3 ms·

this is a nightmare for merchants though, speaking from experience.

iamdave 15y ago
Nightmare re: cost/inventory or both? I can kind of see how this works for merchants selling through Amazon. AMZN provides the customer with a good experience, makes customer feel valued, customer is more inclined to buy more products despite a bad moment knowing they'll be taken care of. Probably not how it pans out in practice, however.
- leeoniya 15y ago
  the problem is, the customer is not always right. but your money and product is gone regardless...unless you're willing to jump through a ton of dispute hoops most of which take a long time and end up in favor of the customer on some obscure seller agreement clause. paypal does business this way as well.
  - tomkarlo 15y ago
    As a customer, that's how I want it to be. One of main reasons I consistently order from Amazon (and buy Prime) is the bad experiences I've had when trying to get customer service / return / exchanges on other sites. Saving $5 or $10 isn't worth it if I have to waste an hour dealing with issues like getting the wrong item shipped to me, or trying to return something. It's hard to argue with the logic behind a customer-centric policy here. Merchants are going to go where the customers are and they can spread the cost of dispute resolution, etc over far more transactions than an individual. Makes sense to inflict the "pain" on their side.
  - kahawe 15y ago
    In all fairness, if a few unfairly returned shoes are already almost figuratively putting you in the red, then you just might be in the wrong business or doing it wrong because online retail has clearly become this pond of a few HUGE fish who can easily afford to not care at all about returns - and customers love that and will keep coming back.
dman 15y ago
As a small time seller I can fully attest to this. I hate selling on Amazon just about as much as I love buying on Amazon.
- hyperbovine 15y ago
  Then why sell?
  - dman 15y ago
    Largely because there is no upfront marketing cost. Also while it has been inconvenient and frustrating at times I must admit that it is profitable.
nknight 15y ago
The only reason merchants get any business on Amazon is that customers are at least partly protected by Amazon's support infrastructure. I'm sympathetic regarding some of the more egregious stupidities Amazon has foisted on some merchants, but when it comes to this part, it's pretty unambiguously what you signed up for. Consider it from the other end: If you were selling autonomously on your own site, would you treat customers this well? What does your answer say about you? What impact do you think your answer will have on potential customers' choices?

Nightmare re: cost/inventory or both? I can kind of see how this works for merchants selling through Amazon. AMZN provides the customer with a good experience, makes customer feel valued, customer is more inclined to buy more products despite a bad moment knowing they'll be taken care of. Probably not how it pans out in practice, however.

leeoniya 15y ago
the problem is, the customer is not always right. but your money and product is gone regardless...unless you're willing to jump through a ton of dispute hoops most of which take a long time and end up in favor of the customer on some obscure seller agreement clause. paypal does business this way as well.
- tomkarlo 15y ago
  As a customer, that's how I want it to be. One of main reasons I consistently order from Amazon (and buy Prime) is the bad experiences I've had when trying to get customer service / return / exchanges on other sites. Saving $5 or $10 isn't worth it if I have to waste an hour dealing with issues like getting the wrong item shipped to me, or trying to return something. It's hard to argue with the logic behind a customer-centric policy here. Merchants are going to go where the customers are and they can spread the cost of dispute resolution, etc over far more transactions than an individual. Makes sense to inflict the "pain" on their side.
- kahawe 15y ago
  In all fairness, if a few unfairly returned shoes are already almost figuratively putting you in the red, then you just might be in the wrong business or doing it wrong because online retail has clearly become this pond of a few HUGE fish who can easily afford to not care at all about returns - and customers love that and will keep coming back.

dman 15y ago

As a small time seller I can fully attest to this. I hate selling on Amazon just about as much as I love buying on Amazon.

hyperbovine 15y ago
Then why sell?
- dman 15y ago
  Largely because there is no upfront marketing cost. Also while it has been inconvenient and frustrating at times I must admit that it is profitable.

nknight 15y ago

The only reason merchants get any business on Amazon is that customers are at least partly protected by Amazon's support infrastructure. I'm sympathetic regarding some of the more egregious stupidities Amazon has foisted on some merchants, but when it comes to this part, it's pretty unambiguously what you signed up for. Consider it from the other end: If you were selling autonomously on your own site, would you treat customers this well? What does your answer say about you? What impact do you think your answer will have on potential customers' choices?