I realize that Amazon's marketplace sellers aren't auctioneers, but I know several of you who have been eBayers use Amazon as well, and am hoping to get some info from you...

I'm helping my mother resolve an issue regarding a $400ish order she placed with a vendor on Amazon. She received confirmation from Amazon that she placed the order, but nothing from the vendor. A day or two after placing the order she went online to see if she could find shipping info on Amazon's website, and when she went to view the page for the product itself, it said it was no longer offered for sale through that vendor. She never received shipping confirmation from the vendor or from Amazon - no contact from the vendor, period. After several days of no communication and the item continuing to be noted as "no longer carried" by that vendor, she ordered another one online from an entirely different website.

Several days later, a box arrived that was clearly the camera she had ordered based on the pictures on the outside of the box. She didn't have time to mess with it immediately (and didn't need it immediately) so it sat there for a couple of days. On the outside of the box, in several places, it says, "90 DAY RETURN GUARANTEE" and that it can be returned for a full refund within 90 days of purchase.

A few days later, a second camera arrived in the mail.... and the 2nd one was clearly the one she had ordered from the non-Amazon website (it bore the name of the place she ordered it from on the outside.) Initially she had assumed that the FIRST camera she received was from the SECOND order she placed, since for all intents and purposes it appeared that the Amazon vendor was not going to fulfill her order and she didn't think it would arrive. She never got shipping confirmation from them and had no reason to believe they had sent her anything.

When the second camera arrived and based on the outside of the box she knew was clearly from her 2nd order, she didn't have time immediately to mess with returning the first one.... and unopened the box boldy, plainly announced the full refund within 90 days policy so she didn't think there was any hurry. She had ordered it on March 25th.... so this was about four weeks ago that she placed the order, and about two weeks ago that the camera arrived at her home.

Last week, about a week after she received it,she finally had time to figure out how to return it. She opened the box to find whatever paperwork she'd need and to figure out the process. There was NOTHING in the box from the Amazon vendor (ecommerce marketplace), however, there was lots of paperwork from CostCo explaining how to contact them for a return within 90 days.

So.... she contacted CostCo, and heard back from them several dayslater. They said she did not order from them. They said they could not help her. Argh.

At that point, she figured out that CostCo is the dropshipper used by ecommerce marketplace (the Amazon seller) and so she went to Amazon.com and used a form to contact ecommerce marketplace to tell them she wants to return the camera, and that the box clearly said she had 90 days to return it, but that CostCo claimed she needed to go through them, ecommerce marketplace.

ecommerce marketplace said, "So sorry - can't help you because you waited longer than 14 days, and Amazon's policy is that we cannot accept a return from you after 14 days."

Clearly, the MERCHANDISE she received was in a box that CLEARLY led her to believe she had 90 days. She would have made the time to contact them immediately, but for the fact that without even opening the box she was led to believe she had NINETY days.

Obviously, the dropshipper has a different 'rule' than the seller, but does the seller have a responsibility to KNOW that the customer is going to receive a product containing information that they will refuse to honor?

And secondly... does Amazon TRULY prohibit a vendor from accepting a return after 14 days?

Is this transaction eligible for the A to Z guarantee? And if so, what about the 15% restocking fee that ecommerce claims they mandate on ALL returns? I assume if we file for the guarantee and Amazon finds in our favor that the camera will need to be returned.... but will my mom have to forfeit $50ish to a 'restocking fee' in any refund she receives?

Sorry so long - it's a complicated story!

If she bought with a credit card and can't get Amazon to help, file a chargeback based on the misinformation from the dropshipped box.

Don't return the camera until the bank tells her to do so and be sure to use tracking and insurance.

She did not handle this in a timely manner but ought to come out OK.

Thanks saturnfan. She definitely would have handled it more quickly had she had a clue that she needed to. She had it in her possession for 15 days (she was out of town for several of those and didn't have time for a post office trip on the others) which is just a fraction of the 90 days she thought she had, so in that respect... she was very timely.

Had the outside of the box not clearly said 90 days, she would definitely have gone to the Amazon website to figure out how long she had to return it, but she had no reason to believe anything beyond what the merchandise's box itself represented.

The more I've communicated with her, the more I understand now. She said she never heard from ecommerce marketplace about whether her order went through, and that typically she receives notification from the seller when she makes a purchase on Amazon from a seller. Well... come to find out, it sounds like it was in her junk mail folder. Normally I would say that's her fault for not checking her junk mail, however....!

