Amazon updates its return policy during peak season, and consumers can get free stuff again...

Amazon has released two new policies in a row. Many cross-border sellers have been complaining after reading them: As a customer-centric company, Amazon has never been very friendly to sellers. These two new policies have vividly demonstrated the principle of "consumer first"!

With the peak season approaching, sellers are gearing up to make a killing during the peak season. However, when the peak season comes, Amazon naturally wants to make a killing as well, so it’s frantically “pleasing” consumers. Amazon has updated its return policy again— the peak season return period has been extended again, so consumers can get something for free again.

In addition to the new return policy, Amazon also updated its policy to introduce three mandatory ASIN attributes , which will take effect on October 26 .

Let’s take a look at the specific contents of these two new policies.

Amazon extends return period during peak season

Yien.com learned that yesterday Amazon issued an announcement entitled "Amazon Extends Holiday Return Policy". The announcement stated that Amazon's 2021 extended holiday return policy requires that most products purchased between October 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 are eligible for return before January 31, 2022. This is an annual temporary extension of the standard return window.

Amazon also mentioned that although the return window has been extended for most orders, return eligibility for all orders remains the same.

The general meaning of this announcement is that after consumers shop on Amazon from October 1 to December 31, they can return the goods before January 31 of the next year.

If consumers are all "three good students", then Amazon's new return policy will not harm the interests of sellers. After all, extending the return policy can give consumers a more pleasant shopping experience. However, looking at previous cases, many bad consumers always exploit loopholes in the platform's return policy and defraud sellers in many ways. Cross-border sellers have also lost a lot of money as a result. So when it comes to Amazon's various return policies, many cross-border sellers will "speak foul language" to express their strong dissatisfaction with Amazon's return policy.

As expected, after this policy update, Amazon was criticized by sellers again, and the complaints also show the bitterness of working for Amazon ↓

Seller A: Oh, that's great ...I can't wait to get all my Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas costumes and decorations back on January 31st;

Seller B: This is "especially interesting" for sellers who sell books because a buyer can buy a book and read it, pass it along to all their friends to read, and initiate a return in plenty of time to get a refund. Amazon is great... (serious sarcasm)

Seller C: October is already considered a holiday? If so, next year it will be September 1st, then August 1st, and soon the return period will be extended to 1 year ...

Seller D: Since the new return policy came into effect this year, my returns have more than doubled. I lose money on every return. Now that it is the peak season and the return period has been extended, I estimate that I will lose even more.

From the words of the above sellers, it can be seen that Amazon’s return policy does have a great impact on sellers. In addition, Amazon also updated one of its return policies some time ago, approving return requests in less than 24 hours. Of course, this only applies to sellers who ship their own goods.

With Amazon's return policy being updated from time to time, many Amazon sellers are constantly "refreshed in their views" by the shameless behavior of bad consumers.

A cross-border seller said that he had been automatically refunded more than a thousand dollars recently. One of the scammers said that he received an empty package. The weight and delivery bill provided by this cross-border seller were useless. He could not issue a Safe-T for self-delivery, so he could only let consumers "bully" him. Another seller said that he had recently encountered a particularly strange refund. An order that had been successfully refunded was refunded again, and the refund amount was more than 4 times the selling price. Another cross-border seller said that a consumer applied for a refund for a product he sold 4 years ago, and Amazon actually agreed. The seller was angry and felt that "although he didn't understand Amazon's operation, he was deeply shocked."

"I lose money on every return. I work like a tiger, but now I see that I have made no profit and even have losses. If this continues, I will quit Amazon. I am so tired," said an Amazon seller who faced various unreasonable returns and refunds.

Amazon has extended the return period during the peak season. Sellers may get good orders in the next few promotions. However, if they are targeted by consumers with ulterior motives, there will be a lot of returns during the peak season in January next year. All friends should be prepared in advance...

In addition to the new return policy during the peak season, Amazon also issued another announcement early this morning regarding ASIN attributes, so sellers should pay attention.

Amazon introduces three mandatory ASIN attributes , effective October 26

Amazon's compliance has been ongoing, and there are regulations for sellers in all aspects. Yesterday, Amazon issued an announcement that stipulated the ASIN attributes , and it is mandatory. The content of the announcement is as follows ↓

In order to provide our customers with a better shopping experience, starting from October 26, 2021, we will introduce the following three mandatory attributes for listings created once or in batches.

1. Net content: a new attribute set for eight product types (PT)

2. Item form: Previously optional attributes will become required attributes for 86 PT

3. Number of items: Previously optional attributes will become required attributes for 154 PT

With these changes, when you submit new ASINs or update existing ASINs, all ASINs with the selected PT must have these attributes populated.

Amazon has also stated that failure to populate these mandatory attributes will prevent any new selections from being created in the relevant PT after October 21, 2021. Please note that this will not delete any selections you listed before October 21, 2021.

In order to provide a seamless shopping experience for customers , we strongly recommend that you update this information in your existing listings. If any of the selected PT ASINs in your inventory do not have a value for "Product Form" or "Product Quantity", you can start updating these attributes immediately.

Sellers must pay attention that when creating listings, they must fill in the ASIN attributes specified by Amazon, otherwise they will not be able to create any new options in the relevant product types.

Similar to the scene after the new return policy was released, the comment section of this new policy is also full of complaints from Amazon sellers. One Amazon seller expressed his dissatisfaction like this:

What is Amazon 's next new policy? I think Amazon sellers may need to go to consumers' homes to cook and clean for them for free , so that consumers can have a great shopping experience when shopping on the Amazon platform ...

Complaints aside, Amazon sellers should still actively abide by the platform's regulations, otherwise you will be the next one to get hurt ...

Amazon

return the goods

Peak Season