Amazon
India has notified buyers that effective today they won’t be able to return mobile phones bought from the online retailer.
According to the new policy, buyers will only be eligible for getting the
device replaced, that too only if the product is defective or was damaged during
transit. Buyers will no longer be able to return the product by citing the “No longer needed” option.
According
to Amazon India’s new return policy, “All Mobile phones that are fulfilled by Amazon, purchased on or
after February 7, 2016, will have a replacement only policy. Mobile phone items
that are fulfilled by Amazon will no longer be eligible for refunds. In case
you have received a defective or a damaged mobile phone, you will be eligible
for a free replacement.”
The
replacement is available for a period of 10-days from delivery of the product.
The new policy is exclusively applicable to smartphones and does not apply to
electronics, software, video games, toys and tablets. The policy is also only
applicable to mobile phones that are fulfilled by Amazon.
Industry
insiders BGR India spoke to suggested buyers were abusing the return policy,
which was becoming a problem both for Amazon India and its seller community.
Amazon India had to bear the additional cost for shipping the devices while
sellers were left to fend for the returned stock.
According
to sellers BGR India spoke to, the instances of mobile phones getting returned
on flimsy grounds had increased to untenable levels. Many users would buy the
latest device, use it for a few days and return it even when the device had no
problem, a seller told BGR India.
BGR India
has reached out to Amazon India to comment on the reasons for implementing the
new replacement policy. Mobile phones is the largest selling product category
for most online retail sites.
Flipkart
has a 30-day replacement guarantee for mobile phones sold by sellers with
Flipkart Advantage and 10-days for other sellers, that too only for products
that are defective, damaged or different than what’s described on the listing. According to Flipkart’s terms and conditions, a refund is made only if the seller is
unable to provide a replacement. BGR India has reached out to Flipkart for more
details of its return policy.
Snapdeal
has one of the most stringent return policy for electronics. Like Amazon India,
it doesn’t offer “dissatisfied with the product” option for electronics and will initiate a replacement or return
only after the buyer has first visited an authorized service center and
receiving confirmation that the delivered product is indeed defective. This is
at par with the replacement guarantee offline retailers offer.
“We require a document from
the brand/OEM’s service centre confirming
that the delivered item was defective. We will carry out a quality check to
validate the complaint before processing any request for refund/replacement.
Returns/replacements will be accepted for only those items which are found to
be faulty/ defective,” Snapdeal says on its terms
and conditions page. BGR India has reached out to Snapdeal to comment on its
return policy.
It is
interesting that none of the online retailers in India ever implemented a
restocking fee, which is the norm in the US. Under restocking fee, the buyer is
charged a certain percentage of the price of the returned item depending on the
condition and reason for return. Sometimes online retail stores also offer
in-store credit rather than cash for returns to deter those who intend to game
the system.
Source : BGR
0 comments: