Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say
Anecdotal experience buying on Amazon recently:<p>Bought a new induction cooking pan. A nice one at $90. Didn&#x27;t really pay much attention to who was selling it, just bought it like I do everything else from Amazon. It took about two weeks to arrive because it was from an independent seller, and was not &#x27;Prime eligible&#x27;.<p>When it arrived, I took it out of the box and was immediately disappointed. It was really heavy, and the handle was shaped and angled in a way that made it hard to maneuver such a heavy pan. It&#x27;d be really difficult to do the usual flip and toss motions when cooking things.<p>I didn&#x27;t want to spend $90 on a pan I would hate using, so I put it back in the box and requested a return.<p>That was when I found out exactly what the independent seller&#x27;s return policy was. 1) I have to pay for return shipping (USPS best price was $38), 2) I have to pay them for the original &#x27;free&#x27; shipping as well (no idea how much that was), and 3) I also have to pay a 25% restocking fee for an item in perfect resell-able condition. So in returning my $90 pan I figured I wouldn&#x27;t get more than ~$30 back. I decided between being out $90 and having a pan or being out $60 and having nothing, I might as well keep it.<p>So I suppose that was a win for the seller - they successfully discouraged me from returning the item, which I&#x27;m sure would have cost them money. But it also discouraged me from buying anything on Amazon that isn&#x27;t Prime, and it doesn&#x27;t reflect well on Amazon that I had an experience completely contrary to their customer service values.