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"But certainly I would expect accounts would accumulate warning flags and at some point be banned."

They do exactly that, but sometimes, it goes wrong. It happened to me in October 2019 and I'm still trying to get out of this nightmare.

I bought a high-end desktop for $2700 from amazon, it was shipped with a GTX 660 instead of a RTX 2080Ti! The graphic card had been swapped by the previous person and Amazon blames it on me.

- They say they checked the item before sending it, they obviously didn't

- There was no indication when buying that this item had been previously returned

- They say I did this scam several times before but I order a couple of times a year and for low value. I never returned anything

- They refuse to listen to me and consider they made a mistake. The India-based chat support is entirely useless, they keep telling me "there is nothing I can do", "so sorry", etc. I sent an email to jeff@amazon.com and they tell me "we'll not be able to offer any additional insight or action on these matters, and any further inquiries on this matter won't receive a response."

That's awful to hear. Did you try to do a chargeback?

In these cases go directly to your bank or payment card provider (Visa, MasterCard, etc.). You usually have ~6 months from the day of the purchase to make chargeback request.

If you chargeback Amazon, assumedly you'll never be able to use Amazon again which seems like a pyrrhic victory at best

The gap between the 2080ti n the 660 could be worth it....

If this happened to you I doubt you would ever want to use Amazon again anyway.

I did contact the bank to chargeback, still waiting on their answer.

After seeing how good customers are treated when their processes go wrong, I'm definitely never going to buy anything from them again

Just sign up with a different card. As a matter of fact, if I ever did a chargeback I would probably insist I get a new card number and maybe consider changing my address with the bank to be slightly different (maybe spell out "street", use my full zip, etc.). Might not be enough, but clearly Amazon doesn't care much about detecting fraud. And, anecdotally, I've had three different accounts over the years with various Prime promos and haven't had a problem.

I mean if I had to do a chargeback, honestly I probably wouldn’t ever shop with Amazon again. And I work there.

I feel like this needs to be the top comment. Buying warehouse items is risky, that's why it's cheaper.

Also, you can just return it if you don't like.

I don't think this deserves the scrutiny it's getting here.

Outrage drives clicks... link has been up for 5 hours and is on the front page of HN, while other links with (probably) more worthwhile content stagnate and die. It's just how the internet works.

I'd think that it's cheaper not because it's risky (specially since Amazon says it inspects the item), but because it's second hand. Trying to pass the risk to the user is probably not what most people would expect.

You can return things if you don’t like them. A quick search shows the excuses you can give that not only allow you to return them, but get free return shipping too.

I got a set of Hue bulbs for less than half price (packaging was beat up, but the contents were fine), and a pair of headphones for 25% off the new price (had a cable missing). I've also had stuff arrive in _far_ worst condition than was noted on the listing. It's a bit hit and miss.

"But certainly I would expect accounts would accumulate warning flags and at some point be banned."

https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-style-rating-helps-bran...

Though there seems to be a bit of a conflict with such a system -- wouldn't every retailer want to say everyone is terrible, you surely don't want to deal with them, etc.

But isn’t the fact that it’s anti-retailers the whole purpose, that it holds retailers more accountable? The whole reason it’s controversial with Uber is that the drivers are more like independent contractors, rather than businesses, and as such is very stressful for them. Whereas with e-commerce, the way the retailers present themselves and operate as is much more like a proper business. Holding them more accountable here isn’t as bad as with Uber.

In this case it is retailers secretly rating customers, and sharing those ratings between each other. Retailers can and purportedly do use this to determine how to interact with you, how forgiving to be, etc.

My only real concern with it is that it kind of has the incentive for every retailer to say that every customer is terrible, in a way that ostensibly lead their competitors to treat customers worse.

This really confused me when I bought an industrial label printer from them. I didn't know what "Amazon Warehouse" was and assumed it was just a used device they used in their warehouse. Didn't get around to using the device for a couple months and it turned on but wouldn't print because the motor wouldn't turn. Too late to return it, and I won't be buying anything from warehouse any more.

I made that mistake too of not using an iPad keyboard once coronavirus began. I can’t remember if I properly used it before then or not. At best I tried it once. A few weeks ago I got around to it again and it didn’t work any more.

I have had two swaps happen to me with Walmart and Amazon. Now I’ve started opening anything more than $50 or so in front of our Ring doorbell. My thinking is what you said, don’t want to seem like a scammer.

Yup, me too. I set up the iPad, tap recording and then unpack the ordered item. It's zero hassle and potentially saves a lot of discussion.

Yeah that works great. Good thinking m

Amazon definitely keeps metrics.

There was a point where I had a string of returns that bumped my overall return rate up above 30%.

I got an email saying they noticed excessive returns and would cancel my account and amazon prime If it continued.

I started doing more diligence in screening vendors I was buying from as a result (and stopped ordering as much from amazon).

I often wonder if Amazon even inspects returns. I will often order items with listed cosmetic defects (major scratches) but receive brand new items in sealed packaging.