So far, Amazon customers only have ratings as a guide to finding out how good a product is. But now there is another feature that can help with the purchase decision.
Amazon is now warning customers on the US side of the sales platform if an item is frequently returned. A corresponding box with “Frequently returned items” can now be found on the product page. This could, for example, make it easier to identify misleading or even counterfeit products in the future.
Amazon is trying to limit unnecessary returns
The US portal “The Verge” reports on the change, which was first announced by “the information” has been discovered. Amazon introduces the “Frequently returned item” warning primarily to avoid unnecessary returns. The orange box on the product page therefore encourages customers to consult the ratings and reviews before making a purchase. In this way, they can see before ordering whether, for example, shoes are smaller than usual and make their decision based on that.
Amazon grants a 30-day right of return for most of the products sold. The return is free of charge. The company therefore incurs not inconsiderable costs due to unnecessary returns – the new information could help to reduce these. Amazon is currently on austerity measures and has already laid off 27,000 employees in the USA in two phases. That is about nine percent of the entire workforce of around 300,000 employees.
“Frequently returned” warning for the time being only in the USA
But the notice can also serve as a warning for the customers themselves. Amazon is full of cheap – sometimes even counterfeit – low-quality products that often cannot be identified as such. The reasons for this are purchased reviews and so-called “review merging”, in which the retailers take the page of a well-rated product and place cheap goods there instead. Amazon is also practically powerless against the countless Chinese fake shops that are constantly changing their names and therefore cannot be held accountable.
The note that the product is an item that is often returned should therefore make you suspicious. Reading the reviews and product details can then already provide information – for example, if there are many one-star ratings in addition to five-star ratings or the ratings do not match the item on the site.
In addition to the new warning label, Amazon recently introduced another function to help with the purchase. As the news service “Marketplace Pulse‘ reported, the company now publicly shows how many times a product has been sold in the past month. Both changes are currently only found in the US.