The Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee: Between Sales Genius and Return Madness
Have you ever made a wrong purchase? A pair of pants with a terrible pattern? Or perhaps a connection cable with the wrong type of connector? If you bought in a physical store, you can go back and hopefully exchange the item. However, if you shopped online, you can’t just pop back into the store. The same applies to warranty claims. That’s why Amazon offers its customers a comprehensive buyer protection with the A-to-Z Guarantee when there are issues with an order from a marketplace seller, such as defective goods. This way, customers do not have to contact the Amazon seller directly but receive their refund directly from Amazon.
The Amazon warranty in the form of the A-to-Z Guarantee also applies when goods are not received. For customers, this has the advantage that they can rely on Amazon in the event of a warranty claim instead of having to resolve the matter solely with the seller. However, for you as a seller, the A-to-Z Guarantee means that Amazon decides on the warranty case – unilaterally and usually without involving the actual seller. To make matters worse, Amazon also considers a warranty claim when calculating seller performance, putting additional pressure on sellers from this side.
But first, we want to clarify what conditions Amazon sets for the A-to-Z Guarantee, which cases the buyer protection covers, and how the customer can make use of this Amazon guarantee.
Claiming with Amazon: What is the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee?
Shopping online always carries a small risk for customers: Is the product as described? Is the seller reputable? Will I receive defective or damaged items? All of these are uncertainties that can be easily resolved in physical retail – in e-commerce, this is naturally more challenging.
To alleviate such concerns for customers and create a trusting basis, Amazon has introduced the free A-to-Z Guarantee. This guarantees customers that the online giant will intervene and refund the purchase price under certain conditions if there are problems with an order. Customers can be assured that by making a claim, they will get their money back, even if the marketplace seller may be less accommodating. From the perspective of the e-commerce giant, this is a clever move: Customer trust increases, and sales rise.
Occasionally, the A-to-Z Guarantee is also referred to as “Amazon A to Z” or “Amazon AtoZ.” However, it refers to the same thing. In this article, we will consistently use the German term.
When does the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee apply?
When can a complaint be submitted to Amazon? What requirements must be met for a customer to file a warranty claim with Amazon? In general, the customer must have purchased a physical product through the Amazon website from a third-party seller or used the payment service Amazon Payments to acquire goods from a third-party seller. Additionally, at least one of the following conditions must be met for the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee:
Additionally, the customer must give the seller the opportunity to resolve the issue before they can file a claim. For this, it is necessary for the customer to contact the seller through “My Account” and give them two business days* to respond. The actual warranty claim must be submitted to Amazon no later than 90 days after the order date.
On this corporate help page, it mentions two calendar days for delivery and two business days for a response. However, the help pages for the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee state three days for each. Therefore, sellers should respond to the customer as quickly as possible, just to be safe.
Which cases are excluded from the A-Z Guarantee through Amazon?
Buyers can rely on the A-to-Z Guarantee for an order through Amazon – in most cases. However, there are some exclusion criteria where the e-commerce giant does not provide a refund. This primarily concerns non-physical items such as payments for services, digital products, and monetary payment methods like gift cards.
Therefore, anyone wishing to file a warranty claim with Amazon related to an e-book or a music download is not entitled to do so. The same applies if the respective bank has reversed the charge for payments made by credit card or direct debit. Customers also do not have a right to the Amazon guarantee if the defective item was not reported to the seller within 14 days or if it involves opened products from the health or beauty sector.
Of course, all cases of the Amazon product guarantee that do not meet the requirements are also excluded. This may be the case if the item did indeed match the description on the product detail page or if the shipment was delivered properly and the seller could prove this.
It may also happen that the claim for the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee is denied because the buyer, for example, did not return the item or wanted to invoke the guarantee with Amazon simply because they regretted the purchase.
Can the Amazon customer retract the A-to-Z Guarantee claim?
For Amazon to review the warranty claim, it takes some time. In the meantime, it may happen that the matter resolves itself, for example, because the seller and customer have found a mutual solution. As long as the claim for the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee is still being reviewed, sellers have the option to ask the customer to retract the claim. The buyer can do this by contacting customer service or responding to the confirmation email of the claim submission.
If sellers and buyers reach an agreement even after the guarantee has been granted, the customer should also contact customer service to trigger a recharging of their account for this order and to close the warranty case.
What are the effects of an A-to-Z Guarantee claim on Amazon for the seller?
In principle, the rules for the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee sound reasonable: it applies, for example, in cases of defective goods or shortcomings by the seller, who must be given a certain amount of time to resolve the issues before a warranty claim can be filed. Additionally, the customer must cooperate by providing information and returning the goods.
However, the reality seems to be different. Numerous sellers report in threads in relevant forums about their experiences and the massive problems with the guarantee for products sold on Amazon.de. There are repeated mentions of missing returns from customers, invalid justifications, fraud, or difficult communication with the digital giant. Often, Amazon makes the decision to approve the warranty claim and refunds the amount without having received a return from the customer. Therefore, for the Amazon seller, the A-to-Z Guarantee often means both the loss of the purchase price and the goods. This is particularly frustrating for sellers when it becomes evident that some customers have deliberately exploited the A-Z Guarantee to keep the goods and request a refund.
UPDATE May 2020: The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has ruled that Amazon sellers are not bound by the A-to-Z Guarantee (Az. VIII ZR 18/19). The judges criticized that the criteria for the guarantee remained unclear and saw no possibility of reaching a solution that considers interests, as the seller cannot contest Amazon’s decision. Therefore, sellers can directly demand refunded money from Amazon from the customer if they believe that a product was delivered intact, even if the customer claims otherwise. In case of doubt, the seller can file a lawsuit against the customer.
What to do if the customer keeps the goods?
Typically, buyers return the products when they make use of Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee. However, sometimes this does not happen – which is doubly frustrating for the seller, as they have neither received the money nor the item back. Since Amazon is responsible for FBA transactions, the shipping giant now owes the seller a refund. Such discrepancies appear in the FBA reports but can only be discovered manually with a lot of effort.
FBA sellers should definitely use a service that uncovers such FBA errors. SELLERLOGIC Lost & Found Full-Service is not only capable of identifying all FBA errors that occur with your products, but the software solution also automatically analyzes all FBA transactions. What does this mean for you exactly? After setting up SELLERLOGIC Lost & Found Full-Service, you won’t have to worry about it anymore…
SELLERLOGIC Lost and Found Full-Service fully retrieves the money that you are entitled to from FBA errors on Amazon.
If you do not use a service like the one from SELLERLOGIC, the aforementioned situation can become not only frustrating but also time-consuming for you as an online seller. Finding the correct reports is just the first part of the process. After that, you need to approach Amazon’s customer support with the reports and their meaningful evidence. From experience, we can tell you that this exchange of messages can often take more time than most sellers would like.
Impact on Seller Performance from the Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee
For online sellers, the A-to-Z Guarantee has further implications: First, seller performance plays a crucial role in the battle for the Buy Box; second, there is also an impact on the ranking of private label goods within search results. If Amazon takes over the guarantee for an order, it is considered a deficiency on the part of the seller and is reflected in the overall assessment of seller performance.
The rate of order deficiencies refers to the last 60 days and must not exceed 1%; otherwise, the seller account is at risk of suspension. To have a chance at the Buy Box, however, the rate should be as close to 0% as possible.
FAQ
No, but according to the ruling of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), one can take action against the buyer. This makes sense when it is evident that the buyer is intentionally invoking the guarantee to keep both the purchase price and the product.
If a package has been lost at Amazon or something similar, the A-Z Guarantee must be requested. However, there is no special process required for this. It is sufficient for the buyer to claim that the product is defective. The Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee allows customers to rely on Amazon in the event of a warranty claim instead of contacting the seller directly. For sellers, this means that the e-commerce giant decides on the warranty case independently, often without involving the seller.
Sellers often bear the costs, as determined by the BGH, which highlights the imbalance in the relationship between buyers, Amazon, and sellers. Buyers benefit from a comprehensive guarantee, which in turn leads to increased traffic on the platform. However, this concept does not provide for any input from sellers, even though it concerns their products and revenue. In the worst-case scenario, sellers can lose both their products and their revenue, often without a refund from Amazon. Therefore, Amazon sellers can take legal action against buyers if they deem it necessary.
The Amazon A-Z Guarantee generally requires the return of the product in most cases to be eligible for a refund or replacement. However, there are exceptions for certain digital products or services where no return is necessary. It is advisable to check the specific terms of the guarantee for each product. Additionally, sellers should track whether the customer has actually returned the product, as Amazon does not always thoroughly check the receipt of goods in the warehouse.
A refund is generally guaranteed, meaning that customers can request a refund of shipping costs in certain situations. However, it depends on the specific conditions of the order, such as the selected shipping plan or whether the item was sold and shipped by Amazon or a third-party seller.
Image credits in the order of the images: © fotogestoeber – stock.adobe.com / © fran_kie – stock.adobe.com
