How to Avoid an Amazon A to Z Claim

As much as RepricerExpress wishes it wasn’t the case, getting an A-Z claim on Amazon is just a matter of certainty. Having that in mind, let’s take a look at how you can minimize your chances of getting one.

Amazon’s A-Z Guarantee

No matter what length of time you’ve been selling on Amazon, you know that reputation matters a lot for them. And if a customer is angry — like if they didn’t get their item or it wasn’t as advertised — then they have the choice of opening a claim.

However, most times, a customer can just start a claim just to cause up trouble. You can identify some of these from a mile away (especially knowing they can only file a limited number of A-Z claims), but it may not always be worth opposing. You have to balance the price of the product against the cost of the claim in terms of your business’s health.

Reacting to an Amazon A to Z Claim

Before you get back to Amazon or cut open holes out of frustration, take a bit of time to examine the situation. The first thing you want to do is ask yourself if you’ve genuinely messed up, from the angle of your buyer. Is it possible that maybe you didn’t send the item or sent the wrong thing?

It’s always good to put a tracking label on packages, as that allows you to see where it ended up and if the buyer is making things up. If not so, and the blame is on you, then you’ll need to come up with an action plan to ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future.

But let’s say this buyer is trying to defraud you — then what? Like we said earlier, it’s left for you to decide on the price-cost balance of how the A-Z claim will play out. Sometimes it’s easier to eat the cost of the claim, and sometimes it’s better to politely but confidently tell the customer you won’t oblige.

Responding to Amazon About Your A-Z Claim

Not only will you have to get in contact with your consumer, but you’ll have to reach out to Amazon, too. In terms of the former, just keep things short, to-the-point and civil, and write as though your words will be associated with you again in the future.

And with the latter, you’ll have to fill in a response form. Now, this is also pretty easy, but we’ve seen merchants make the same mistake over and over again: not putting in value like ‘none’ into the tracking number field. Don’t do this, and the claimant automatically gets a refund because nobody will read your response.

We can’t assure you that everything will turn out rosy for you, but it’s worth a shot. At the worst, you’ll be no worse off than when you started; and at best, Amazon might foot the bill for the refund, although you’ll still have a strike against you.

Other Options for Handling and Avoiding a Claim

Think about the shipping avenues you use. If you go with a company like FedEx or UPS, contact them right away and see what happened to the package (i.e., did the buyer sign for the delivery? That’s a pretty good sign they got the package). It’s now up to you on how far you want to take it, whether it’s just handing over the refund or going as far as contacting the police.

As much as you want, never argue with the buyer. Not only will it not look good, but it’s in the record, and you want to keep things as polite as possible (no matter how fired up you are). You don’t have to act on the claim right away, so give yourself a little time to cool off.

We also recommend getting familiar with all of Amazon’s rules. You’d never want a claim to be the result of your not knowing something, as that makes it painful in hindsight because you could have so simply avoided it.

Lastly, closely analyze your business practices. Are you selling lousy-quality products that could mislead buyers into thinking they’re getting something else? Are your product descriptions and listings completely on point? Or are you getting burned-out by work and making mistakes you’re not even aware of? There are always three sides to every story — your side, the buyer’s side, and the truth — so be truthful with yourself and see what the truth is.

Conclusion

Getting an Amazon A-Z claim sucks, but there’s one thing that more than makes up for it: knowing that using RepricerExpress to competitively price your inventory results in more sales and higher profit margins.