Seattle — You may have heard of stores that blacklist customers who make too many returns. Well the usually customer-friendly Amazon is now doing the same. And some customers say they've gone too far.
Getting that box with a signature smile is always a welcome sight.
But some customers are not too happy with Amazon right now, claiming they've been banned from the site for sending too many of those boxes back.
On the Twitter #AmazonClosed, one customer complained "5 years at Amazon and you closed my account?"
Another saying, "You felt comfortable keeping my Prime membership $$$ and then trying to say it was my fault."
The company wouldn't tell us how many customers it's banned, nor would they give us examples.
But they sent this statement which reads in part:
"There are rare occasions where someone abuses our service over an extended period of time. We never take these decisions lightly, but with over 300 million customers around the world, we take action when appropriate.”
Khadeeja Safdar, a retail writer for the Wall Street Journal advises customers to be very cognizant of what they are returning.
Especially when it comes to things like high priced electronics which are often returned after being used.
But Amazon isn't the only retailer tracking customer’s returns.
More than 34,000 stores like Best Buy, Dicks Sporting Goods and Victoria's Secret also monitor shopper behavior by using a service called The Retail Equation.
It's all to fight return fraud, which the National Retail Federation says cost retailers more than $17 billion dollars last year.
But should online shopping be different? I mean you can't try on the items, or touch products like you could in a store.
"They should pay close attention to the reason they mark for their return. They should make sure it accurately reflects why they are actually returning the item," says Safdar.
To avoid being banned for too many returns, retail experts say shop smarter, by closely reading product descriptions and reviews. Looking at all the photos of the product and comparing prices. Amazon also says, if you believe they made a mistake, you should contact them.