When Selling on Amazon Goes Wrong

You may be thinking about selling items on Amazon or have already joined and are very proud of your 100% feedback score, but what you may not have thought about is how to handle those challenging situations that will arise in the next days, weeks or months that may break your spirit, business, or even your bank. The following are real life issues that occur with merchants and buyers on Amazon and advice on how you may want to deal with these challenges when they occur.

"I paid for my package and haven't received it yet." This is one of the most popular complaints from buyers. If you sent the item with delivery confirmation or tracking, you have nothing to fear, because you have the proof that the item was indeed sent. However, if there is no insurance coverage purchased with the item, then you will be refunding the buyer whether you like it or not. At the time of this writing, the United States Postal Service will only offer to make a claim for your customer's lost package, but without insurance, they will not pay for it.

"My package arrived damaged." It is difficult to determine whether this buyer is telling the truth or trying to get out of paying, but as we all know the delivery companies are not perfect. The easiest thing to do is offer a refund, but you might want to collect information and photos from your customer about what exactly happened, refund them or direct them to the carrier to file a claim if the package was insured.

"My product doesn't work. I want an exchange or a refund." An exchange on a product a buyer claims is defective or doesn't work isn't always worth the headache you may encounter if they become dissatisfied with the exchange for any reason. If it didn't work for your customer the first time around, it may not work for them the second time around. Telling them to return the item, so that you may inspect it will cause some customers additional grief. The reason is due to the inconvenience of them having to fill out paperwork about the return, taking the product to the shipping company, and having to pay for the return shipping-- all of which will most likely be journaled in the next angry email that they send you.