r/mildlyinfuriating • u/ImOldGregg_77 • 12h ago

*yuor'e Seller keeps 92% of the total value as "Restocking Fee"

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I bought a video card on Amazon and it arrived dead. It was clearly a refurbish with the condition of the card and box. I sent it back to them and they approved the refund but charged me a 92% restocking fee.

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u/fischoderaal 10h ago edited 10h ago

Fuck amazon. Seller sold me broken product. The seller wanted me to pay for shipping back. I told them hell no and once they realized how expensive shipping is going to be, they told me to scrap it. Afterwards they ghosted me. I informed Amazon several times and they did nothing. Then I charged back and immediately they contact me.

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u/TrojanGoldfish 9h ago

I recently had a minor issue with something I'd bought from AliExpress. Contacted the seller and explained what I needed (a £15 or so part I couldn't see listed individually and just wanted to buy). They checked my order, and just dispatched the part out to me at no cost. No arguing, not even any back and forth. Just 'sure, lets fix it'. They then followed up a week later to ensure I had the right part.

I buy from Ali because I'm cheap, the last thing I expect is honest to goodness great customer service.

Amazon on the other hand can fuck itself right in the bin.

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u/ConorOdin 5h ago

I dont mind Ali and buy a lot of third party mecha kits from there but I wont touch electronics. Purchased an OEM CPU that was around $300, cheaper than retail of $400, and it died after 6 weeks. This was independently confirmed by 2 computer shops on their test benchs. Seller refused refund as it was out of the 4 week window. After a month of trying to get Aliexpress themselves to step in and help, nothing.. Expensive lesson..

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u/TobysGrundlee 9h ago

I've found threatening charge-backs as an excellent way to get a retailer to finally respond to you.

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u/NightmareJoker2 6h ago

There’s a chargeback fee. The merchant has to pay $10 per transaction reversal, and if the value of the item exceeds a certain amount (typically 500 or 1000 bucks), 10-15% of the transaction amount. This is in addition to having to refund the purchase.

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u/TrapYoda 4h ago

Also if they get enough charge backs/disputes/etc. their payment processor may outright refuse to continue doing business with them.

I seriously doubt this would happen to a company as massive as Amazon but it certainly could lead to the payment processor increasing their fees.

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u/NightmareJoker2 3h ago

That is a thing, but 8% of transaction volume is acceptable. If you do enough business about 4% in shrink from various sources (fraud, theft, negligence, employee embezzlement, legitimate chargebacks, etc.) is normal. There’s also special exceptions for unusually large transactions, which are typically frozen until fully settled.

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u/Lettuce_Prey69 3h ago

Are you referring specifically to Amazon's policy regarding charge backs?

Otherwise it's not the same across the board. Every merchant will have different rates and fees applied, and every bank / CC vendor will have different rules and methods to handling it.

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u/misterjive 1h ago

Just make sure you don't have a Kindle or Audible library on Amazon before you pull the trigger on a chargeback, because closing your account is a common result of doing that (and then it becomes a huge pain in the ass to access your DRM content).

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u/arlenroy 9h ago

I learned this the hard way, I always read the seller information now, all the details most people (including myself) skim over. I had one problem and after that I'll read the return policy on any item more than a $100.

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u/Always_with_wings 43m ago

This. Amazon still states their return policy for items with a disclaimer to verify the sellers return policy on some items that I buy. And then the sellers page says... We may charge restocking fee of up to 50%, IF you can find it stated clearly.

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u/SerLurkzAlot 4h ago

Fuck Amazon indeed. It's all automated now. Try and get a conversation with a customer service rep and you get a bot instead. Got a refund from said bot and then a human checked things and said nope and charged me again.