Amazon customers with frequent returns may find their accounts unexpectedly closed, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Here are five things to know about the policy.
1. Amazon's return policy doesn't include language about whether frequent returns can lead to usage bans, according to the report. However the online retailer's conditions of use state the company can terminate accounts at its sole discretion.
2. Former Amazon managers told WSJ Amazon bans certain customers for requesting too many refunds, sending back an incorrect item or violating any other rules. Algorithms mark these accounts as suspicious before the cases are reviewed by a staff member.
3. Amazon users may also be flagged if they provide a reason for their return that doesn't coincide with the vast majority of other reasons the object was returned. For instance, if 99 percent of consumers return an item because they didn't want it, but one account said the good didn't meet descriptions, that account could get flagged.
4. A New York City woman who spends thousands of dollars on Amazon each year told WSJ her account was closed unexpectedly in early May. When she contacted the company about the lockout, Amazon said her account was banned because she "reported an unusual number of problems" on her items.
5. Amazon declined WSJ's request for comment on how many customers may experience a similar ban. In a letter to one user who was locked out of an account with a $450 gift card balance, an Amazon employee, responding on behalf of CEO Jeff Bezos, said the account was reinstated.
"We want everyone to be able to use Amazon, but there are rare occasions where someone abuses our service over an extended period of time," an Amazon spokesperson said. "We never take these decisions lightly, but with over 300 million customers around the world, we take action when appropriate to protect the experience for all our customers."
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