It’s a confusing time for Amazon sellers. There are reports that Amazon is more eager now to reject appeals to A-Z claims. And though it may not affect all sellers, everyone’s on edge because of the way A-to-Z claims on Amazon are being handled. Here’s the gist of it:
The A-Z Claim Timeline for Buyers
Buyers are generally unaware of the impact a single claim can have on a seller’s performance. It seems Amazon is more concerned with claim deadlines than with mediation. So, the official A-to-Z Guarantee help page has a few time-related pointers for buyers, depending on the issue:
Item Not Received (INR A-Z claim). Buyers must wait until three days after the item was supposed to be delivered. From this point on, they have 90 days to file a claim, preferably after they contact the seller and wait 48 hours for a reply.
Item Not As Expected. Buyers should first ask sellers to accept a return or grant a refund. Some are accepted automatically, so buyers forfeit a replacement without even knowing it. Still, if they want to file a claim, they don’t need to wait until the estimated delivery date (or for the return to be accepted, for that matter).
Item Returned But No Refund. Buyers can only file a claim if the item was returned and tracked. There’s no mention here of providing proof of weight or contents. So, it’s important for sellers to keep a log of what’s been returned.
In any case, if buyers file a claim and the refund is denied, they have another 30 days to bring fresh information. Plenty of time. But if they ignore a claim investigator’s questions for 3 days, their claim is denied. Or at least that’s the way it used to be, but it looks like the tables have turned.
The A-Z Claim Timeline for Sellers
Sellers are told the buyer has no obligation to contact them before filing INR claims. But in the merchant policy, there’s no mention of the buyer’s recommended 3-day wait after the estimated delivery date (EDD) or the 2-day wait for a reply.
Sellers are also told they have two calendar days to deal with a return request. Otherwise, they risk a Not As Expected claim. But buyers aren’t made aware that they need to wait for two whole two days for authorization, so they file claims anyway.
That’s not all. As the screenshot below shows, some sellers are only given 2-3 days to represent their case, or they forfeit. Oddly, the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee Policy for Merchants says you have 5 business days.
The Trouble with Amazon’s A-to-Z Policy
The timeline isn’t the only instance where buyers and sellers are told different things. The seller policy includes extra cases where buyers are allowed to file a claim, such as when:
- they received the item, but later than it was due based on your shipping terms;
- you don’t accept a return, and they feel this isn’t consistent with your return policy;
- they think you charged them more than what they agreed to pay.
But the most troubling thing is that the policy seems to have been changed for some sellers unofficially. Here’s what you should know before you challenge an INR claim today:
- You only get full protection if you ship on time using Buy Shipping labels.
- If your tracking information isn’t uploaded on Amazon before the claim is filed, and the maximum EDD or the 30-day deadline has lapsed, you lose the case.
- If a package is lost in transit and the tracking information proves it, the buyer wins the claim. It’s then up to you, the seller, to get a refund from the carrier.
- If the package is tracked, delivered, but claimed to be lost or stolen, the buyer wins the claim unless they are found to be A-Z guarantee abusers or fraudsters.
- Signature is a must. Amazon now expects some sellers to always have signature confirmation, not just tracking numbers or airway bills. Otherwise, it will grant claims to buyers by default.
- Pre-signature doesn’t matter much. If the buyer signed remotely using MyUSPS, and then realized something is missing, Amazon won’t expect them to chase up the carrier. The buyer wins the claim.
- Even if the buyer signs for the package in person, Amazon won’t always acknowledge it, despite what the terms say: The Good Thing About A-to-Z Claims on Amazon
There have been a few positive changes to how you can challenge A-Z claims, though. The claims page has a new layout and the whole process has been streamlined. Your claims are sorted by date. There’s also a very handy search bar so that rather than scroll through pages of claims, you find specific ones by order number.
Where the A-Z Guarantee Went Wrong
After reaching a decision, Amazon now classifies cases differently. If you lost a claim, you would have seen this tag: ‘Granted, Seller Funded’. It’s been replaced in the meantime with plain ‘Granted’, and the sub-reason is now displayed under this tag as ‘Seller-funded’, along with your deadline.
Depending on how the claim is rated, it may or may not have an impact on your ODR. To keep your ODR in check, you should know where Amazon draws that line. A claim will affect your ODR if it’s been tagged as:
- Granted > seller-funded
- Closed > order refunded
- Closed > order canceled (by either you or Amazon)
- Under review
A claim shouldn’t affect the ODR if it’s filed under:
- Granted > Amazon-funded
- Closed (denied)
- Claim Withdrawn
This means that when a claim isn’t going your way, your only option is to ask the buyer to withdraw it, even if you know you’re in the right. And as your window of opportunity is squeezed, you need to be quicker and more persuasive. The bottom line is you may now have only 2-3 days – not 5 business days – to convince a buyer to withdraw.
