Billing for return postage, Shipping services purchased through Amazon
Hundreds of transactions for Shipping services purchased through Amazon (Billing for return postage) started pouring in on 1/11/2024 and 1/12/2024 for orders from 30-90 days ago!
Is anyone else seeing this happening and are we being double-billed for Return Postage? I have looked up a few in transaction view and could not see duplicates for Billing for return postage.
Anyone?
Billing for return postage, Shipping services purchased through Amazon
Hundreds of transactions for Shipping services purchased through Amazon (Billing for return postage) started pouring in on 1/11/2024 and 1/12/2024 for orders from 30-90 days ago!
Is anyone else seeing this happening and are we being double-billed for Return Postage? I have looked up a few in transaction view and could not see duplicates for Billing for return postage.
Anyone?
19 risposte
Seller_FufI331lPupx8
Same here, no double billing, Returned 11/14, SAFE-T-Claim granted same day and charged for the return shipping label on JANUARY 12th. There are so many and there is no excuse for billing us 60 days later. SO frustrated.
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_ZJHwHlIPQwHvS and @Seller_FufI331lPupx8
Thank you for sharing that information with us. I would like some more information so I can investigate.
@Seller_ZJHwHlIPQwHvS Have you found any of the return shipments that were billed twice, or are these all the first time these have been billed?
Are these related to SAFE-T Claims as was the order for @Seller_FufI331lPupx8 (though hundreds would be a lot of SAFE-T claims...)?
Seller_LAigNSQBmElpV
I think what KJ is asking is if these are associated with returns with previous Safe T claims. We had 3 in this round. In each case they were buyer fault returns where they had used an inaccurate return code and we filed the Safe T claim for outbound and return shipping. That was granted and we were refunded both ways shipping. Despite the fact that the original return shipping seemed to have been charged to us earlier, we can't find a record of it in the Transaction history when we search by the order. So these are supposed to be the charges for which we were refunded.
Seller_OJsiTEvAjocTu
I am having the same problem with a bunch of charges for months-old returns, all done on Friday. But I am interested in your comment. Are you saying if a customer claims their order "arrived late" but arrived early, can we put in a safe-t-claim? (arrived Nov. 28, but Amazon noted that the item must be delivered by Dec. 1-Dec 8) as an example. We didn't have ANY packages that arrived late, but people often used that excuse. Worse, most of my sales during this period are Christmas decorations and then they don't return until after Christmas. Hmm.
Or if someone says the item description is inaccurate (too large or too small) when we clearly list the product size for the customer.
I haven't tried to make any safety claims on these charges yet as there are 20 of them, since it looks like a glitch on Amazon's end - I've been trying to work with seller support, but that hasn't been going well. Do I need to make individual claims through Safe-T-Claims, and ... do I need photos? As Books Online said, it is a little late for items returned in November and December.
Seller_JEZM0XKCFBgyp
I used an old photo from a different sale, and the claim was Granted.
Seller_OJsiTEvAjocTu
Why would they need a photo? Why would they accept a photo of a different order? If it doesn't need to be a photo of the exact package, why do they require one??
Seller_JEZM0XKCFBgyp
Why do they need a photo at all, when you're just claiming reimbursement for shipping.
Seller_LAigNSQBmElpV
Yes! Assuming you do not offer free returns. Use the Inaccurate Return Code and use screen shots of the order page that show both the delivery time frame and the tracking info (click on it so it shows, and you may need to make the page smaller to screen shot it all). Explain it in detail that it is a buyer fault return and detail the dates for them. We've been successful in recouping those charges. We always make a point of explaining that we do not offer free shipping, nor do we offer free returns. We have that information included on our main store page too. Most recently we had to appeal and include a screen shot of that page, but we were successful.
Seller_FufI331lPupx8
We are not being billed twice, only some of them are related to a SAFE-T Claim, most of these are just late billing us. Unacceptable to bill 60+ days later AFTER 1099's....
Seller_OJsiTEvAjocTu
Thanks for the info. I had A LOT of "arrived late," and all of them arrived before the shipping times Amazon listed. We do offer free shipping on most of our products, but not free returns when it is the customer's fault or a bogus reason code - but since Amazon seems to like giving our money back to customers and is no longer helpful with vendors (my experience), I never even tried to get that money back.
I also don't understand this: I offer free shipping, but a customer chooses to buy shipping, then they "change mind" or "no longer needed" etc. and Amazon gives them a full refund PLUS the shipping they decided to pay. We shipped the items, they arrived on time, so why does that shipping get reimbursed? I was glad to see that you were able to get that money back as well, I hope it works for me.
The last thing is this: I've been working with Seller Support since Friday the 12th when this happened. They claim to have moved it up to the "leadership team," but they still don't seem to understand this problem, and since every communication is given to a different support person, nothing can ever get resolved - by design, I assume. They also don't read the case file or look at attachments. At the very least, I would love an explanation as to why they did this as a batch after big sales weeks or months after being refunded and returned, and if it will happen again. I see this happened about 6 months ago too.
Anyway, I will try to see if they will reimburse us as they have you. I appreciate the information. It all adds up!
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_OJsiTEvAjocTu and @Seller_JEZM0XKCFBgyp
I see you are receiving good information from @Seller_LAigNSQBmElpV about filing SAFE-T Claims. Some cases described may fall under the category: "Amazon issued a refund to the customer for return delivery label, even though the customer was responsible for paying for return delivery."
How to file a SAFE-T claim: steps and best practices
I also recommend checking out our guide above. I did recommend including a photo of the return packaging and label, etc., but that is more useful when sellers report that a different or damaged product was returned.
I am still seeking information on these recent return shipping charges, but so far it sounds like these are not duplicate charges, but just delayed.
Seller_5xUDjRTyrAgVB
Same here. Seems like they didnt bill us for all the returns and now they are catching up
KJ_Amazon
Thanks for that update @Seller_FufI331lPupx8.
We are not being billed twice, only some of them are related to a SAFE-T Claim, most of these are just late billing us. Unacceptable to bill 60+ days later AFTER 1099's....
And hello to @Seller_LAigNSQBmElpV@Seller_OJsiTEvAjocTu @Seller_JEZM0XKCFBgyp and all other sellers asking about a recent batch of "Billing for return postage."
I reached out to our partner team and confirmed that these were not duplicate transactions. These were standard "Billing for return postage" transactions that were delayed.
For more general questions about SAFE-T Claims, I put together the below guide with advice and best practices.
Seller_je04tHHzYyuNB
I have posted about this issues many times. i kinda wonder if people reads posts or just glaze past them.
Amazon instituted a policy on January 14th 2023 that retroactively began billing sellers for additional shipping costs for packages returned in a larger box than the size on the listing. (which is almost always)
Amazon also quietly began billing for returns going to residential addresses with a residential surcharge.
Together these fees can be massive and applied to all orders placed on Amazon. The billing happens months afterwards as Amazon claims UPS charged them and they are collecting.
Customers can use a huge box, some sellers noted a small item being returned in a refrigerator box costing over $1500 in fees. Others have similar. I had nearly 60 orders which Amazon applied these fees to, totally over $2,000 in fees, all automatically deducted months later, with no recourse.
This is how Amazon works now, Amazon feeds the scammers in a race to the bottom. If you aren't watching your balance, chances are you are having lots of these hidden fees removed.
It is called ScAmazon for a reason!
