[CydeWeys]

I can count on one hand the number of online orders I've had to return in the past five years. Usually it's RMAing an electronic device that was DOA, or a product that looked iffy on the order page and ended up being complete junk. Now, to Amazon's detriment, there's a lot of things I don't even attempt to buy on it anymore because there's so much low quality junk being sold.

Who returns dozens of items in a year?! That's like the picky customer that no restaurant wants to have to deal with.

[joesmo]

"Who returns dozens of items in a year?! That's like the picky customer that no restaurant wants to have to deal with."

Someone that's doing tens of thousands of dollars of business with Amazon a year. You know, the most "valuable" customers Amazon seems to hate for giving them so much fucking money.

[lsaferite]

I spend in the 10's of thousands range with Amazon and I return at most a dozen items a year.

Based on the wording used in the article he was buying big ticket items and returning, not replacing, them. That always tosses a red flag.

[joesmo]

Based on my own experience and that of my family members, what you buy and return is irrelevant. The monetary value also seems irrelevant. My account was closed for returning around $100 worth of junk, mostly broken shoes and clothes that don't fit. A lot of shoes and clothes on Amazon are just cheap crap and break all the time, but they'll still close your account for returning too many of them. The point is, returning 10% or even 30% of the shit Amazon sells is not only reasonable, it's to be expected given the quality--or lack thereof--of products on Amazon, especially in certain categories. And even returning big ticket items happens all the time. I bought a 4k 40" monitor that was broken and multiple Roomba-like robots that all broke amongst other things.

There is just absolutely no excuse for what Amazon is doing here. If they want such a policy it should be public. Otherwise, they're just fucking over their customers arbitrarily. It's that simple. If people want to defend Amazon in this matter, that's fine, but let's be perfectly clear about the fact the customers have done nothing wrong by definition in all these cases. Amazon policy clearly does not state any limits on returns. In fact, the availability of a paid Prime membership whose only purpose (that's actually worth any money) is to allow for quick shipments and simple, quick returns would suggest that they have a policy that accepts returns.

For all intents and purposes, Amazon does not allow returns. If there is a chance you might be stuck with a shitty, defective product because Amazon refuses to follow its published policy, they might as well not even have such a policy since it's meaningless.

This company can't even follow its own written policies. It's clear they don't give a fuck about any of their customers. And yet we still trust these assholes with our computing infrastructure, digital goods, and worst of all money?

[CydeWeys]

Stop buying junk! How many times do you have to be bitten before you establish some kind of quality floor on your purchases? There's entire categories of products that I won't buy on Amazon because the odds of getting shit are too high. There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

> Amazon policy clearly does not state any limits on returns.

Amazon is a private company. They are not required to do business with you. That's in their policy too. Returns are guaranteed; your continued ability to do business with them is not. Though why you keep going back to them after they keep selling you items of such inferior quality I can't discern.

[joesmo]

Sure, blame the victim.

As if I'm supposed to know that Amazon--or any other company--will throw a hissy-fit when I'm using their product according to their own rules. Now I have to be both a mind reader and fortune teller just to buy things online?

[CydeWeys]

You're being hyperbolic. You bought a lot of stuff and returned a lot of stuff, and now you can't buy any more stuff from Amazon. You are not a "victim" because they no longer want you as a customer.

[raisedbyninjas]

The examples in the article showed people were returning 10-30% of their purchases. Servicing these customers is not sustainable for retailers. Return policies do vary by retailer, manufacturer and product . It is common to load up returns on a pallet and auction them to the reseller/flipper market around 75% off.

[joesmo]

Walmart has no problems with them. What you're essentially saying (I think) is that generic online retailers cannot handle the amount of returns they need to to stay in business so they need to get rid of customers to stay profitable. Seems spot on to me.

[raisedbyninjas]

Walmart is a retailer that does this. https://liquidations.walmart.com I don't know if they work on tracking returns by user, but they take a decent loss on returns. Without anonymous cash purchasers, it's easy for Amazon to filter out abusers.

[CydeWeys]

Retail stores do prohibit returns for people that abuse the returns process. You've never had a retail store ask for your driver's license to process a return? They're doing it to enter your information into their system, to determine if it's abuse.