Eric Ravenscraft
Amazon screws up every once in a while and you have to send a package back. If you send too many back, though, Amazon might shut down your account altogether.
The Wall Street Journal has collected a number of reports from Amazon customers who claim their accounts have been shut down after too many returns. Amazon doesn’t specifically state that too many returns are a cause to have your account shut down, but it does state that it has the right to terminate accounts for any reason.
Despite not being called out specifically in its terms of use, some customers have still gotten notices mentioning the high level of returns. One message a customer received said it outright:
We have closed this account because you have consistently returned a large number of your orders. While we expect the occasional problem with an order, we cannot continue to accept returns at this rate.
It’s unclear just how many returns constitutes a “large number” in this case. One Twitter user claimed in 2015 that out of 550 packages ordered, 43 (or about 8%) of his packages were returned. This resulted in his account being closed.
Amazon just permanently shut down my family's account for "too many returns". No warning. #AmazonClarity pic.twitter.com/nEjjyKWEDT
— Nathan Peterson (@nathanpeterson) October 30, 2015
While Amazon hasn’t clarified where the invisible threshold is, it’s possible that it’s high enough that the average user won’t be impacted (indeed, if Amazon was banning the “average” customer, it would have a whole lot fewer customers). Still, if you’re a heavy Amazon user, the warning sign is clear. If you return too many packages, Amazon may decide it’s not worth getting the orders you do keep.
Source: Wall Street Journal via Digital Trends
