Amazon return

raspo

Here are the Hermes Tracking details.

raspo

To answer your other question - the return has been auto authorised, but since I fulfilled it, at the moment it looks like I need to allow the refund - I think because (as was mentioned) I've written to the buyer and told them I would refund when I received the item. But they have gone silent since I told them that amazon told me they have the return receipt and that we need to now make a claim if the parcel is lost as it's not fair for either buyer or seller to pay for it under those circumstances. So on my amazon desktop it is still waiting for me to authorise the refund to the buyer, which I have not done.  

raspo

Last bit of comment from amazon, who seem to indicate it was up to the buyer to purchase compensation/insurance:

As the Buyer has paid for the return label, the buyer can ask the Hermes for compensation.

Kindly refer the following pages for detailed information:
How to make claims for compensation: https://www.myhermes.co.uk/terms-and-conditions#Condition-6

Contact Hermes: https://www.myhermes.co.uk/help-and-support/help-centre#/

Amazon Prepaid Return Label (APRL) feature is enabled for all selling partners with a default return address in the UK. This means that all customer initiated returns requested via the Online Return Centre (ORC) that fall within the scope of the Amazon Return policy will be automatically authorised and will have a tracked prepaid return label issued via Buy Shipping services, provided that there is coverage by any of the third-party shipping service providers that support returns through Buy Shipping services.

If the seller purchased insurance on the parcel they may be able to raise a claim with their carrier if the item cannot be located.

BelMalinois

The tracking number is an Amazon generated one. There have been glitches since the auto returns started so possibly something has happened there but there would have been no option for the buyer to have paid for this label.

You cannot trust what Amazon staff tell you and they will not get involved in making a claim with Hermes. There is no option with the auto authorised returns to purchase more cover that is why high value goods need to be excluded from this system. In this situation, if your metrics can take the hit I would let this go to an A-Z claim and hope that amazon fund it.  At the moment Amazon are refunding buyers left, right and centre even when they're clearly scamming but they look more closely at claims for higher values. If you voluntarily refund this order you will never get full compensation from either Hermes or Amazon.

BelMalinois

By the way the buyer seems to have done nothing wrong here - they dropped it off and it left the Parcel Shop so it's gone astray somewhere.

raspo

The buyer has sent me the label sent to them by Amazon. And they have a receipt for dropping it off. I don’t think they were asked to pay anything - they thought Amazon handled the return form etc. So I didn’t pay for the return, the buyer didn’t pay for the return - is it possible Amazon didn’t pay either and Hermes realises and then just ditches these parcels?

what’s the best thing for me to do here? The buyer deserves his payment and I deserve my goods. What can I possibly do?

raspo

All my metrics with Amazon are perfect. I don’t sell that much stuff. But if I have the buyer ask for A to Z don’t Amazon just take the money from me?

BelMalinois

If you don't sell much then one A-Z claim will push you over the 1% allowed although I don't know if just one claim will cause a suspension. Someone on the Amazon forums had a situation to you and all they got back from Hermes was £20 plus the postage cost. The only thing that may help you here is that you haven't paid for the label and the A-Z claims team may think that the buyer paid for the label. In the past they have refunded out of their own pocket when buyers have claimed to return or have actually returned items have have never arrived. 

If an A-Z is opened you do get a chance to put your side of the story. They do sometimes side with the seller although they've become far more ruthless in siding with the buyer these days.

 

raspo

Thanks for sharing all this info - you obviously know a lot more than me. I was thinking I should contact amazon and say that the buyer just put the label they sent on and dropped the parcel off - they didn't pay for the carriage or have any opportunity to insure and therefore amazon sent them a usable label - without any compensation or insurance and take the view that amazon is responsible for my goods.

I didn't do anything wrong, and the buyer didn't do anything wrong - I just have to figure out how to get amazon to pay (as they should - they sent the buyer a label, and they got a receipt saying that they dropped it off - who is responsible that amazon gave them a shipping label without returning the goods?

I could tell them I didn't pay for the label and the buyer is claiming they didn't either (which is true). What would they do then?

BelMalinois

The people who answer telephone calls at amazon are completely different to the people who handle A-Z claims. The former will tell you what you want to hear, the latter are keen to assist buyers at the sellers expense. They rarely find in favour of the seller, in the past they were fair but the forums show they're not anymore. I would recommend you post your issue on the Amazon forums as there are many sellers on there selling high value items that could offer advice.