What is an A-to-Z claim? A-to-Z claim review

A-to-Z claim is a protection policy implemented by the Amazon platform for all buyers who purchase goods. If a buyer is not satisfied with the goods or services sold by a third-party seller, the buyer can initiate an Amazon Marketplace Transaction Guarantee Claim (A-to-Z) to protect his or her own interests.

About A-to-Z Claims

An A-to-Z claim is an Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee claim ("A-to-Z" or "A-to-Z claim") initiated by the buyer. Generally, only sellers who ship by themselves will receive an A-to-Z claim. If not handled properly, too many A-to-Z claims will cause the seller's store to be closed.

Conditions that buyers need to meet to initiate A-to-Z

1. The buyer has communicated with the seller through the "Contact Seller" button in "My Account".

2. The buyer has been waiting for the seller's response for more than 2 working days, but the seller has not responded to the buyer.

3. The buyer's claim must comply with the Amazon Marketplace Transaction Guarantee Claim.

The main reasons why sellers receive A-to-Z claims

1. Product reasons

The main reason is that there are significant differences between the product and the description on the page, including damage, missing parts, defects in the product itself, etc.

2. The buyer did not receive the order

Amazon will accept claims filed by buyers for not receiving orders due to the following situations.

The seller has arranged to deliver the order, but the buyer has not received the order package.

If the seller provides tracking information (such as courier tracking number) for tracking the order, indicating that the goods are expected to arrive within a certain period of time, but in fact cannot be delivered within the estimated or reasonable time, the claim initiated by the buyer will be approved and the seller shall be liable for compensation.

If the product is delivered through Amazon Logistics+ (FBA) and has tracking information, and the buyer claims that he did not receive the ordered goods and files a claim, Amazon will be responsible.

3. Buyer Deception

There are some buyers who have received the package but say they have not received it. They want to cheat you of your money and take your goods. However, since we cannot judge whether the buyer is lying, what we need to do at this time is to minimize our losses and try to get compensation from Amazon to reduce our losses.

4. If the buyer has returned the product but has not received a refund from the seller, the buyer can initiate an A-to-Z.

5. If the seller refuses the buyer's return, the buyer can initiate an A-to-Z.

The impact of A-to-Z claims on sellers

Within 7 days after the buyer files a claim, the seller needs to reply to the email notification regarding the claim. If the seller does not respond, Amazon will assume that the buyer wins after 7 days. Amazon approves the buyer's claim and refunds the buyer directly. At the same time, according to the agreement with the seller, the full claim amount will be deducted from the seller's account.

Dealing with A-to-Z claims is more difficult for sellers than general returns and exchanges. Once an A-to-Z claim is established, it will affect the seller's performance indicators, such as the Order Defect Rate (ODR) and Perfect Order (POP) scores, and the negative impact on the seller is obvious. If the seller does not have many orders, he should be more careful, because there may be a risk of the account being reviewed, frozen, or even closed because of one or two A-to-Z claims.

Situations where A-to-Z claims are not accepted

Amazon will not accept claims when the buyer encounters the following situations:

1. After the buyer places an order, the seller has a default of two working days to deliver the goods. If the buyer makes a claim during this period, it will not be approved.

2. The tracking information of the buyer's order (express delivery number) shows that the item is expected to be delivered soon. The buyer's claim at this point will not be approved. Amazon will ask the buyer to wait for the item to be delivered, and the seller will not be held responsible for the time being.

3. If the buyer refuses to accept the package, or claims to have returned the package to the seller but cannot provide the seller with a valid tracking number, the claim initiated by the buyer will not be accepted.

4. The seller has already refunded the buyer, and the buyer can no longer initiate an A-to-Z claim.

A-to-Z claim details

Log in to your Amazon account and click on the PERFORMANCE drop-down menu A-to-Z Guarantee Claims to check if there are any new claims. If there are any new claims, Amazon will also send a notification to the customer service email.

1. Buyers must contact the seller before opening a claim. If the buyer is not satisfied with the seller's service and the problem is not resolved after communication, the buyer can open a claim for the following issues: 1) The item was not received 2) The item received does not match the description, such as the item is damaged, has quality problems, is partially missing, etc.

2. Under normal circumstances, buyers can open a claim within 90 days of purchasing the item. In special cases, for orders that are more than 90 days but no longer than 6 months, buyers can also contact Amazon Customer Service, and Amazon will decide whether the buyer can open a claim;

3. The seller needs to follow up and reply on Amazon within 7 days after the claim is opened;

4. For orders that have been refunded or chargebacked, buyers cannot open a claim again;

PS: If the seller voluntarily rejects a claim (Claim Closed) or cancels an order (Order Canceled) without effective communication between the two parties, or contacts the buyer or Amazon casually for an A-to-Z that is already under review, and if the words are unclear or unreasonable, it may lead to the closure of the store.

What to do when you encounter A-to-Z

1. First, check the A-to-Z reason raised by the buyer. Is it due to the product itself, logistics, or other reasons?

2. Be sure to contact the buyer and apologize to the buyer for the problem. The email must not contain insulting or offensive language, and ask the buyer why he or she is filing a claim.

3. If the buyer replies to your email, it means that the buyer is still willing to negotiate with you to solve the problem. If there is a problem with the product itself, you can promise to send the customer another one. If the customer is unwilling to wait, you can also refund the customer (the prerequisite for the refund must be after the customer cancels the A-to-Z).

4. If the delivery time is too long, apologize to the buyer and explain the reason, promise to send a small gift to the customer, and suggest that the customer help cancel the A-to-Z.

5. If it is caused by Amazon, the seller only needs to state the problem directly to Amazon, and Amazon will investigate. Generally speaking, Amazon will directly revoke the A-to-Z.

For A-to-Z, the following practices are generally not recommended

1. Direct refund saves trouble, because if you do this, it is equivalent to admitting that you sell fake products of poor quality, etc. Doing this repeatedly will arouse Amazon's suspicion.

2. The seller voluntarily refuses to make a claim (Claim Closed) or cancels an order (Order Canceled) without effective communication between the two parties. Doing so may result in the closure of the store.

3. During the A-to-Z review, if you contact the buyer or Amazon casually and your words are unclear or unreasonable, it may lead to the closure of your store.