Paul and Rachelle Baron were an Amazon success story. The washable swim diaper they designed for their infant son quickly became a best-selling product as the online retailer’s algorithm worked its magic.
Selling returned products as new on Amazon is a major and growing problem, according to consultants who advise merchants how to navigate the online marketplace. When the practice spawns negative feedback, they say, the damage increases exponentially. They used a credit card to place their first order with a factory in China and launched Beau & Belle Littles on Amazon. Before long, the business had reached $1 million in sales. The couple appeared on the Rachael Ray Show and were profiled in Forbes. Theirs was the kind of small-business success that Amazon loves to tout, especially when regulators accuse it of hurting mom-and-pops.
The amount of time Amazon workers spend inspecting returns varies, depending on what the item is, according to the former employee. But on balance, a worker shouldn’t spend more than a minute eyeballing each return, the person said. Amazon says it doesn’t allow reviews that address packaging or shipping problems or product condition and damage. The guidelines appear to prohibit the stained diaper review since it suggests the item had already been used, and the Barons were hopeful that a quick note would fix things. But their emails went unanswered.
“There should be a very simple appeal process where a seller can get the review removed if a used item is resold as new,” said Jason Boyce, a long-time Amazon merchant who now runs a consulting business for online sellers. “But that process has been broken for a long time.”