If you sell on Amazon you already know that buyers have figured out a way to escape paying for return shipping by simply selecting “Inaccurate Description” even though there is absolutely nothing inaccurate with it. 

This issue doesn’t just impact Amazon sellers; dishonest buyers are everywhere. It plagues our industry (wholesale) too. In the wholesale industry people will buy something (let’s say a 50 piece bulk lot that contains 25 Nike tees and 25 Puma tees). They will then claim it’s damaged (or pick any reason why it must be returned). When you get your merchandise back you discover they chose to keep 5 Nike Tees in size Large in addition to all of the size Large Pumas. Clearly this was a scam from the get-go to load up their closet. If you don’t issue the refund in full they file a chargeback and provide the credit card company the tracking number to “prove” they returned it… while never mentioning they are secretly stealing half of the order and double dipping on a full refund. Sigh. With that being said, you are not alone. People can be seriously sh*tty.

The main problem with Amazon “Inaccurate Description” claims is that the buyer doesn’t HAVE to tell you what was supposedly wrong with the listing. This also applied to “Defective” claims. This means either of the claims can mean literally anything ranging from the buyer choosing not to READ the listing to the merchandise seriously is missing parts to the wrong item was shipped or a diabolical Amazon competitor hijacked your listing without you knowing or anything in between. To make matters worse, as a seller you have no idea what is ACTUALLY going on until you get the item back. And nothing will piss you off more than getting back a “damaged or defective” item that arrives back to you brand new, still sealed.

Let’s get the bad news over with first because I always prefer to dump the bad news then hear the good news: As a business owner, you unfortunately have to deal with scammers. It’s just part of the game of working for yourself. Yep, it’s terrible. One time we had a lady order $8,000 worth of merchandise. We shipped it with Adult Signature Confirmation and fully insured. SHE signed for all 3 parcels. 3 MONTHS later we get hit with a chargeback. She claimed it “Never Arrived”. We then provide the credit card company with 100% proof that not only did it arrive but SHE also signed for all of the packages. Additionally we were able to get the carrier (USPS) to provide GPS evidence that all parcels were correctly delivered to her address. We were positive this was enough to easily give us back the $8,000 the credit card company removed from our account due to the fraudulent chargeback. Fast forward 90 days: MasterCard sided with her. We appealed the transaction and they denied the appeal and closed the case. We debated literally suing her however we are in Michigan and she is in California, which greatly complicates the need to appear in court numerous times. - So crappy. So evil. Such a rotten woman. But, life goes on. We wrote off the huge loss on our tax returns and kept going. It’s been many years since this happened and clearly it still makes me livid whenever it crosses my mind. The only way to prevent bullsh*t like this is to work for someone else and sign the back of your paycheck instead of the front.

Now let’s delve into the good news: You CAN charge a restocking fee in many cases. This information was taken directly from Amazon.com’s Seller Central on 6-12-21:

If you want to edit your “Return Settings” make sure you are logged into your Amazon Seller account and visit the Return Settings Page.

IN CLOSING:

Always, always, ALWAYS keep a list of your losses because even though it’s $8 for postage here and $12 for an item there, these amounts add up to a bit of loss at the end of the year and you want to be sure you are itemizing this loss on your taxes because you sure as hell don’t want to be paying taxes on loss! Also be sure to read our blog post 11 Things Every Online Seller Should Be Writing Off on Their Taxes as well as What to Do with Damaged Inventory - Don’t Throw it Out! 

Want more Amazon articles?  Check out our Amazon Blog Archives!