Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
Yes, it is.
It is Amazon's fault for not explaining. Maybe they are 100% correct in sending that e-mail, but the least they could do is tell Josie something like: "We see you have returned 11 of 50 items bought in the last 12 months. 10 of those 11 items were returned for reasons other than 'defective'. This is too much above the average number of returns per customer. Therefore we would like you to be more careful in your shopping."
In that case, Josie could say: "Ah, yes, I *did* return 20% of the items I bought... maybe the average return percentage is 12%, or 15%, so Amazon is right."
She could also say: "No, I didn't return so many items. Where did you get that number from?" And then, when Amazon shows her, it is discovered that some random internet person has hacked the account and has been fooling with it some way or another. Stranger things have happened on the net.
Until Amazon explains, neither we, nor Josie herself can know who is right. That is what causes all the anxiety: Amazon *might* be right, but Josie can't find out *why*, and thus she can't change her behavior, which endangers her continued existence of her account.
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A few writers have asked about this as far as ebook returns, but I imagine the answer applies across the board to all products--Amazon will NEVER disclose how much is too much because if it were to be public information, there are people who would keep it *right* under that number. So basically, the takeaway if you receive a letter as above is that "you are close to too many" be it returns or exchanges or whatever--your account was flagged because it hit some algorithmic number or some activity cause the flag. Now whether that is based on physical items, dollar amount, some odd combination, they won't tell you--because they do not want people to figure out what causes an account to be flagged. How closely something was reviewed or what rules were used, well, they won't tell you that.
I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the way it's handled. I've been on the other end of a CS question to do with how to get my author account listed when people search on Maria Schneider rather than Maria E Schneider (Was told after two emails they would no longer respond at all to my questions or suggestions on the issue). So I recognize that stonewalling is a poor way to do CS. Maybe they had reasons for telling me they wouldn't discuss it. I don't know. I moved on. There are plenty of issues to deal with as a writer at various retailers. There is no point in losing sleep over the policies of one because they ALL come and smack me at some point or other.
Just FYI: Walmart has a policy that you cannot return more than X items without a receipt in a 12 month period. I found this out because I returned several items and didn't bother to bring the receipt (I had the receipt. I didn't know it was an issue and when I forgot the receipt, I was told, "You've returned 3 items in x. You can return only two more in y without a receipt.)
So while it may appear to be all good and great at brick and mortar, they all have policies. You just need to know what they are.