Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
I agree with your basic idea.
But in addition to that, I think the guidelines would lead to bad publicity due to sheer complexity.
If I was making the cutoffs, one big goal would be to limit shipping costs. So if someone returned a very heavy, relatively low priced item, the weighting would be high:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagg-Complet...words=dog+food
But if I returned an eBook five minutes after purchase, that might hardly count.
Something that has to be shipped, but is light, such as a computer chip, would count somewhere in the middle.
I'd also consider if shipping was free, if the item was returned with packaging intact, and whether the scenario required Amazon to pay return postage.
Then there's the return rate for the item purchased. If sized clothing has a very high return rate, and the customer only buys clothes, a higher return rate is going to be acceptable.
Then there's the question of whether the cutoff would be the same in every country. From a business standpoint, as a loyal Amazon middle manager, I'd be more strict if the shipping costs in that country are high. But if it ever got out, that, oh, say, Josieb1 got hit because of shopping while British, I don't think that would go over too well. |
How are these statistics collected? On one hand, they must be automatically generated (# of returns, $$$ value, etc), but regarding whether the item is (truly) faulty, returned in good condition or in sealed packaging, etc), this stuff is presumably performed in mass volume by minimum-wage worker drones whose pee-breaks are monitored and have utterly no investment in being professional. So it's pot-luck how returns are classified.