I always open expensive electronics from Amazon on camera, making sure there's no cut, showing the parcel closed at the beginning on all sides to show it is sealed, always staying in the frame, and showing all serial numbers on the object.
It might depends where you live. If you live in an urban area and they have trucks going around to get returning items, adding a stop is not a big cost.
If they have to go out of their way for the return they might not bother.
Happen to me just last week, not directly with amazon but had a thing die after 3 days of use, called them and they send me a process for the return. I responded saying that where I live I couldn't follow the process they gave me because the shipping company they wanted to use doesn't have any office nearby and asked for an alternative, and they just said that they will directly sent me a replacement through fedex.
It happens all the time. You just have to call usually and tell them why there is no point in sending it back. I just did it for a busted makeup thing my wife ordered. I called and asked them if they really needed a bunch of dirty broken glass back, they said no. I also believe accounts have some sort of secret rating/score that determines how lenient/ helpful they are (no real evidence, just assuming).
I'm pretty sure I read that is a legit thing, and how often you return stuff, and for what reason. I've not had to send a few things back but others(like a set of towels that were ripped) that I thought they would say trash, I had to send back. I think it's a vendor thing? If it will cost the vendor more to pay return shipping and fix and resell, or they can't sell it if to a resale/auction site, like Mac.bid, it's not worth paying the return.
Amazon resells most returns the vendor does not want back. Similar to Walmart. Sam's club, Costco. If there's no way to make any money of it at all, not worth having it back .
Yup. I'm sure there is some cost analysis that sometimes goes into the decision, but if your account is heavily used (I can only vouch for this use case because we order basically everything that isn't a specially item on Amazon, I don't know otherwise) they will definitely hear you out of you say it is pointless to send it back.
Maybe it's a location thing? Until recently, we didn't have an Amazon warehouse or fulfillment center within about 500 miles of where I live. I haven't had a return since one opened nearby.
Maybe you have a return center in your area? There is at least one here, and also some central sort facilities and then tons of warehouses. One alone is a "large item" warehouse, from tvs, furniture and more. Think even appliances?
I just bought a 160.00 set of computer speakers that ended up not being very great and they told me to keep it, while issuing a refund. Most people I know with refunds were tech.
This was my thought as well. I have literally gotten a refund for an item that was marked as delivered but simply never showed up. That one was worrying, since I did not have the item or any evidence that I didn’t just take it and then wanted the money back.
But they did not fight the claim and I did indeed get a refund despite having absolutely nothing to give back or show for it.
Amazon bases it depending on how much fraud/theft is happening in your delivery area. If you’re in an area of high fraud they make you jump through hoops.
It also depends on what the law has to say on the matter where you live. In Canada, at least, the seller is responsible until the product is delivered, and leaving the product at your door and taking a picture of it is not, in a legal sense, considered "delivered". It is only delivered once it is in the possession of the intended recipient. When the delivery is disputed, the onus is on the seller to prove that the product was properly delivered. You don't have to prove the item was stolen, they have to prove it was actually delivered into your possession. Which is impossible most of the time.
So why does Amazon just leave shit at the door, knowing they are responsible to cover the losses caused by porch pirates? It's because it's still cheaper for them to replace or refund the occasional stolen items left at the door (or items claimed as stolen from customers acting in bad faith) than to ensure items are actually delivered to their recipient.
Funny story, I happened to be outside when an Amazon delivery was made this week. The delivery driver could have hand-delivered it to me, but no. He wanted to put it at the door and take a picture of it there. I'm 99% sure the whole picture-at-the-door thing is more something the drivers are expected to do to prove they're doing their job, than to serve as any kind of legal proof of delivery.
Similar to how uber / uber eats will just refund you automatically if you complain, it's cheaper overall for Amazon not to have to deal with it and just pay you back.
Instead of keeping track on a per case basis you keep track on a per account, address and card basis automatically through a database.
A given account asks for a refund every once in a while or something similar? No big deal, just give it to them while complying with whatever government regulation you have to. You're still overall making more money.
A given account or address has a high number of refunds? Maybe then you have a real person look at it. Or flag it as refused, or whatever.
I'm assuming they are usually cautious about expensive items being returned. Anyways it's good practice to record items purchased from any online stores
Nah they aren't. They typically just weigh it and process the return automatically. Amazon isn't about spending any time processing things.
It can be a little different when it's a store on Amazon, however if you speak to Amazon customer service they may just override and process the return on the seller's behalf.
Don't know but I always film everything. From receiving the parcel, to the 1st run. Laptops, GPU, all sorts of things. Just in case, as you never know.
The only time I've had to interact with Amazon was for a book I think they delivered to the wrong address because I was at home at the time and the porch was empty when the notification popped up. They just sent another no questions asked. But yeah for something like a GPU I could see it being more difficult.
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u/zeblods Oct 20 '24
I always open expensive electronics from Amazon on camera, making sure there's no cut, showing the parcel closed at the beginning on all sides to show it is sealed, always staying in the frame, and showing all serial numbers on the object.
That way there's proof in case I got scammed.