To make matters worse, there’s no way now for buyers to withdraw a claim from their order dashboard. Sure, they can reverse a refund or cancel a return request, even after it’s authorized – which is like asking them to say no to free money. But this does nothing to restore a seller’s metrics.
Then there’s the small matter of appealing. Even if they agree you’re right, they may not change the status of the claim after an appeal. Instead, they might tell you to contact Seller PerformanceA measure of how well Amazon sellers are… More yourself to ask that they disregard these A-Z claims from ODR calculations. Expect a reply within 48 hours.
It’s clear to see Amazon is making it harder for some sellers to stay in business. As A-Z claims appeals become a race against time, underperformers will soon be gone. But with rules this strict, they might take honest Amazon sellers along with them. To stay afloat, remember to focus on your options.
We like to think every claim on Amazon is an open-and-shut case, but that’s not necessarily so. If your selling privileges are affected by a spate of claims, and you’d like to reinstate them, get in touch with our Account Rescue team. And if you have any insight into the latest changes to the A-Z guarantee policy, we’d love to read your comments below.
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments, and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed
10 Responses
I purchased 70kg treadmill from third party seller. The order stated a uk plug adapter would be mailed separately, which was delivered to neighbour. I contacted seller and was advised they were returning treadmill as would not deliver to my office. Amazon A-Z denied on appeal as they state the treadmill was the o.10kg treadmill! Amazon has refused to communicate and wont allow me to send them provable evidence from seller item has been returned. I’m taking legal action and cancelled prime membership. Regards Dave.
Hello,
I’m sorry that you had this frustrating experience with Amazon. They are generally very customer oriented, so it’s surprising that they’d deny your claim. I do know that they prefer things to be worked out between the seller and the customer, if possible. Have they refunded you? If not then we may be able to help. Feel free to email me at services@sellerengine.com, and I can help you get to the bottom of this.
I just successfully filed an A-Z claim. Item was lost in transit, and the tracking details proved it. However, seller refused to re-ship or refund package. They are trying to exploit a loophole that as long as they respond to any inquiry by myself or Amazon support, then an A-Z claim cannot get filed. However, i escalated to a supervisor who did and up filing for me successfully. These sellers are not usually the victims here. It’s the buyers like myself who are.
How did You reach a supervisor please? The only thing we can seem to get are automated responses… Thanks for Your time…
I used the chat feature and asked them to call me back
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html
yes, i had the same experience as a buyer . The seller was wasting my time with unnecessary back and forth for almost 2 months.I also tried to let him know that a-z claim will impact him and gave him a chance to resolve, he still refused Finally Amazon supervisor stepped in and approved my claim
There are a lot of moany sellers on the internet complaining that they are being treated unfairly by Amazon. None of them seem to have very much to say about how to ensure that customers are protected against sellers not behaving well. I should like to hear them say more about that than when they complain about whether they can respond in 3 days of 5. There are lots of sellers running scams.
john.quaye
Under review (not public)
i bought a used razor laptop worth 1626.56gbp from amazon. i returned it because they sent me a slightly different specced one. Amazon has received the item closed my account and refused to return the laptop or my money. This has been on since December. I have been on with this for a while and tbh I am thinking of doing the most extreme thing like burn their warehouse or something.
An idiot of an account specialist won’t look into my issue and sends me generic emails. I have no idea what to do but at this point, I am losing it and if I knew whoever was responsible for this I could genuinely kill him/her.
The police have been useless in this case after I reported as they say it’s a civil matter and that I should resolve it with the merchant.
Any ideas of anything I could do? please I’m really losing it
Hello,
I’m really sorry to hear about this. Sometimes Amazon does block buyer accounts because of returns or refunds. Did they offer any explanation as to why they decided to terminate the account?
You can contact us here: https://sellerengine.com/services/ to better understand your case.
Best regards,
Irina
Great article. I am a seller, the info was very helpful.
This is a legit case where I ask for your insight and feedback. It might help some other sellers with similar situations.
Buyer opened an A to z claim stating Package didn’t arrive. A to z claim is automatically granted without representation and buyer is refunded.
4 days later buyer calls my 800 number and say that she has recieved the order and asks guidance on what to do regarding Amazon because she already recieved her money back and she wants to do things right.
I don’t want to give her the wrong advise and make things worse.
As a seller: Am I allowed to ask buyer to withdraw the A to Z claim?
Can buyer withdraw the claim even after claim has been granted and refunded?
Will I be able to get the A to z claim removed from my metrics?
Thank yo so much. I hope the feedback also serves for some other sellers in similar situations.