Amazon represents the world’s biggest highway, linking vendors and consumers all over the world. The company’s aggressively developed and applied technological and operational efficiencies have transformed retailing, putting unprecedented pressures on the brick-and-mortar business model. But it’s not surprising that Amazon’s rapid rise as a middleman for almost everybody has opened the door to certain risks for consumers, nasty surprises of which the average shopper may not be aware.
When Amazon began back in 1995, it sold only books, and everything was under the company’s strict customer-oriented control. The safe and secure way they did business, always striving to put the customer first, soon overcame the fears of consumers new to the process of buying things electronically. As Amazon began expanding to other products, they managed to maintain their positive reputation, and company growth exploded. They’ve now surpassed Walmart as America’s most valuable retailer.
But of course Amazon was never about specific products. It was about developing an increasingly superior platform for bringing buyers and sellers together, and the company saw no limits to its potential application. As the company eventually began allowing outside companies to use the Amazon platform to sell and ship their own goods directly, problems began to arise. Consumers who thought they were dealing with Amazon, and the comforting customer-first philosophy that the name “Amazon” had come to represent, suddenly discovered that this was not always the case. Outside companies had their own policies and ways of dealing with customers.
Take for example the recent experience of a shopper making a purchase of some shoes on Amazon:
“We bought a pair of shoes on Amazon that did not fit and now ShoeBuy, the Amazon reseller, wants to charge us a $6.95 restocking fee. We had NO idea we were buying the shoes from an Amazon Reseller, we thought we were buying the shoes from Amazon. We bought the shoes via Amazon Prime and they offer Free Returns.”
ShoeBuy is one of many brands under IAC (NASDAQ: IAC), a media and Internet company. When the consumer complained, ShoeBuy replied:
“As you order your item through Amazon.com, the order was filled by ShoeBuy. Since we are the ones that filled the order, our return policy applies with the order. We are unable to use Amazon prime on your order.”
When the shopper responded:
“If we knew there was any fee to return, we never would have bought anything from you.”
Shoebuy said:
“ShoeBuy does not offer free returns. Our return policy is stated on our main website as well as our Amazon seller page. Amazon may advertise free returns if an order is placed with a different seller.”
The shopper’s stated stance:
“Shoebuy could have solved this issue in 5 minutes, but did not, and people should know this a Buyer Beware.”
The shopper finally thought they could get the problem resolved and sent this:
Dear ShoeBuy Customer Service,
If we knew that we had to pay a restocking fee we would NEVER bought a thing from you.
The one pair we kept is great, but the other pair in the same size did not fit right and we get stuck holding the bag.
You have really pissed off this Amazon Prime VIP.
You have lost a customer for LIFE for $6.95
Shoebuy said:
Thank you for contacting Shoebuy.com.
We regret hearing that we have disappointed you.
Our return policy is listed on our Amazon seller page as well as our main website.
We sincerely apologize for any frustration regarding our return policy.
Again, thank you for contacting ShoeBuy.
We look forward to being of assistance to you in the future.
What can be learned from this?
Make 100% you know who you are really buying from Amazon and that the Amazon Partner is not ShoeBuy. ShoeBuy seems to be just another massive company that does not care about the little guy and only cares about its own corporate profits.
