Amazon Makes it Easier to File Complaints About Defective Third-Party Products

Amazon updated its A-to-Z Guarantee returns policy to better support customers with personal injury or property damage claims against third-party sellers.

In a change from the firm's laissez faire attitude toward external vendors (buyers are currently encouraged to contact the seller directly to address issues themselves), Amazon will soon take on the role of facilitator between disgruntled consumer and original merchant.

Starting Sept. 1, folks can complain to Amazon Customer Service, which will review submissions via internal and external fraud and abuse detection systems. Assuming the claim is deemed valid, Amazon will reach out to the seller.

"If a seller does not respond to a claim, Amazon will step in to directly address the immediate customer concern, bear the cost ourselves, and separately pursue the seller," according to a company announcement. The firm will cover certified cases under $1,000 at no cost to the seller, and is prepared to pay some higher amounts "if the seller is unresponsive or rejects a claim we believe to be valid."

Customers may appeal any complaint deemed unsubstantiated, frivolous, or abusive. Likewise, sellers are allowed to defend their product against a claim.

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Owned and operated by Amazon, Marketplace allows external vendors to sell new or used products to the tech company's massive customer base. Third-party Amazon sales have grown from $0.1 billion in 1999 to $160 billion in 2018, according to a 2019 shareholder letter. But some of those sales have come under scrutiny as the open marketplace has been caught shipping counterfeits, unsafe products, and expired goods.

In August 2020, a California appeals court ruled that Amazon is in fact responsible for defective products sold by third-party vendors. The decision overturned a San Diego Superior Court verdict that let Amazon off the hook because it acts as a service provider, which is not covered by the state's product liability law.

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