off to UPS (not meaning to accuse UPS but someone SOMEWHERE in the chain had to be doing it after it left my care).
They replied back just (paraphrasing) “We are concerned about your account. If you have any other questions contact customer service”. No acknowledgment of anything I said. So I wrote several paragraphs back to them asking if I was still under investigation, if my open returns will go through, do they want me to send photos or video of me packing my items to prove they are undamaged, etc. Because at this point I’m afraid to buy anything I may have to return.
I sent that email last night and today they send back basically 2 lines saying they reviewed my account and the email was sent in error. They apologized but honestly I was pretty upset for what they put me through.
I love Amazon Prime and I try and be respectful. I usually file return requests right away (hoping this shows I am not using the item and then sending back) and hand off to UPS a day or two later. I try and combine returns when possible (Amazon ultimately decides that though) to save them on shipping costs. I am careful about how I open things; most items come in a slide lock bag but if I have to open a sealed back I am careful not to shred it and sometimes tape it closed after. Basically, I try and be a good customer though yes I have fit issues and return a lot. So their false accusations, giving me a hard time about my returns like I’m doing something wrong, and short sometimes unclear answers to my emails are very insulting and just another reason Amazon has gone downhill.
I’m still nervous about putting in any more clothing orders and once again am considering not renewing my membership.
Katie says
I just returned 3 items that arrived with dents in them within 24 hours of receiving them. I am a prime member and been an Amazon account holder for over 10 years. Because of the return of these 3 damaged items, Amazon has permanently changed my return status to refund upon receipt of return. I wish there was a viable competitor to Amazon. I buy everything I can from Amazon and shouldn’t be penalized for them sending me damaged goods or items poorly packed that arrived damaged.
Adrian says
I’ve returned loads of items to Amazon UK. Mostly headsets/headphones. They dislike it if you return a lot of items in a short space of time – this is understandable. I’ve had perhaps four warning emails in total. i then reply back listing the order numbers and the item and why I returned them. I have still kept many headsets though. I was very worried when I got my first email several years ago. I returned the headsets because in my opinion they were not very good products or did not suit me, mainly due to sound quality and comfort. During November and this month I have returned four headsets but kept maybe the same amount!
I am due to order another one, like now and I don’t know if it will fit my needs so i might need to return if after Christmas (in very good condition).
Lady LuLu says
I’ve been an Amazon customer for close to 8 years and I’ve purchased and returned several orders, some orders I’ve had issues with I clear through a call with customer service. If you speak to customer service about an order return/refundd, it looks much better, and sometimes they will refund without a return! But I an a Top Contributed badge and I am in the top 10,000 reviewer ranking tier, so I have a pretty good buyer reputation, so my actions involving returns and refunds are accepted more than others. I rarely have issues with any orders and deliveries except for the occasional defective or misrepresented item. Leave reviews and ALWAYS leave pictures, of both defective and properly working and represented products! You will seem more like an honest buyer and not some scammer. Plus, Amazon’s business almost entirely relies on the reviews of buyers, without reviews, most products wouldn’t be purchased, so when they see that you are not only a buyer, but a Contributor to their sellers and business, they will value you more as a customer!
Jerry Brandt says
I order many things from Amazon however their are some things I just don’t buy like cloths or shoes. I don’t want to ever get penalized for returning something. In fact I have kept a few items that I did not want because out of fear of reprisal. If I want shoes or clothing or other items I buy it from another site or store. Also other sites are usually cheaper. Only if Amazon has something I know will fit will it buy it.
Aj says
The problem here is…………………..when you do so many returns, are you wanting to or even actually RETURNING THE PRODUCT FOR YOUR REFUND?? I’m a seller on Amazon and see far too much of this crap going on. Buyers just want free merchandise and make up any number of reasons why there’s some imaginary thing wrong with it, and also why they can’t be bothered to send it back. Then they are supposed to magically get a refund of their money, plus keep the product. It’s total BS and too many buyers are abusing the hell out of Amazon and their honest sellers. SO GLAD TO SEE AMAZON HAS ACTUALLY BANNED SOME OF THESE DIRT BAGS FROM HAVING AN ACCOUNT ANY MORE. SERVES ‘EM ALL RIGHT!
Laura says
Amazon has been taken over by chinese sellers flooding knockoff products under name brands, inflating star rating by bundling completely unrelated items in their listing so reviews for those items get counted towards the total, and third party sellers selling return pallet items as new. I was looking for a bark deterrent for example. Narrowed by star rating, looked like there were several with 4 stars but when you read the reviews, the people were talking about toothbrushes, toggle bolts, pet beds, etc. Later I bought a bug zapper. The one I got literally came with the previous buyers return slip taped to it. Whoever sold it hadnt even opened the box to verify the contents, and the sticky papers were missing. Amazon isnt what it used to be so we switched to month to month prime and will probably cancel.
Anonymous says
I have returned multiple items before (about 4 in 1 Year), and requested refunds (with no return) as the product(s) do not meet my expectations. A few months after opening an Amazon Account (Opened in November 2018)
I got a warning email (but honestly they didn’t care):
We have observed that you have received refunds on a number of your orders nowadays, this is a trend that will need to stop. We may close your account.
You may receive the mail as we have already started an investigation.
Justin says
I returned 2 items today, and 5 items total this month. Now im afraid amazon will ban me.
Liam says
Accounts are banned with a big red banner that says CAP. You are account is banned when you ask for more than 2 consessions related with a refund or a replacement during the last 30 days.
Liam says
You dont have to worry about if you send back items to Amazon, your account is banned just when you are asking for a consession related with a refund or replacement several times per month. An example is when you call multiple times reporting that your packages got lost in transit.
Liam says
If your account has been reported with the CAP banner even if you create a new account, that banner will appear. And if you have that CAP banner in your account and you call reporting any issues with the package your call is send to the CAP department and they are really rude with customers.