Amazon Seller Support

Handling Post-Order Problems

The majority of holiday sales on Amazon.com go well, but occasionally you may encounter a problem. Let’s look at some of the most common things that could go wrong with an order and the ways to handle them.

I:  The buyer has made a mistake with an order and wants to fix it.

Below are the most common things buyers may ask you to do to fix an order and how you can respond:

Cancel the order

• If you have not yet shipped the order, you can cancel it. Buyers only have a 30-minute window to cancel their own orders, but you can cancel them up until the time you ship them.
• If you have already shipped the order, you can't cancel it, but you can ask the buyer to return it for a refund. It's best to wait until you have the item in hand again before you return funds to the buyer.

Upgrade the shipping

• If you have not yet shipped the order, it is up to you to decide whether to upgrade the shipping at the buyer’s request. Sellers aren't obligated to provide a service that a buyer hasn't paid for or to accept promises of future reimbursement from buyers (sellers can't invoice buyers for extra costs, including postage).
• If you have already shipped the order, provide the buyer with information about the shipping method you used, give them a realistic timeframe for delivery, and ask them to be patient. Here's the information Amazon provides to buyers about delivery expectations: Marketplace Shipping Times.

Ship the order to a different address

• If you have not yet shipped the order, and the buyer says they cannot receive the order at the address they provided originally, you should cancel the order. The buyer can then return to Amazon.com to place a new order using the correct address. Amazon policy requires sellers to ship only to the address provided in their Seller Account.
• If you have already shipped the order and the buyer states that they won't receive the package at the address they provided, you can’t cancel the order but it may still be possible for the buyer to get the package re-routed if they know the recipients. Packages should be routed back to you and you can then refund the buyer.

II:  The buyer hasn't received the item they ordered.

As you might expect, buyers are often anxious to receive their holiday orders and will contact you to check on the shipment status.

• In many cases, the shipment isn't late but may not have arrived as early as the buyer hoped. It's possible that the package didn't arrive at the earliest estimated date. In the case of "slow" packages, you will often need to explain the delivery time frames.
• If the outside delivery date has passed, the best solution is to refund the buyer. Compensating buyers for lost shipments is simply a cost of doing business.
• In the case of a "lost" item arriving in an empty box, you should contact the shipper to report the issue and ask about the options available to you. For a "late" item that may be lost, you may want to engage your carrier for assistance in locating the package and moving it along.
• For an item that never arrives and is truly lost, you may be still able to recover your costs if you purchased insurance originally. You will need to determine your own level of acceptable loss when deciding to insure packages.

III: The buyer has received the order but wants to return it.

Here are the basics on handling returns:

• As per your selling agreement, you have to accept returns within the guidelines spelled out in the the current Amazon refund policies, even if the item was exactly as described and the buyer simply no longer wants it.
• Returns of new items are different from returns of damaged/defective/materially different items.
• Buyer returns should be postmarked within 30 days of the original shipment sent by the seller.
• Returns should be posted to the address included on the outside of each package. It's a good idea to also include your return address inside the package and to confirm it with the buyer before a return is shipped.
• In cases where there is nothing wrong with an item, buyers should cover the cost of return shipping.
• In cases where an item is damaged or defective, or when it is materially different than the item described on the product detail page, sellers should cover the costs of return shipping. You can do this by issuing a concession to the buyer in advance of the return.
• Sellers can charge restocking fees (up to 20%) for returned items that are not damaged, defective or materially different. These fees are meant to cover the extra handling costs to take the item back into inventory and relist it for sale.

We hope this information is helpful. If you have further questions about how to deal with order issues, please see our Seller Help pages.

Returns, A-to-z Guarantee Claims and Chargebacks

For most sellers, A-to-z Guarantee claims and service chargebacks are a rare occurrence. However, when they do occur, be sure to take action to resolve them promptly. You may also occasionally need to issue refunds, accept a return, or cancel an order.

Here are some examples of when you may need to refund, accept returns, or cancel orders:

• You can't fulfill an order or part of an order.
• The customer doesn't receive your order.
• The customer returns an item.
• The customer files a credit card chargeback or an A-to-z Guarantee Claim.
• The customer requests you cancel an order.
• The buyer is unable to receive the order at the address provided.

It's a good idea to check your seller account daily during the holidays so you can proactively take action on any order issues.

For lots of information on returns, refunds, canceling orders, A-to-z Guarantee claims and chargebacks, see our Help pages, which are available to you 24 hours a day.

What is a Concession?

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. Buyer credits that 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 into 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.

Buyer Feedback Matters

Before customers decide to buy a product, they often want some assurance that other customers have been well served by the seller. A seller's high feedback rating can give customers the peace of mind they want before buying.

When you review your feedback, you'll notice that buyers care a lot about the answers to these questions:

• Was the order delivered on time?
• Was the item packed appropriately?
• Was the item exactly as described on the website?
• Did the seller respond promptly and helpfully to inquiries?

If you can answer "yes" to the above questions for almost all of your orders, congratulations!

Many sellers get negative feedback at some point. If it happens to you, don't take offense, but do take action:

• Investigate the feedback to figure out the root cause of the problem.

• Work with the buyer to solve the problem and improve the experience, by issuing a refund, shipping a replacement item, or even sending a complimentary gift certificate.

Remember, if you solve the problem, you can ask the buyer to remove the feedback. The buyer is under no obligation to do so, but it can't hurt to politely ask one time.

Monitor your feedback regularly to keep on top of issues, and try to maintain 95% positive feedback and a 4.5 or higher overall rating.

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."

Reason for cancellation - inside cancelling an order

If you find you are unable to fulfill an order or any portion of an order before it has been confirmed, it will be necessary to cancel the order. When cancelling an order, you will be asked to provide a “Reason for Cancellation.” It's important to select an appropriate reason code because it will have an impact on your inventory counts. When a buyer places an order, a reserve is placed on the associated SKU and the inventory count is decremented. If the buyer contacts you and asks you to cancel their order, selecting “Buyer Cancelled” as a reason code will automatically restore the inventory and make the item available for another buyer to purchase.

However, if you are unable to fulfill the item for lack of inventory, selecting “No Inventory” as a reason code will prevent the inventory count from being restored.

Reason for Cancellation & Inventory Impact

The following “Reason Codes” are available when cancelling orders and the associated inventory impact is listed after each.

Starting Off on the Right Foot

The most common question we receive is: “Where do I begin?” Here are some good steps to help you get started:

• Provide the business name that will be displayed on Amazon.com so that they remember your company.
• Make sure your business contact information is current (e-mail & phone number if available) so that we may contact you, if necessary.
• Keep credit card and bank account information current for payments and settlements.
• Provide shipping and returns policies to help build buyer trust.
• Only enter company info specific to how you manage your business on Amazon.com.
• Choose shipping rate settings so buyers know what your shipping costs.

- Aleece