Anyone who does business on Amazon will encounter A-to-Z (Amazon Marketplace Transaction Guarantee Claim), and the emergence of A-to-Z will affect ODR. If the accumulated number of times exceeds the limit, the account may be restricted from selling. Some sellers get really nervous after they receive an A-to-Z.
Since A-to-Z can affect the store, what is A-to-Z?
Amazon implements a protection policy for all buyers who purchase goods on the Amazon platform. If a buyer is not satisfied with the goods or services sold by a third-party seller, the buyer can initiate an Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee claim (referred to as "A-to-Z" or "A-to-Z claim") to protect his or her own interests.
From the meaning of A-to-Z, we can know that if the buyer is not satisfied with the goods or services of the third-party seller, he can protect his own interests through A-to-Z. As long as A-to-Z is established, the seller’s ODR will be recorded and performance will be affected, which can be said to have a relatively large impact on the seller’s account. What’s more, if your store has fewer orders, you need to be more careful. The establishment of one or two A-to-Z cases may cause your account to be reviewed, frozen, or even closed.
Of course, if you receive an A-to-Z, you don’t need to be too nervous. Amazon will give you three days to negotiate. You can use these three days to contact the buyer and negotiate a solution with him.
Note: The emergence of A-to-Z is not necessarily due to the seller, seller friends should be aware of this!
The reason for A-to-Z
1. Product reasons
The main reason is that there are significant differences between the product and the page description, including damage, missing parts, defects in the product itself, etc.
2. The buyer did not receive the goods
(1) If the product is delivered by Amazon Logistics and has tracking information, if the buyer indicates that he has not received the package and initiates an A-to-Z claim, Amazon will be responsible. Even if the seller has received the A-to-Z claim, it will not be recorded in the ODR.
(2) If the seller delivers the product, the product has been delivered and there is tracking information showing that it has been delivered, but the buyer indicates that he has not received the package, the buyer can initiate an A-to-Z. Amazon may contact the buyer to confirm whether the package has been received, and the confirmation result will be:
1) The buyer did not sign to confirm receipt of the package, and the seller has delivery problems, the seller is responsible
2) If the buyer indicates that they did not receive the package, but the signature confirmation is consistent with the buyer's name, Amazon will reject the buyer's A-to-Z; if the signature is inconsistent with the buyer's name, Amazon will also reject the buyer's A-to-Z and ask the buyer to investigate the person who signed for the package
3) If the package is signed for by the buyer’s agent and the buyer requests an A-to-Z, Amazon will reject it.
(3) The seller has arranged to deliver the order, but the buyer has not received the package. Buyers can file a claim within 3 working days of placing an order or 30 days after placing an order (whichever is earlier), and within 90 days of the estimated latest delivery date.
(4) If the seller provides tracking information for an order indicating that the product is expected to arrive within a certain period of time, but in fact it cannot be delivered within the expected or reasonable time, the A-to-Z request initiated by the buyer will be approved and the seller will be liable for compensation.
3. Buyer Deception
There are some buyers who have received the package but say they have not received it. They want to cheat you of your money but also want to take your goods. However, since we cannot judge whether the buyer is lying, what we need to do at this time is to minimize our losses and try our best to get compensation from Amazon to reduce our losses.
4. The buyer has returned the product but has not received a refund from the seller. The buyer can initiate an A-to-Z
5. If the seller refuses the buyer's return, the buyer can initiate an A-to-Z
What to do when you encounter A-to-Z
1. First, check the A-to-Z reason raised by the buyer. Is it due to the product itself, logistics, or other reasons?
2. Be sure to contact the buyer and apologize to the buyer for the problem. The email must not contain insulting or offensive language, and ask the buyer why he or she is filing a claim.
3. If the buyer replies to your email, it means that the buyer is still happy to negotiate with you to resolve the problem. If there is a problem with the product itself, you can promise to send the customer another one. If the customer is unwilling to wait, you can also refund the customer (the prerequisite for the refund must be that the customer cancels the A-to-Z). If it is because the logistics transportation time is too long, apologize to the buyer and explain the reason, promise to mail a small gift to the customer, and suggest that the customer help cancel the A-to-Z. Generally, customers are willing to do so.
If the buyer does not reply to any of your emails, remember! You still need to send an email to the buyer, and directly state the measures you have taken to solve the problem for the buyer in the email, indicating your determination to solve the problem for the customer, and also showing Amazon that you are happy to solve the problem for the customer.
4. If it is caused by Amazon, the seller only needs to state the problem directly to Amazon, and Amazon will investigate. Generally speaking, Amazon will directly revoke the A-to-Z.
When encountering A-to-Z, the following practices are not recommended:
1. Directly refund the customer. Some sellers feel that a direct refund can save a lot of trouble, without having to explain to Amazon or contact the buyer. In fact, this is not the case. If you refund the customer directly too often, it may attract Amazon’s attention. Amazon will think that your product is of poor quality or is fake, and may review your account. Actively communicate and negotiate with the buyer, try to cancel the A-to-Z, so that Amazon cannot figure out the situation and Amazon will compensate on its own. At the very least, you want Amazon to see that you are proactive in dealing with issues.
2. The seller directly and voluntarily refuses the claim. The most serious consequence of this behavior is that the store will be closed.
3. During the A-to-Z review period of Amazon, contacting the buyer or Amazon casually may result in serious consequences such as the store being closed if the language is inappropriate.
