If a considerable number of negative reviews weren’t enough to dissuade you from buying something on Amazon, a new feature may. An exclusive story from The Information revealed that the massive online retailer finally, after 28 years in operation, added a much-needed warning label on products with above-average return rates.
If a product is being returned frequently, the warning tag above will show up just below the product’s bullet point features summarization. However, it is not clear how many returns will trigger the warning to pop up on a product’s page. Will Amazon filter if customers return a product because it’s defective or doesn’t match the description?
Returns cost Amazon a lot of money, especially since shipping back to the warehouse is free for the customer. Considering Amazon is now cutting 9,000 employees, eliminating unnecessary customer returns could mean fewer employees will lose their job when the next round of layoffs happen.
A report from CNBC in 2022 stated that 16.6% of merchandise sales were returned in 2021. Sadly, Amazon does not make the critical numbers public. However, in ’21, the company did post over $100B in first-quarter revenue. So, it would be reasonable to estimate that returns cost Amazon millions of dollars annually.
I’ve long wondered if Amazon dedicates enough staff to monitoring the junk that gets sold on the retailer’s site. Until the past two years, I rarely returned anything to Amazon. However, we’re seeing more and more sellers using misleading images or descriptions on product pages. One such questionable product we reviewed was the Indiana Jones Grail Diary replica.
Over the past year, I have contacted Amazon multiple times regarding blatant rip-off products or unlicensed knock-offs. Not once did the company get back to me. Some more egregious listings would use images of official products, but customer-uploaded pictures showed that what was being sold were cheap imitations. Some of these products could be potentially dangerous (i.e., questionable PC power supplies).
Have you purchased anything from Amazon that turned out to be a knockoff? Let us know below.
[Source: The Information]ClownfishTV.com strives to be an apolitical, balanced and based pop culture news outlet. However, our contributors are entitled to their individual opinions. Author opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of our video hosts, other site contributors, site editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. This website contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. We disclaim products or services we have received for review purposes, as well as sponsored posts.
