Issue Concessions
Sellers may occasionally want to compensate buyers for order issues aside from or in addition to refunding basic order costs. When a buyer receives a defective item, for example, the seller may cover the cost of return shipping in order to retrieve the item. If a buyer is disappointed in not receiving the color of item they expected but they are willing to keep the item, a seller may choose to make a monetary concession to the buyer.
Both the full and partial refund options in Manage Orders allow sellers to make concessions to buyers. There are line items for two types of concessions:
- Return Shipping Concession
- Other Concession
When a concession is issued, the full amount of the concession will be debited from the seller's account.
Refunds and Concessions
Sellers can always issue partial or full refunds for order costs, such as the product price or the shipping the buyer paid originally. Concessions allow sellers to compensate buyers for order issues as an alternative to or in addition to refunding order amounts. For example, in the case of a defective item, a seller might provide a return shipping concession and then process a full refund once the seller has received the return.
On the Full Refund or Partial Refund screen, concession line items will show specific maximum amounts for the Return Shipping Concession and Other Concession fields.
To issue a concession, follow these steps:
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Use the pop-up menu to select the appropriate Reason for Refund.
This is required in all cases, even when a concession is issued.
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Enter the amount of the return shipping and/or other concession into the Amount to Refund box.
Limits are displayed in the Max Amount column. If the total amount requested exceeds the total for product price and shipping, you will receive a pop-up asking you to confirm the concession.
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Optional: Add a Memo to Buyer.
This is a good customer service practice.
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Click the Submit Refund button.
Allow up to 15 minutes for the data to be updated.
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Optional: Add a Seller memo.
This will not be displayed to the buyer but may help you track actions on the order. You may add, revise, or delete notes in a seller memo at any time.
Sellers can create both a "Buyer memo" and "Seller memo" when issuing concessions or refunds. The "Your note" option allows you to track the actions you have taken on an order and includes reminders for next steps. The memo accepts 255 characters and you may continue to add new information or remove old information as needed.
Billing for Concessions
Concessions are processed in relation to a specific order. However, because concessions are not refunds of order costs, concessions are not adjusted for order-related Amazon fees. Such adjustments are only made when original order amounts (such as product price and shipping) are refunded to the buyer. Accordingly, the full amount of the concession is debited from the seller account.
Concessions are displayed in the Other line-item on the Payments Summary page. The Other line-item in the Summary view also includes refunds of order costs not displayed separately in the summary, such as shipping. Therefore, a shipping refund and a return shipping concession for the same order will be aggregated on your summary.
In the Transaction Details display, the Other refund amount gives a breakdown of order refunds and concessions. In this view, a shipping refund will be displayed as "Shipping" while a return shipping concession will be displayed as an "Other" transaction. In addition, Return Shipping Concessions and Other Concessions are consolidated in a single Other line-item. If you issue a 10 EUR Return Shipping Concession and a 20 EUR Other Concession, you will see a 30 EUR Other amount.
For a detailed view of concession amounts for a specific order, use the refund view in Manage Orders. The Partial Refund view will give the fullest breakdown of amounts refunded or issued as concessions. By returning to the original refund page in Manage Orders, you can see specific order and concession amounts that have already been issued to the buyer as well as any available amounts remaining.
Concession amounts will be debited from the seller's account and balanced against available funds. Negative account balances may be handled in any manner permitted under the terms of your selling agreement.
Concession Processing for Buyers
Concessions are issued to the payment instrument the buyer used for their order. This means that the buyer will see a credit on their statement if they used a credit card for the order. If both a concession amount and an order refund are issued, the buyer will see two entries on their statement.
Concessions and Seller Performance
Concessions do not contribute to the refund percentage in your seller performance metrics. If one or more products in an order are fully refunded, then the order is counted as a refunded order and is included in your Refund Rate.
