• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Blogs » Think Tank » How Amazon’s Vendors and Marketplace Sellers Can Recover Erroneous Fees

Think Tank
Think Tank RSS FeedRSS

How Amazon’s Vendors and Marketplace Sellers Can Recover Erroneous Fees

A GRAPHIC SHOWING A TUG OF WAR OVER A BAG OF MONEY
Photo: iStock.com/drogatnev
February 7, 2023
John W. Collins, SCB Contributor

Becoming a seller on Amazon.com can be a great way to build an e-commerce business or make a side income. But extensive and wrongly charged seller fees can take a big bite out of a seller’s or vendor’s bottom line.

The erroneous fees charged by Amazon and other selling platforms can put sellers and e-commerce platforms at odds with one another and create an ongoing, problematic relationship. However, there are steps that sellers and vendors can take to recover these fees and continue successfully selling online. 

Fees are part and parcel of being an online seller. There are fees for shipping costs, inventory control, e-commerce site hosting and customer returns, among others, and they can easily compound to the point of becoming uncontrollable. These fees can also be charged in error, sometimes without sellers even realizing it, until their profits begin to dwindle.

Sellers and vendors should be able to expect transparency and strong oversight over fees charged in error, but that’s not the reality many of them encounter. The marketplace is solidly “pay-to-play,” forcing sellers to absorb these erroneous fees as a cost of doing business. One could call the practice abusive, but vendors and sellers need these platforms to do business. Amazon alone plays host to 6.3 million total sellers.

Sellers know that Amazon gives them access to a massive global consumer network. Competition can be steep, and if a seller decides to go without the assistance of a giant such as Amazon, they’ll have a tough hill to climb to reach success in the e-commerce marketplace.

Even so, these companies and their e-commerce platforms can make mistakes, and the resulting fees can surprise even the most diligent seller. Items can be destroyed without the seller being aware of it; customers can be over-refunded; weight fees can be overcharged, and returns can be noted as refunded even if they weren’t. Once sellers become aware of these erroneous fees, recovery can be a study in patience.

Sellers are aware of the importance of playing by Amazon’s rules. But that doesn’t leave them with a lot of options for the recovery of erroneous fees. 

The recovery process can be complicated. For one, Amazon’s inventory and fee-collection processes are automated. It’s not a perfect system, and sometimes the automated system can have hiccups, in which inventory isn’t fully processed, or fees are assessed due to a mistake. Periodically, fees can be charged because vendors didn’t follow the strict guidelines for shipping, packaging or listing set by Amazon.

To recover fees, sellers and vendors must act fast. Sellers should have an audit performed on their business to uncover which fees were assessed and where they might have been overcharged. Sellers should also have tight data-collection procedures, which are key in searching for erroneous fees and their current status. The more complete the data set is, the better.

Approaching Amazon with a dispute requires timing, the right tactics and abiding by the company’s dispute-resolution guidelines. Toeing this line will increase the likelihood of a favorable outcome, and money returned to the seller’s pocket. Often, it can be challenging to know all of the ins and outs of the Amazon dispute process, which is why enlisting the help of an intermediary can be beneficial. When the exact approach is known, and the dispute is handled expeditiously, a good amount of erroneously charged fees can often be recovered.

Amazon’s seller fees are likely to continue to increase. With inflation and the rising cost of advertising and shipping, Amazon and other platforms rely on seller's fees to stay profitable. Don’t count on Amazon discovering mistakenly charged fees on its own. Without sellers and vendors keeping a tight rein on their own fee data and pursuing recovery, significant amounts of money can become lost.

Remaining on top of all the data and fees that come from Amazon each and every day requires highly specialized knowledge, not to mention a lot of help from technology and the hours to manage it, decipher the information, and act on it without missing Amazon's timelines on various fees.

Nevertheless, it’s absolutely achievable for sellers to work with Amazon as a more equitable partner. Once sellers learn the best way to approach the company and its e-commerce platform and follow the recovery process, erroneously charged fees can be returned, and sellers can retain more of their hard-earned profits. 

John W. Collins is co-founder and chief executive officer of Chargeguard.

Supply Chain Finance & Revenue Management Quality & Metrics Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt E-Commerce/Omni-Channel

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • BRIGHT BLUE LINES OUTLINE TWO HANDS SHAKING EACH OTHER

    How Smart Contracts Could Play a Pivotal Role in Supply Chains

    Cloud & On-Demand Systems
  • A MEDLEY OF IMAGES OF GRAPHS AND CHARTS SUPER-IMPOSED OVER A HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL

    How Companies Can Avoid Competing Solely on Price

    Logistics
  • A Walmart truck is driving on a highway on a cloudy day.

    Can Walmart’s Associate-to-Driver Program Solve the Driver Shortage?

    LTL/Truckload Services
  • The letters "PFAS" with the words "per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances" are in the center of a visual scope. Photo: iStock.com/Francesco Scatena

    Using Technology to Tackle the Problem of PFAS in the Supply Chain

  • A WOMAN IN HER LIVING ROOM GESTURES IN DISMAY ON THE PHONE OVER AN OPEN SHIPPING BOX

    Hyper-Automating the Retail Returns Process

    Reverse Logistics

Digital Edition

Scb may 2023 lg

2023 Supply Chain ESG Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • JLL Finds Perfect Warehouse Location, Leading to $15M Grant for Startup

  • Robots Speed Fulfillment to Help Apparel Company Scale for Growth

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

Visit Our Sponsors

Antuit Zebra Brother Cleo
Data Capture E2open Enveyo
GAINSystems Generix Geodis
GEP GreyOrange Here
Holman Logistics Infor Inmar
Kinaxis Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems Locus Robotics
Logility LogistiVIEW MCA Connect
MPO Old Dominion OneRail
Overhaul PartnerLinQ (Visionet) Port of Virginia
Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics SAP
Shyft Sourcemap Tecsys
TGW Systems Verusen Workshop
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing