Jennifer writes that she purchased a Christmas gift from a third-party seller through Amazon, but was disappointed with the condition in which the item arrived–the exterior packaging was crushed. She wasn’t happy with the seller’s proposed $2 refund on the more than $20 she had paid for expedited shopping, but

I was shocked to receive this email in my inbox today:

Greetings from Amazon.com.

We’re writing to let you know we processed your refund of $45.20 for your Order [redacted] from [third-party seller].

This refund is for the following item(s):

Item: 5×5 Rubik’s Cube
Quantity: 1
ASIN: [redacted]
Reason for refund: Account adjustment

Here’s a the breakdown of your refund for this item:

Item Refund: $23.81
Shipping Refund: $21.39

I bought a fancy 5×5 Rubik’s cube for my boyfriend for Christmas through Amazon Marketplace. The Marketplace Seller shipped the cardboard boxed item in a bubble envelope, and by the time the product got to me the box was in a state that was just unacceptable. Since it was so close to Christmas I just taped it up and gave it to him. But if I had been buying this at the store, I would have certainly received a large discount, or they might not have sold it at all. I submitted a complaint to the seller via Amazon’s provided communication methods and got the following response:

I’m very sorry your package arrived damaged. If you would like to return the package we can offer a refund. If you would like to keep the package we can offer a $2 refund for the packaging damaged. Please let us know.
Thanks!

I thought that was pretty unacceptable, so I submitted an official claim through the A-to-Z marketplace:

I picked this storefront because the product clearly included the packaging, and since I was giving it as a gift that was important to me.
But because it was shipped in a padded envelope and not a box, that packaging was torn and beaten up when it arrived. Needless to say I’m pretty unhappy with the situation, seeing as I paid extra for this particular product, and an extra $20 on top of that for expedited shipping.

A full refund was way more than I expected. So congrats to Amazon for realizing that when they don’t have control of quality in situations like the Marketplace, they’ll have to account for that in order to make long-time customers happy. While I was fairly frustrated at Amazon before, I’m very impressed now!

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