Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[tyclin]

19 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

So, was the claim decided for the seller?  What customer service person felt meant nothing if the claim was decided against the seller 

You are absolutely right. Even the customer service person told me so, I was well aware that they were not the same group of people handling the claim. Therefore, I was not too excited about what she said to me. She probably just tried to explain to me and the following is what she documented our conversation in summary,

"I understand that they filed a claim incorrectly as they are stating they haven't receive the item yet. The claim is now being reviewed. I have gone through reviewing as well the details of the order and I truly believe that you will not loose the claim. Good thing is that the order delivered on time, you response proactively with the claim and lastly, you chose to purchase buy shipping services through Amazon. 

If an order was shipped with tracking via Buy Shipping Services, and the buyer files a claim stating the order was not received, Amazon will cover the A-to-z claim and the claim won't be included into your Order Defect Rate. So at this point, there is no further actions you should take but to wait for the outcome of the investigation."

And yes, the claim was decided by Amazon for me. "Amazon's decision was in favor of the buyer and Amazon has reimbursed the claim."

[redcell]

16 hours ago, newbie77 said:

My record says my lots varied from 18lb 5.6 oz to 18lb 7.7oz 

what the weight on yours? 

Don't have weight of each white box!

 

 

 

The one that was returned weighed in at around 17.7 pounds while a sealed one that I have weighed in at 18.5.  At first, I figured something had been removed, but when I inspected the inner boxes, none of the tabs had been popped and there was no evidence that they had been tampered with or opened.  Normally, I might suspect that the buyer was up to no good, but it would take some care to open one of those boxes and reseal it without leaving any indication that you had done so.  If the buyer had gone to such care to do that, I would expect them to take the same level of care in opening the outer box and, for that one, they basically popped the tabs and slapped some tape on it to reseal it.

[newbie77]

13 minutes ago, redcell said:

The one that was returned weighed in at around 17.7 pounds while a sealed one that I have weighed in at 18.5.  At first, I figured something had been removed, but when I inspected the inner boxes, none of the tabs had been popped and there was no evidence that they had been tampered with or opened.  Normally, I might suspect that the buyer was up to no good, but it would take some care to open one of those boxes and reseal it without leaving any indication that you had done so.  If the buyer had gone to such care to do that, I would expect them to take the same level of care in opening the outer box and, for that one, they basically popped the tabs and slapped some tape on it to reseal it.

that's 13 oz or 0.8 lb. or (approx 368 gms) difference. something definitely is different there. its not a small discrepancy. [ i have had difference of 3oz in one set {not 10188} then i found that particular set for that particular seal had an extra cardboard with the instruction packaging. had to open both [the reference which was heavier vs. other ].  i don't think we had that in the case of 10188 ] but again how damaged the box is are you missing an entire flap? that may be the cause of it as well. but if you are not missing the flaps of the box then i would look at other stuffs. 

 i believe 10188 has 4 white boxes. a binder instruction and stickers.

did you weigh it before sending? 

check the seal codes of white boxes. [ its very easy to substitute white box from one set to another ]. they should be same for all 4. 

lastly another thing i can think of is "pages of instruction". since this one is a binder like instruction are you missing pages?

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by newbie77

[Miami Bomb Squad]

Hope Amazon has a matrix for buyers/scammers as well as for sellers.  
I just had a case where the buyer/scammer claimed the set was tampered with and 40+ pcs were missing and all 4 of the minifigures were missing too.
Also the remaining pcs were in a Ziplock bag.  The set was only 298 pcs. total.  
Told me a sad story about her kid saved up his xmas money to buy this set. 
Wanted me to send her a new set.  Yeah right...................
If this ever happens, don't bother responding to them.............go directly to open up a case. 


 

[Kenxxx]

1 hour ago, redcell said:

The one that was returned weighed in at around 17.7 pounds while a sealed one that I have weighed in at 18.5.  At first, I figured something had been removed, ...

You've been doing this a long time, so you hardly need any advice from me, but of course...my two cents... if the outer box is open, then you might resell it as "New, Outer box open, but inner boxes sealed... etc". But is that really worth any more than say... "New, Open Box, all bags sealed and contents verified" ?  If I were you, I'd open it all up and check everything.  I don't think that will hurt the value much at this point.

[tyclin]

22 minutes ago, Miami Bomb Squad said:

Hope Amazon has a matrix for buyers/scammers as well as for sellers.  
I just had a case where the buyer/scammer claimed the set was tampered with and 40+ pcs were missing and all 4 of the minifigures were missing too.
Also the remaining pcs were in a Ziplock bag.  The set was only 298 pcs. total.  
Told me a sad story about her kid saved up his xmas money to buy this set. 
Wanted me to send her a new set.  Yeah right...................
If this ever happens, don't bother responding to them.............go directly to open up a case. 


 

I always believe karma will take care of those who are not honest. If it does not take care of them, it will take care of them one way or the other.

[redcell]

2 hours ago, Kenxxx said:

You've been doing this a long time, so you hardly need any advice from me, but of course...my two cents... if the outer box is open, then you might resell it as "New, Outer box open, but inner boxes sealed... etc". But is that really worth any more than say... "New, Open Box, all bags sealed and contents verified" ?  If I were you, I'd open it all up and check everything.  I don't think that will hurt the value much at this point.

