Subject: How We Handled a Fraudulent Return — What Every Seller Should Know

We recently had a textbook case of return fraud where a buyer used Amazon's prepaid return label to send back a notebook and a My Little Pony sticker — instead of the 50 lb bag of fertilizer they originally purchased.

What We Did (and Recommend You Do Too):

✅ Document Everything Immediately

We opened the return, took high-res photos of the package, return label, and its contents (a joke, really), and compared it with the original outbound shipping record. This included weight discrepancies and batch/label mismatches.

✅ Contact the Buyer via Buyer-Seller Messaging

We informed them that the return was invalid as it did not match what was shipped. Amazon policy allows us to deny refunds for items that are materially different or not returned at all. We made it clear that no refund would be issued.

✅ Apply a 100% Restocking Fee (if You Process the Refund Yourself)

If you manually issue a refund in Seller Central, you can select the “Materially different item returned” option and apply up to a 100% restocking fee, per Amazon's own restocking policyrefundpolicies.

However, once you do this, you waive your right to a SAFE-T claim for reimbursement of return shipping costs.

✅ OR Let Amazon Auto-Refund and File a SAFE-T Claim

This is the tradeoff: If you let Amazon auto-refund the customer, you may lose the ability to apply a restocking fee, but you'll then be eligible to file a SAFE-T claim for reimbursement of the product value or label cost.

Amazon support confirmed:

“It is either you process the refund with the restocking fee, or Amazon will issue the refund without restocking fee and you request reimbursement of it through SAFE-T.”

✅ Report Buyer Abuse

You can (and should) report abusive customers via the Account Health page → Report Abuse → "An abuse issue not addressed by other topics"

Link: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/abuse-submission/index.html

What Amazon Won’t Tell You Clearly:

If you process a 100% restocking fee, you’re on the hook for the return label cost (in our case, $31.74 for a 50 lb return… that weighed <1 lb).

SAFE-T claims are not allowed if you issued the refund yourself.

Even in blatant fraud cases like this, Amazon's policies force sellers to pick their poison — either lose the shipping cost or the item value.

My Takeaway:

Amazon gives buyers the benefit of the doubt by default — sellers must back every move with documentation and policy knowledge. Return fraud happens more than you think. Stay strict, document well, and don’t hesitate to deny refunds when the evidence is clear.