For sellers, the cross-border journey is like going to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures , and they have to overcome many difficulties along the way. They need to flexibly respond to various policy changes and crackdown measures of the platform, and calmly deal with external problems such as exchange rate fluctuations and soaring freight costs. Not only that, they also have to guard against fire, theft and buyers, and always be vigilant against some buyers who take advantage of loopholes in the platform rules to get free stuff.
Cross-border navigation , return policy becomes a fraud protection umbrella? Buyer gets sued for taking goods worth $290,000 for free. #Amazon#Cross-border e-commerce##Cross-border headlines video account ▲ Video account focuses on cross-border navigation
Free-prostitution scams are emerging one after another. An American man defrauded $290,000 in 4 years! Some time ago, a tutorial on how to refund without return on Amazon appeared on the Internet , which caused a sensation. A buyer posted a video on Youtube, which taught in detail how to exploit loopholes in the Prime membership policy to get goods for free, attracting many buyers to follow suit.
After the video was exposed, it also aroused public anger, and many sellers denounced this blatant freeloading behavior. However, the sellers' complaints have not been responded to, and similar behaviors still occur repeatedly without effective improvement. Recently, according to foreign media reports, an American man discovered a loophole in Amazon's return policy and defrauded goods worth a total of approximately US$290,000 in four years. ▲ The picture comes from the Internet It was learned that the man had accumulated more than 300 fraudulent transactions on the Amazon platform in the four years from 2016 to 2020, and had successively purchased high-end and expensive goods such as coffee machines and new computers. The man submitted a return request soon after the goods were delivered, asking for a full refund. However, he did not return the products, but instead returned some damaged replacement products that were much less valuable than the original products. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the man on Monday. According to court documents, the man successfully obtained full refunds for more than 270 items, while the value of nearly 250 items he returned was far less than the products he received. Similar fraud cases are not uncommon. A woman in Florida, USA, was also arrested for a shipping and return reimbursement scam involving dozens of Amazon accounts. ▲ The picture comes from the Internet It is learned that the woman was accused of completing 42,000 personal returns on 31 Amazon accounts, with a total compensation amount of more than $100,000. According to the case report, the woman reused prepaid shipping labels generated for canceled orders and then applied them to other returns, creating the false appearance that shipping costs had been paid for the returns. A series of fraud cases have also confirmed that the phenomenon of taking advantage of loopholes in Amazon's return policy to get free orders is rampant. Whether it is using cheap goods to "switch one thing" or false payments, in the absence of limited channels for appeal, it has caused irreversible losses to sellers. The return policy has become a weapon for free shopping, and buyers frequently take advantage of it! Amazon's return policy has been changed many times, under the pretext of ensuring customer shopping experience and providing free return and refund services to customers who meet the return policy.
However, this policy has failed to fully protect the rights and interests of sellers, resulting in many opportunists exploiting policy loopholes to commit fraud, and both FBA sellers and self-shipping sellers have suffered greatly. Previously, a seller revealed that some time ago, Amazon saw a large number of orders that were directly refunded without return , accounting for 90% of the total orders. Regardless of the reason for the refund, the system automatically refunded the order, and it is suspected that speculators were taking advantage of the opportunity to make money. ▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan Another seller said that in just one week, there were 245 orders with the message "cannot be returned". The payment was automatically refunded to the buyer, but the goods could not be recovered. The reasons for the refund were mostly "I accidentally ordered the wrong item" and "I found a better price somewhere else." It can be seen from the complaints of the sellers that Amazon lacks strict review of the reasons for returns raised by buyers. Once an application is submitted, there is no room for maneuver and the refund will be made immediately and automatically, so the sellers' orders are simply wasted. Some sellers also pointed out that this phenomenon of refunding without returning goods is likely closely related to a new return policy of Amazon. Amazon Europe recently announced that starting from October 5, self-delivery sellers will be required to provide non-returnable refunds or domestic returns for products below 25 euros (20 euros for Amazon.co.uk). When fulfilling an order, Amazon will generate a prepaid return label that buyers can use to return the product. Sellers are required to set a default UK returns address. If no default UK returns address is provided for products below €25, Amazon will automatically issue a non-return refund to the customer on the seller’s behalf. In other words, if the seller does not set the required default return address, it is very likely that someone with ulterior motives will take advantage of the opportunity to successfully steal the goods for free. Amazon plans to launch a one-time delivery code service. Will freeloading be cracked down on? However, Amazon has not taken no measures to deal with the endless stream of freeloading activities.
Not long ago, Amazon officials said they were planning to launch a one-time delivery code service to provide more security for goods delivery. At the time of delivery, the recipient's Amazon account will receive a six-digit code. The customer must show the code to the delivery person to receive the package, and the delivery person will check whether the code is correct using the Amazon delivery app. This service helps prevent parcels from being lost or mis-delivered, and also makes it easier for customers to confirm whether the goods are damaged or have quality issues. However, since face-to-face delivery is required, it wastes a lot of time between couriers and customers compared to receiving goods at express lockers. So, what is Amazon's intention in introducing this policy? In fact, in a free tutorial that was widely circulated before, an article introduced such a trick: enter a delivery address that is far away from your residence. When the courier arrives, do not confirm the package immediately after signing for it. This can provide a reason for initiating a refund later. ▲ The picture comes from the Internet If Amazon implements this delivery policy, buyers will need to confirm whether there are any problems with the product during the signing process. This will also prevent buyers from initiating refund requests on the grounds that they did not receive the package or the goods were damaged. Of course, this service is currently only a small-scale test. Although it can effectively prevent some buyers from taking advantage of the service, it greatly increases the time it takes to complete the transaction, and it is not easy to popularize it on a large scale. If you want to completely eliminate the phenomenon of taking advantage of the service, you need to eradicate it from the source.
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