I tend to take the path of least resistance when it comes to selling and sets like this that are open box or broken seals are always a pain to deal with.  Consequently, I have an ever growing stack of Amazon returns with f***ed up boxes.  There's some pretty nice sets in there so I'll probably just continue to let it grow and then list a big lot of them at once.  I hate selling things like this as one-offs because it increases the likelihood that I have to waste time dealing with a buyer with a million questions who wants pictures, etc., etc.  I'll either sell them or keep them to build.

[SpaceFan9]

Ahhh.   Received a return today, which is always a drag.  This particular item was originally drop-shipped, which always amazed me---I sold 4 of them this way.  Amazon tends to be high margin, so who in the world would be using Amazon sellers for drop shipments?  And who is buying on the web without shopping around a little?  (Grandma, it turns out.)  The return package included a full printout of the refund request email chain, which includes the "Daughter, can you help me with this?" email and the drop-shippers name and address.  So now I know.  As far as I can tell, they don't sell on Amazon.  Probably because their ratings on other marketplaces are bi-polar: half 5-star, half 1-star. 

 

I wish there was a way to block these clowns.

[Migration]

7 hours ago, SpaceFan9 said:

Ahhh.   Received a return today, which is always a drag.  This particular item was originally drop-shipped, which always amazed me---I sold 4 of them this way.  Amazon tends to be high margin, so who in the world would be using Amazon sellers for drop shipments?  And who is buying on the web without shopping around a little?  (Grandma, it turns out.)  The return package included a full printout of the refund request email chain, which includes the "Daughter, can you help me with this?" email and the drop-shippers name and address.  So now I know.  As far as I can tell, they don't sell on Amazon.  Probably because their ratings on other marketplaces are bi-polar: half 5-star, half 1-star. 

 

I wish there was a way to block these clowns.

When you get the "please no invoice email" be sure to include an invoice.

[ISO8T0]

When you get the "please no invoice email" be sure to include an invoice.

Just recently canceled one of those orders.

[newbie77]

5 hours ago, pstebbing said:

Just recently canceled one of those orders.

That's totally ridiculous. When I am sending gifts I won't want them getting invoice. do u include gift receipt?

[tyclin]

6 hours ago, Migration said:

When you get the "please no invoice email" be sure to include an invoice.

Why?

[ISO8T0]

That's totally ridiculous. When I am sending gifts I won't want them getting invoice. do u include gift receipt?

Well in this particular case the address was incomplete and I never heard back from the buyer after contacting them.
I shipped several "gifts" over the holidays and didn't include a packing slip.

[cladner]

i get these no invoice requests all the time.  it means they are gifts and they don't want the gift receiver to see how much they spent. i have had zero problems with them and i think being responsive to this request has garnished at least a couple of positive feedbacks.  i don't see how not including an invoice is part of a scam.

[landphieran]

1 minute ago, cladner said:

i get these no invoice requests all the time.  it means they are gifts and they don't want the gift receiver to see how much they spent. i have had zero problems with them and i think being responsive to this request has garnished at least a couple of positive feedbacks.  i don't see how not including an invoice is part of a scam.

Sometimes they are drop shipping your item somewhere as well but regardless its a sale. An invoice is literally proof of nothing as they can lie and say it was never included anyway. I honestly feel invoices are a waste of time, paper and resources. Everything should be electronic.

[Migration]

5 hours ago, landphieran said:

Sometimes they are drop shipping your item somewhere as well but regardless its a sale. An invoice is literally proof of nothing as they can lie and say it was never included anyway. I honestly feel invoices are a waste of time, paper and resources. Everything should be electronic.

Unfortunately sarcasm doesn't translate well to type...my earlier post was meant as a bit of a joke...that said I would much prefer to not deal with drop shippers, not that I care if they can sell an item higher than I can, I would simply rather deal with end users. Invoices are not a waste of time either, I have, on more than one occasion had (insert shipping company of your choice here)mess up a shipping label to the point of being illegible, only to deliver the item anyway because there was an address on the invoice.

[Pebble&Park]

I have a handful of sets that I've bought to resell and forgot to turn off the prime shipping. Even if I now have significantly more units to sell, should I assume I'm permanently barred from selling those SKUs on AZ? Will waiting a year or two lower my risks? If it matters our house orders a ton of prime items for personal use. We are a very profitable account for them.

[Phil B]

I have a handful of sets that I've bought to resell and forgot to turn off the prime shipping. Even if I now have significantly more units to sell, should I assume I'm permanently barred from selling those SKUs on AZ? Will waiting a year or two lower my risks? If it matters our house orders a ton of prime items for personal use. We are a very profitable account for them.

Are you currently allowed to sell LEGO on AMZ? If not, this is not a concern ....

[Pebble&Park]

Are you currently allowed to sell LEGO on AMZ? If not, this is not a concern ....

Yes, I'm grandfathered in.

