Amazon seller wants me to cancel my return request. Should I?

June 8, 2018 10:58 AM

Ordered a fan from a 3rd party seller. Bottom line, I have to hold the thing 6" from my face to feel any air moving. I requested a return on Amazon. Seller tried to screw around with what they were willing to do. They've finally agreed to follow Amazon policy, after about a dozen emails back and forth, and are asking me to cancel my return request now that they've issued a refund. Should I?

The first email from them after I submitted my return:

We are sorry that you are not satisfied with our products. You need to pay for shipping to China, but the shipping cost will be very expensive. Please think again. We can withdraw 10 US dollars as compensation and we apologize for any inconvenience caused to you.
We look forward to your reply and wish you a happy life!

My response:

That is not acceptable. Amazon states in their returns policy that "Third-party sellers must either provide a return address within the United States, provide a prepaid return label, or offer a full refund without requesting the item be returned."


I look forward to either receiving a prepaid return label, a return address withing the US, or a full refund without returning this item.


Thank you very much.

Their reply:

We shipped this product from China,so we can't provide a return address in the United States. If you need to return it, you need to pay for it yourself. We apologize for the inconvenience.

My response:

I understand that you shipped it from China. Since you are unable to provide a return address in the United States, your options are to either provide me with a prepaid return label, or to refund my money without requiring a return of the fan. That's directly from Amazon's return policy, to which you link on your seller page.

Their reply:

Returning to China is impossible, but full refund of our losses is also very large. We will refund you $USD40 and you will not have to retreat the the Cooling Fan. May you accept it?
We will improve product quality, thank you for your understanding and cooperation, look forward to your reply, we wish you a happy life!

My response:

I do not accept that. The fan itself was $48.08, and the shipping I paid was another $9.90, for a total of $57.98. $40 is barely 2/3 of what I paid you for this fan that doesn't work.

Their reply:

Okay, we give you a full refund and the fan you keep.

Three minutes later, they sent:

We have given you a full refund. Please cancel your return request as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation. We wish you a happy life!

I'm absolutely not cancelling my return request before I have money in hand; I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. But I don't know what cancelling the return request would do after I have my money back. I've been googling for an hour, and I can't find any answers. What say you?

posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess to Shopping (16 answers total)

Why don't you just wait until the money is in your account and then cancel the return request? I don't see what the urgency is.
posted by notorious medium at 11:02 AM on June 8, 2018 [13 favorites]

Best answer: Contact Amazon customer service. They are typically responsive and helpful.
posted by mochapickle at 11:02 AM on June 8, 2018 [16 favorites]

Best answer: Yep to contacting Amazon- especially so they know about this crappy seller.

Other than that, money before canceling the request or anything else they ask. And review the company to warn others.
posted by crankyrogalsky at 11:04 AM on June 8, 2018 [19 favorites]

"as soon as possible" is when you have your money back.

I would guess that Amazon probably keeps track of the number of returns requested, as one of its metrics on whether a seller should be allowed to sell on their platform, the way retailers keep track of whether items get returned regularly in determining whether they should sell them.

My vote is F these people. It's a disservice to all of us to keep junk purveyors alive.
posted by fingersandtoes at 11:57 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Yes, call customer service. I had a similar situation with a Marketplace seller and it took about two minutes for Amazon Customer Service to post a full refund to my account, and told me I did not need to return the item. 1 [phone].
posted by Kriesa at 12:05 PM on June 8, 2018 [13 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah, repeatedly refusing to follow Amazon's policy is worth calling Amazon Customer Service about in my opinion. The fact that they finally say they're going to refund you (or even if they actually have at this point) is far too little, far too late. Go ahead and call or email Amazon - I'd want to share that string of emails with them as well.
posted by DingoMutt at 12:26 PM on June 8, 2018 [8 favorites]

Best answer: I definitely think you should turn them in to Amazon. They're going to pull this on other customers, who might not be aware of Amazon's policies that would protect them from this kind of thing.
posted by katyggls at 12:36 PM on June 8, 2018 [11 favorites]

Best answer: As an Amazon user I would appreciate it if you did not cancel the return request and also forward the whole chain to amazon customer service. These are bad sellers and I would prefer they not be on the platform.
posted by shothotbot at 12:44 PM on June 8, 2018 [25 favorites]

Tell them you'll cancel it only after you receive your refund and it posts. Then, I probably would just "forget" to cancel and ignore them once I got the money back. These people don't deserve your cooperation.

My guess is that they want you to cancel the return request because returns "ding" sellers. I'm sure Amazon keeps track so that if a particular product is being returned at a high rate, they may remove the product from the site or remove the seller. I wouldn't cancel the request on those grounds, and I would give the fan a verified 1-star review too.
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:18 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Amazon Customer Service should be able to intervene and make sure that the money is refunded if the payment ran through their platform. On the few times I've needed to contact them, they've been ridiculously easy to work with and have gone out of their way to make sure that everything works out. You should take no steps other than to contact them to get their advice as to how to proceed.
posted by jgreco at 4:19 PM on June 8, 2018

Best answer: Crazy--I had the same thing happen with a seller from China. They told me the shipping would cost more than the item, then offered a partial refund, then a slightly larger partial refund, and it took a few days to get them to agree to 100%. Definitely pass this along to Amazon.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 4:53 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Report them. Taobao sellers are migrating to Amazon and the rules are very different. They will go on to scam someone else if you don't shut them down.
posted by frumiousb at 5:48 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]

Best answer: FYI this is exactly how it goes - they know they're selling a shitty product and are counting on you to "be nice" and accept the $40 offer or something lower. +1 tell Amazon
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:10 PM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]

Best answer: I have seen wording to the effect of "This item has 60 percent fewer returns than similar items," on Amazon product pages, so they certainly keep track of return rates. Don't cancel the return.
posted by soelo at 8:31 AM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Crazy--I had the same thing happen with a seller from China. They told me the shipping would cost more than the item, then offered a partial refund, then a slightly larger partial refund, and it took a few days to get them to agree to 100%. Definitely pass this along to Amazon.

Yes, I had exactly this as well, also from a seller from China. Don’t cancel the return request. Report to Amazon.
posted by sunflower16 at 3:15 PM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Everyone who suggested contacting Amazon got a best answer on this one. I got my full refund, and didn't have to send the thing back (I'm considering using it for target practice). On top of that, the page where the fan was sold is now gone.

Amazon customer service couldn't have been more helpful.

Thank you all!
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 7:30 PM on June 11, 2018 [3 favorites]