This is one of those situations where the Amazon 'store' she bought from is 'ecommerce marketplace' (they don't capitalize their name, which makes it sound more like a descriptor than a store name!) however the notification emails didn't say 'ecommerce marketplace' in them anywhere. The subject headers of the notification emails (that she discovered yesterday) simply said something like, "from Jinz Mahraolmize Rahshadinmad" (I totally made the name up, but you get the drift! lol!) They looked like junk mail that you shouldn't open... like junk mail from someone who was going to claim to want you to help them recover $2,000,0000 from a deceased Nigerian relative!)....

So.... she BOUGHT from 'ecommerce marketplace'...

The notification emails were from "Jinz Mahraolmize Rahshadinmad" (not really, but you get the jist...!)

And the merchandise came from CostCo with no paperwork from 'ecommerce marketplace' whatsoever, and contained complete instructions (that they would not honor) about how to return the product to them within 90 days for a full refund.

No wonder she's confused...!

To further confuse ME as I was trying to help her, she said she ordered from 'ecommerce marketplace', and told me the name of the item she ordered. ecommerce marketplace no longer even sells the item, however, a company named BigValue does.

So... when I looked up the description page for the item on Amazon and saw that the only seller was Big Value, I assumed that's who she ordered from. She said, "No, I ordered from ecommerce marketplace'. I read the "About the Seller" info for Big Value. It says the following:

Is that crazy or what? They actually use the words 'ecommerce marketplace' in the description of what they DO, and it also happens to be the name of a former competitor for a product the competitor ceased to carry immediately after my mom purchased it.

She feels like everyone is giving her the runaround, and it's such a crazy story to try to explain how and why she got caught in a loop of confusion. She's web-shopping-savvy and yet this really has her flustered and frazzled!

Amazon was very helpful when I had a problem with a store. I would contact them and see if they can mediate.

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A deal is not always a deal - Some just make you pay in the end.

DollsR, she called Amazon and was told, "We can't help you - you need to contact the vendor." She then figured out ecommerce marketplace's email address and emailed them. They said, "So sorry, but Amazon does not permit us to accept a return after 14 days." That's bunk. Amazon's policy is 30 days. It's THEIR policy that is 14 days, which is fine... but they need to make sure then that their dropshipper doesn't send the merchandise out in a big box that says, "90 DAY RETURN GUARANTEE! Return this product within 90 days for a full refund. Please see inside for instructions."

She then tried to leave negative feedback for ecommerce marketplace (which she shouldn't have done at that point, IMHO, simply because that would take away the incentive for them to work with her. She thought it might make them sit up and take notice, and I said, "No... on eBay, once you've hurt their reputation irrevocably they usually QUIT working with you!) When she tried to give them one star, Amazon.com would not let her proceed until she filled out a form with info that would go to the seller so they could 'work it out.' She called Amazon and said, "I already emailed them and they did not help, so that's why I am leaving the one star feedback." The Amazon rep said they couldn't find where she had contacted them. She said, "I contacted them via email from the address listed on their Seller page," and the Amazon rep said, "NEVER email them outside of Amazon.com's system for contact!"

As an eBay seller who reads the eBay boards, I understand why. But my mom is simply a consumer trying to find a way to contact a business from which she made a purchase, and they provide an email address right there on their website... so to her the obvious thing is to email them. But the Amazon rep was rather snooty with her for having done that.

Another thing... the camera came double-boxed. One of the boxes was a previously-unused FedEx box, but it was sent via USPS and had USPS Priority stickers all over it. I know that it's not illegal to use FedEx boxes like it is to use USPS boxes and ship via another method... but the fact that they use boxes intended for FedEx shipments (provided free to them by FedEx) but instead use a different shipper is a little cheaty.

The latest is that I filled out an A to Z claim form for her. It said I had two characters left in the explanation field when I hit submit. On the next page it cut off at LEAST half if not more of my explanation, and the part about the box showing she had 90 days to return it (the most important part!) was cut off. GRR! Who knows where it will end up.

Amazon gave me all my money when I had an issue so hopefully they will respond to the claim.

If not, file with the credit card issuer immediately to protect your rights. You have 60 days from the billing date to put the transaction in dispute.

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A deal is not always a deal - Some just make you pay in the end.