Chinese Online Seller Registers Private Home as Return Address
Amazon Offers "$100 Gift Card If You Dispose of the Packages"
The story of a woman who suffered for over a year as an enormous number of packages she never ordered piled up throughout her house has been reported. Upon investigation, it was revealed that a Chinese online seller of automotive products had registered this woman's home address as the return address.
On July 10 (local time), ABC7 in the United States reported on the case of Kay (a pseudonym), a woman who received hundreds of Amazon packages over more than a year. Kay, who lives in San Jose, California, showed the packages that had taken over her garage and said, "There was nowhere to put the large packages that kept arriving non-stop, so I had no choice but to stack them in the garage. Because of the packages, I couldn't even park my car," describing it as "a hellish experience." She added, "What you see here is only a part of it. I refused to accept even more packages than what is here."
The person responsible for sending the mysterious packages to Kay's house was a Chinese company selling synthetic leather car seat covers. When customers who purchased this company's products found that they did not fit their vehicle models and initiated return procedures, the items ended up being sent to Kay's house. ABC7 reported that this company appeared to have violated Amazon's return policy.
According to Amazon's regulations, overseas sellers must either register a U.S. address for returns or provide buyers with a prepaid international shipping label. Alternatively, they can offer a "returnless refund" service, refunding the purchase cost without requiring the item to be returned. If a seller does not respond to buyers' return requests within a certain period, Amazon may refund the amount to the buyer on behalf of the seller and then charge the seller. However, it appears that this Chinese company violated the rules by listing Kay's address as the return address. In the process, buyers were also harmed, as they had to pay shipping costs for returns. In one package, a note was found stating, "I spent $124 to return this item."
Amazon's response was also inadequate. Kay claimed that she contacted Amazon countless times to resolve the situation, but the company took little action. She said, "Every time, they just told me, 'You will not receive any more packages. We will contact you within 24 to 48 hours.'" She also revealed that Amazon offered her a $100 gift card as compensation if she disposed of the packages herself. Kay criticized, "The seller did not follow Amazon's rules, so why is it my responsibility to deal with this?" It was only after the incident was reported that Amazon visited Kay's home to collect the packages and promised to prevent a recurrence.
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