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Weight... There was a time my friend was rather displeased with Amazon with how they treated their small company. So they wrote a script to find all the heavies

Weight... There was a time my friend was rather displeased with Amazon with how they treated their small company. So they wrote a script to find all the heaviest items they had that allowed 1 or 2 day shipping. Over the course of a month they ordered nearly 2 tons of safes and other heavy objects with express delivery options. They returned most (yep they sent them the label to ship back a 500 lb rifle safe) but gave away some of the safes to friends and donated some of the furniture. Most of the SKUs they ordered are no longer eligible for prime delivery. This was several years ago.

NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
It's definitely not just weight - I ordered two different sizes of high-visibility mesh vests (basically almost weightless) and when I went to return one, Amazon told me to keep it. I think it was about a $10-12 item. The only other time this has happened for me was with some wine glasses; one out of the four in the package (single stock unit) was broken and they said I should keep the item. I guess in general they're not interested in receiving broken glass returns.
- dr_orpheus 4y ago
  On the other hand, I got a hair pomade in a small glass jar that broke during shipping. I tried to get a refund option without returning, but wouldn't let me. So I sent a plastic bag full of hair pomade and broken glass back to Amazon...
  - NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
    I wonder if it's just done by product category or something; e.g. different assumptions for stemware vs hair-care.
- AustinDev 4y ago
  Huh, that's so odd they must have a more sophisticated algorithm now... 5-7 years ago it was all about weight from my observations.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
  The only reason to ask for the 3 glasses back would be to make sure you don't intentionally break one (or claim one was broken) to get the remaining ones for free. Whether it's glass or not, as soon as it's not resellable as the original product it becomes worse than worthless. There is no sane way for them to deal with a SKU of "3 glasses", total quantity: 1.
  - NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
    OK sure; but they ask for returns of stuff that's just plain dead-on-arrival, which is just as bad, if not worse. I ordered some batteries for portable two-way radios. Some of them arrived completely dead (zero volts; high impedance at the charging terminals) and sure enough they want them back even after I indicate they're bad.
robotnikman 4y ago
Anecdotal, but I heard from a friend that one of his friends was able to get a $2000 laptop on Amazon by complaining that the screen was cracked (it wasn't) and they were told to just keep it. They were then issued a full refund.
Havoc 4y ago
Did similar non-maliciously. I was on a remote island and wanted a standing desk - they're heavy AF. Amazon sellers kept cancelling the order. ...amazon warehouse on the other hand worked no questions asked despite questionable economics

NovemberWhiskey 4y ago

It's definitely not just weight - I ordered two different sizes of high-visibility mesh vests (basically almost weightless) and when I went to return one, Amazon told me to keep it. I think it was about a $10-12 item. The only other time this has happened for me was with some wine glasses; one out of the four in the package (single stock unit) was broken and they said I should keep the item. I guess in general they're not interested in receiving broken glass returns.

dr_orpheus 4y ago
On the other hand, I got a hair pomade in a small glass jar that broke during shipping. I tried to get a refund option without returning, but wouldn't let me. So I sent a plastic bag full of hair pomade and broken glass back to Amazon...
- NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
  I wonder if it's just done by product category or something; e.g. different assumptions for stemware vs hair-care.
AustinDev 4y ago
Huh, that's so odd they must have a more sophisticated algorithm now... 5-7 years ago it was all about weight from my observations.
tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
The only reason to ask for the 3 glasses back would be to make sure you don't intentionally break one (or claim one was broken) to get the remaining ones for free. Whether it's glass or not, as soon as it's not resellable as the original product it becomes worse than worthless. There is no sane way for them to deal with a SKU of "3 glasses", total quantity: 1.
- NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
  OK sure; but they ask for returns of stuff that's just plain dead-on-arrival, which is just as bad, if not worse. I ordered some batteries for portable two-way radios. Some of them arrived completely dead (zero volts; high impedance at the charging terminals) and sure enough they want them back even after I indicate they're bad.

robotnikman 4y ago

Anecdotal, but I heard from a friend that one of his friends was able to get a $2000 laptop on Amazon by complaining that the screen was cracked (it wasn't) and they were told to just keep it. They were then issued a full refund.

Havoc 4y ago

Did similar non-maliciously. I was on a remote island and wanted a standing desk - they're heavy AF. Amazon sellers kept cancelling the order. ...amazon warehouse on the other hand worked no questions asked despite questionable economics