[redcell]

19 minutes ago, Pebble&Park said:

I have a handful of sets that I've bought to resell and forgot to turn off the prime shipping. Even if I now have significantly more units to sell, should I assume I'm permanently barred from selling those SKUs on AZ? Will waiting a year or two lower my risks? If it matters our house orders a ton of prime items for personal use. We are a very profitable account for them.

If you are ungated and can sell Lego on Amazon, you should NOT assume that you're permanently barred from selling those SKUs on AZ.  Listening to everyone here talk, you'd think that Amazon is watching accounts like a hawk to see if anyone has bought a product with Prime shipping that they are later selling on Amazon.  In my experience, Amazon doesn't pay attention at all to this.  I try to always switch shipping off of Prime when I'm buying products that I'll later resell, but I sometimes forget and I have never had any issues with Amazon in this regard.

[Pebble&Park]

If you are ungated and can sell Lego on Amazon, you should NOT assume that you're permanently barred from selling those SKUs on AZ.  Listening to everyone here talk, you'd think that Amazon is watching accounts like a hawk to see if anyone has bought a product with Prime shipping that they are later selling on Amazon.  In my experience, Amazon doesn't pay attention at all to this.  I try to always switch shipping off of Prime when I'm buying products that I'll later resell, but I sometimes forget and I have never had any issues with Amazon in this regard.

Thank you for the helpful information!

[HappyHawkeye]

On 1/19/2017 at 3:45 PM, HappyHawkeye said:

Also got an A-Z claim today for a Tumbler sold on 1/7. Item was delivered on 1/16 and today I get the claim stating that " Hello, got the shipment of the item I ordered. This is not the item I bought. This is a fake. Even box is a fake. Please make a full refund. "

Well, it wasn't fake of course. Guy didn't contact me first just went straight to the claim. Name on account is different from name of the person it was delivered to.

I've contacted the guy directly asking what gives & have not heard back yet. I'm bummed as it seems like there's no defense against this kind of scam.

An update on this in case anyone find themselves in a similar situation. I followed B-A's advice & sent the buyer a prepaid return label asking them to send back the supposedly fake item for a refund. Then represented myself int he A-Z claim, telling Amazon succinctly that the item was not fake, I have a proven track record, and I had asked the buyer to return the item for a refund. About 12 hours later I get this repose from Amazon:

"We have granted the claim for this order and issued a refund to the buyer:

We have found no reason to believe that you are responsible for this claim. We have issued a refund to the buyer, but we will not debit your account for that refund.

Please consider this transaction closed."

So, great I guess that I won't eat the cost, but from what I've read this will still hurt my metrics and I am pissed on principle that this guy got his money back and it doesn't seem like I can appeal this. I sort of understand the pickle this situation puts Amazon in, but I was a little surprised that there was zero follow-up on their part. Further more, I got this email yesterday about the listing:

"We have removed your listing because of a buyer complaint about the condition of an item they received from you. The listings we removed are at the end of this email.

If you would like us to reinstate your listings, please reply to this email with a plan that explains

• The issues that caused the complaints.
• The actions you have taken to resolve the issues and prevent similar complaints.

For "inauthentic" complaints, include the following information:

• Copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 365 days. These should reflect your sales volume during that time.
• Contact information for your supplier, including name, phone number, address, and website."

So they have deemed that I am not responsible, but gave the buyer his money back and now want me to provide documentation to continue listing this item. Nice. Anyone have experience with this? I can dig up my Target receipt from 2015 but I don't know if it's worth it/necessary since I only have one more of these that I could just as easily sell on Ebay. Seems to only be necessary if I want to continue selling this item but I also don't want it to further hurt my account if I don't back up my claim that I didn't sell a fake.

So they have no reason to believe that

[Bold-Arrow]

Unfortunately the unauthentic claim would be totally different from the AZ claim   

bots pick up on that crap and it becomes a totally different issue, even if buyer was just to leave that in a feedback without initiating a claim . Sorry it happened to u , I would still try to find a receipt  and upload it , u don't want it hanging around , nothing to lose . U still have a shot as I know some folks got away with online receipts to clear those accusations. P

glad u didn't lose any money though.  

[landphieran]

I have encountered a lot of problems recently through FBA. I am the only source of some metal coins on Amazon. A couple of buyers recently purchased 3-4 of the same item. Then proceeded to return them and send back fake paper coins. 

I am going to file some cases later this week when I receive the rest of my unfulfillable items. I think its important for Amazon to be able to track down buyers abusing the system. Additionally, If in the future for what ever reason, I get tagged by Amazon's machine for selling "damaged" or "fake" items I have pro-active proof of me representing myself as legitimate. I do have a distribution license for the items in question so proving legitimacy is very easy but if it happens with Lego's in the future it may not go the same way.

[LegoEdison]

case update:

Hello,

We have granted the claim for this order and issued a refund to the buyer:

-- Order Number: XXX-XXXXXXXX-XXX
-- Date of Claim: January 12, 2017

We have found no reason to believe that you are responsible for this claim. We have issued a refund to the buyer, but we will not debit your account for that refund.

Please consider this transaction closed.

 

I feel so mad that scammer can get the refund at the end. Seriously Amazon?