I've used Amazon to sell books, movies and cds without incident for several years. As matter of fact I've always enjoyed great success with their 3rd party selling system. No more. I have turned 180 degrees on them in a heartbeat. Let me explain why.
After mailing out an order for a SACD I was selling through them a buyer claimed she did not receive it. She put forth a claim on the order. Once a claim has been made the seller is required to respond to it in a certain time frame, which I did. In my defense I simply stated that the item had been sent promptly with an upgrade in shipping free of charge, pointing out that if the seller did indeed not receive the item then it must have been lost in the mail. Later that day I received an email stating that the investigation was complete and that I was liable for the reason of unsuccessfully representing my case. Boom just like that, no further correspondence no questions or calls, just boom you're liable and the associated funds were removed from my account balance.
I inquired further to get more specific details and got a mostly canned response with reference and links to the A-Z guarantee policy which governs 3rd party sellers. Along with this was a small blurb about how I did not provide proof the item was delivered, even though I very clearly told them that I was completely willing to provide them with the original post office receipt that shows the purchase price of the 1st class shipping and the location and zip code that it was sent. The response from Amaon went on to say that the case was closed and that any further attempt to resolve the issue would be with correspondence from the buyer as they had washed their hands of me. The only possible way to reopen the case is having the buyer contact them to let them know that the item was received. As if like she's going to do me any favors after A) possibly being dishonest about not getting it in the first place or B) the late delivery of the item due to it being misplaced.
I'd already read in detail the A-Z policy, but what I did not read on the first go round was an important addendum that took place in June of 2007 that is deeply buried on the site. In fact, the only way I've found this specific information was by doing several google searches on the topic.
Policy changes
When first I had found out that there was a claim I kept thinking to myself well I guess from now on I'm forced to lessen my margains even more by sending with the added costs of delivery confirmation. After reading the policy changes, I'm not sure that would prove enough to avoid this from happening again. There's simply not enough protection for sellers.
Please if you sell through Amazon or know anyone who does, make them aware of the many pitfalls before they get burned like myself.
