What is a Concession?

As previous posts covered, sellers can always issue partial or full refunds for order costs, but the Amazon system also allows sellers to compensate buyers for order issues as an alternative to or in addition to refunding order amounts. These buyer credits which exceed the order total are called concessions. There are situations where you may want to issue funds to the buyer beyond the cost of the item(s) and shipping amount.  For example, if a buyer receives a defective item and you want to compensate them for return shipping along with the order refund, you could issue a concession.

Concessions can be issued as partial refunds, with partial refunds, or along with full refunds. There are limits on the total amount sellers may provide to buyers when they issue order refunds and concessions. An order refund can't exceed the total amount originally paid by the buyer, however, the amount allowed in concessions may exceed the total cost of the order itself. Amazon displays the concession maximum for each item in an order using a formula that calculates the higher of the following two numbers:

Limit 1: 50% of the sum of original buyer-paid shipping plus product price
Limit 2: Twice the original buyer-paid shipping, plus $10 plus $20

To issue a concession:

1. Log in to your seller account.
2. Go to your orders section and bring up the details of the specific order you want to refund.
3. Click the "Refund order" button on the Order Details page.
4. Choose the tab that fits your refund: Full (which is the default page) or Partial Refund (which is a tab below the order number).
5. Use the pop-up menu to select the appropriate Reason for Refund. 
6. Enter the amount of the return shipping and/or other concession into the Amount to Refund box.
   You will receive a pop-up asking you to confirm the concession.
7. Add a memo to the buyer. 
   This is optional but highly recommended, allowing up to 255 characters.
8. Click the Submit Refund button.

Additional facts to note about concessions:

• It can take 15 minutes for the data to be updated in the order to reflect the refund in your seller account.
• Buyers will see a concession amount as a different entry than a partial or full refund on their payment statement.
• Concessions do not contribute to the refund percentage in your seller performance metrics. If one or more products in an order are fully refunded, then the order is counted as a refunded order and is included in your Refund Rate.

If you would like a more in-depth look at concessions, please access the help section of your seller account and search for concessions.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To our Sellers on Valentine's Day, we wrote you a couple Haikus to show you our love.

A gentle breeze blows

Amazon sells it for you

Your mind is at ease

- Aaron

Once it took so long

Shipping Amazon orders

I love FBA!

- Melissa

Happy Valentine's Day and thank you for selling on Amazon! - Amazon Services

Do I have to refund this order?

When a buyer wants to return an order, you will want to know what the policies are. The following are a few frequently asked questions Seller Support receives, and answers to help you navigate the refund process.

Q: Do I have to refund this order?

A: If it is within 30 days of the order, then yes, you must accept a return and issue a refund.

Q: Who pays for return shipping of an order?

A: This is completely left up to you, the seller. Returns and refunds provide an opportunity to have your customer service shine. If you choose to pay for the return shipping, you can either provide a pre-paid shipping label to the buyer, or you can initiate a concession through the order management page in your seller account. For your own protection, be sure to process all financial transactions with buyers through Marketplace Payments.

Q: The buyer initiated an A-to-z Guarantee claim (or a chargeback with their credit card company). Should I still refund?

A: Follow the instructions provided to you by the A-to-z Guarantee claim team or the chargeback team. Ultimately, we want buyers to be happy, but we also want to make sure duplicate refunds are not initiated. Please keep the A-to-z Guarantee claim team or the chargeback team informed of any actions you plan to take, and send them any questions you have regarding the claim or chargeback.

Q: Do I refund before or after I receive the returned order?

A: When to refund is left up to you. We have found that some sellers like to refund a portion in good faith and the rest after the item is returned to them. Others wait until the item is returned. If you refund an order before you receive the return, there is nothing Amazon can do to make the buyer return the item. So decide when to issue the refund based on the particular situation.

Have more questions?

The exact and up-to-date policy is written out in the Participation Agreement, also known as the "Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement" which was agreed to when you signed up for selling on Amazon.com. You can find the document by searching for "agreement" in your seller account Help.

Bulk order refunds (video)

If you are currently handling your order confirmations in bulk through feeds, but have wanted to also learn how to process refunds or cancellations in bulk, take a look at this video for some help. (time: 4:41)

If your Product Ads have been suspended, here's how to get live today!

In a previous edition of our Product Ads newsletter, a common question sellers ask is how to get live again if their products were removed for Content Violations. Here's what our Technical Support team said:

Question: I received an alert on the homepage of Seller Central that says my listings have been put on hold because my products do not meet the Content Guidelines. What should I do?

Answer: Your Product Ads were taken off Amazon.com due to content violations found in your product data. To get your ads live you will need to submit a revised product feed to your account. Review our Content Guidelines page to identify products with violations in your feed. The most common reasons for content violations are:

    * Customer lands on a page other than product page on the website. Your feed must contain the URLs where the product can be purchased on your website. Make sure you submit working URLs that point to the correct product page on your site.
    * Product information on your site is different from what’s displayed on Amazon.com. When customers click on your product from Amazon.com they expect to see the same product information on your website. This includes the same price and shipping information for your products. Be sure to submit the accurate data that reflects your website.

After you have updated your product information to your account, contact Technical Support. Request an account review in order to get your products live and back on site. Here's how to submit your request:

   1. Click on the “Contact Seller Support" link at the bottom of every page in Seller Central or click on the Get Technical Support button in Seller Central Help.
   2. Choose “Account Status"
   3. Choose “Account blocked or suspended." In the text box supply an explanation of the reason and causes for your account suspension and explain how the issues identified by Amazon will be resolved by your company. Choose how you would like to be contacted by our support team. Submit an email or select "Click to call" and we'll call you back immediately.

Along with messaging in Seller Central we also send you an email when your account is suspended. We suggest you have at least two email addresses for each notification to keep you up to date on the most important events involving your Amazon Product Ads account.

Direct emails to the appropriate contact at your company by logging into Seller Central> Settings tab > Account Info> Edit Notification Preferences.

Learn more about Managing Alerts.

Refunding orders: full or partial refunds

When you want to issue a refund for an order there are several options: full refund, partial refund, and refund concessions.

Which one you choose depends on why you are refunding and how much you want to refund.

To start any kind of refund, the order must have already had the shipment confirmed. If it is not confirmed and you will not ship the item, you can cancel the order and the buyer will not be charged, therefore no refund will be necessary. If the order was confirmed you can proceed with these steps:

1.    Log in to your seller account
2.    Go to your orders section and bring up the details of the specific order you want to refund
3.    Click the "Refund order" button on the Order Details page

To proceed with a Full refund, once you have followed the first three steps above, you would use the default page that comes up when you click "Refund order."

4.    Choose the reason for the refund
You will see several options in the drop-down, choose the most appropriate one.
5.    Write a note to the buyer in the "Memo to buyer" field
While this is optional, a personally written note provides a good customer experience
6.    Click the "Submit Full Refund" button

By following those steps you will have refunded the item and shipping amount.

To proceed with a Partial refund, once you have followed the first three steps above, follow these steps:

4.    Click the Partial Refund tab, which is under the order ID
5.    If the item is listed by name only, click the check box for the item being refunded on the right hand side; if the item details are displayed, proceed to the next step
6.    Select the "Reason for refund" from the drop-down
7.    Enter the "Amount to refund" for the Product or the Shipping or both
8.    Write a note to the buyer in the "Memo to buyer" field
While this is optional, a personally written note provides a good customer experience
9.    Click the "Submit Partial Refund" button

You do not need to enter any information in the two concession fields for either type of refund if you do not want to. A concession is an amount you can refund aside from or in addition to refunding basic order costs. More information about concessions can be found in the Help section in your seller account by searching on the word "concession."

~Aleece

Read the January 2010 Amazon Product Ads newsletter

The Amazon Product Ads newsletter is a great way for you to keep up with latest program enhancements, learn tips to drive more customers to your website, and read about other news and announcements.
 
In our latest edition, you’ll read about:

-More Real Estate in Targeted Placements
-Ads Now Displaying Product Reviews
-Reactivating Your Suspended Account
-3 ways to increase conversion today
-Reach more Amazon.com customers with Checkout by Amazon

Interested in receiving our free e-mail monthly newsletters? Sign up now!

-Michelle S.

Want to stay current with Amazon Product Ads news?

Subscribe to the Amazon Product Ads newsletter and get news on the latest updates.  We'll also send you optimization tips to help you drive more traffic to your website straight to your inbox every month.  

-Michelle S.

Top 5 Ways to Get Answers from Seller Support Faster

There are a few things that you can do when contacting Seller Support that will help us answer your questions more quickly.

1. Log into your seller account when contacting us.
   Seller Support verifies account security information prior to providing support. If you contact us when you are logged into your seller account we can get right to answering your question.
2. Provide details, even when asking general questions.
   Provide as much detail as possible, including links to the pages you are referencing, either in your account or on Amazon.com, exact wording of an error message you may see, and specific order IDs, ASINs, and SKUs. If you have a general question, providing an example will help us understand your desired result and allow us to share the best methods for getting to that desired result.
3. If you call us about an existing case you’ve created, please mention the case number to the Seller Support associate right after we've verified your account security information.
   If we know the existing case number, we can give you the current status of the actions taken to resolve the issue. This also helps prevent duplicating research already completed for your issue. Referring to case notes can help us shorten resolution time.
4. When using the Contact Us form, take an extra moment and choose the most fitting topic and subject.
   Based on the topics and subjects you choose, your contact is routed to a Seller Support associate who is best able to help with your particular issue. 
5. Check Help pages.
   Seller Support is continually updating and improving Help documentation. Clearly stated information, tables, and videos will help you walk through common seller issues. Check out the Getting Started Guides in seller Help if you are starting out or for a refresher if you are a seasoned seller.

Finding Holiday Success with Amazon Product Ads

News about Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer, is fairly common these days.  Articles usually mention the Kindle (I want!), the expanding grocery delivery business of AmazonFresh, or focus on our recent performance during this past holiday season.

This week, I came across a blog post titled, “Amazon.com Is Writing New Rules for E-Commerce" on practicalecommerce.com.  Dale Traxler shared his story turning Amazon “The Marketplace of Marketplaces” into a successful lead driver for his jewelry supplies site, Beaded Impressions, with Amazon Product Ads.

He wrote:

”For about $200 in December, we received 700 clickthroughs and a 4.3% overall conversion rate. The overall ROI was higher than we received from PPC on any search engine last month and FAR higher than we ever received from a comparison shopping site. Needless to say, we will be working to refine and expand those results in 2010.”

If you have time, you should read his post and the feedback in the comments section.  It makes for an interesting topic of discussion.

-Michelle S.