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. Satisfied parents left five-star ratings and glowing feedback, elevating the diaper in search results and steering more shoppers their way. The momentum seemed unstoppable.“The diaper arrived used and was covered in poop stains,” a shopper wrote in a review with a one-star rating.
“We are sorry to hear that a seller feels their return was not evaluated correctly and resulted in a negative review,” Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti said in a statement. “We encourage selling partners to reach out with any concerns, and we listen to their feedback to help us continue improving the selling experience.”
“We started this as a dream to make enough money for Rachelle to be able to stay home,” Paul said. The alternative was Rachelle working as a teaching assistant, which barely covered the cost of childcare, they said. The breadth of Amazon’s catalog exacerbates the problem. The company sells hundreds of millions of items. An Amazon worker handling returns might see a particular product only once and never develop expertise about a given category. It might seem unlikely that a stained diaper would be resold, except that Amazon also sells fake dirty diapers as gag gifts.
“I just received one of your swim diapers via Amazon today and when I opened it looks like it had dirt or mold on the inside. Looks like it’s possibly been previously used,” the email said.