Refunding instead of cancelling orders (account metrics)

[Canadianleaf]

I mark orders as shipped then refund them to keep account metrics healthy (instead of cancelling)

My question:

1) Does the refund time matter matter? IE: Should I wait 24 hours before refunding after marking the order as shipped? Worried if refunding immediately after marking shipped may raise a flag with the algorithm.

2) Does the refund reason matter? IE: Does buyer return, adjustment or any other have different affects on account metrics? Which one has the least impact?

Note: I also generally give a $5 - $10 bonus refund as a goodwill gesture.

[Canadianleaf]

Additonal note: I keep a 20:1 ratio of random books to dilute my inventory to limit linkage. I price all these random book prices at >$400. I have about 20,000 random books in my inventory. One of these books magically got bought. Im going to refund it and increase the price of all these books to at least $700 - $800 which I believe should deter purchases.

[Canadianleaf]

All my orders are FBA. Ive had about 2000 FBA orders this year. This is my first fulfillment by merchant order (I only do FBA). I marked as shipped then refunded in full + $10 extra a few hours later. I sent an apology message to the buyer.

Is my account at risk? Will all my other positive FBA orders even out my metrics? I thought refunds metrics do not affect account health?

[Canadianleaf]

Originally Posted by tinsoldier

It will hit your pre fulfilment cancellation rate. Only orders cancelled by the buyer using the correct order cancellation request will be discounted.

Its all explained under account health > delivery performance > Pre-fulfilment cancellation rate.

You need to keep it below 2.5% to avoid attention.

Are Fulfillment by Amazon and Fulfillment by Amazon Pre-fulfilment cancellation rates in the same metric? Or are they tracked separately?

Example, I have 3000 orders this year, All FBA. 100% on delivery performance.

Now I have this one Fulfillment by Merchant order that was marked shipped then refunded to customer.

Will the FBA orders metrics wipe out the negative I would have from refunding this FBM order?

[Canadianleaf]

Also I may be confusing you, im not cancelling the order. Im marking the order as shipped, then refunding. I dont believe this affects pre-cancellation rates as im not actually cancelling the order, im just refunding.

My shipping performance is flawless atm.

[Zippie]

Originally Posted by Canadianleaf

I mark orders as shipped then refund them to keep account metrics healthy (instead of cancelling)

My question:

1) Does the refund time matter matter? IE: Should I wait 24 hours before refunding after marking the order as shipped? Worried if refunding immediately after marking shipped may raise a flag with the algorithm.

2) Does the refund reason matter? IE: Does buyer return, adjustment or any other have different affects on account metrics? Which one has the least impact?

Note: I also generally give a $5 - $10 bonus refund as a goodwill gesture.

No idea on timing if refund relative to confirmation.

I don't think that Amazon cares what reason you use. Although saying customer return when the order is 1 day old would be weird. If you refund percentage spikes over a certain percentage - it will affect your buybox.

Refunds do not count as a cancelation.

Giving the customer money will not make Amazon happy with the refund. May help with the customer.

Raising the price for the item and keeping it listed WILL piss off the customer. Trust me I've seen it.

[Canadianleaf]

Originally Posted by Zippie

No idea on timing if refund relative to confirmation.

I don't think that Amazon cares what reason you use. Although saying customer return when the order is 1 day old would be weird. If you refund percentage spikes over a certain percentage - it will affect your buybox.

Refunds do not count as a cancelation.

Giving the customer money will not make Amazon happy with the refund. May help with the customer.

Raising the price for the item and keeping it listed WILL piss off the customer. Trust me I've seen it.

With stealth having a ratio of random asins not related to your prior suspended account is mandatory. I upload 20:1 for these random "filler" asins as I call them to dilute my suspended related asin inventory being sold.

I never exactly knew if it matters if these asins are actually active or not. For example, if I have 2000 filler asins and all their quantity is set to "0" (IE: being inactive) would this still be effective for diluting my inventories related asins?

I dont want to repeat this scenario (this customer bought like a $500 book) so I set all quantities to "0" to not risk any purchases again.

Lets hope the status of the filler asins does not matter, whether they're active or not.

FYI I told the customer their was a database mistake and I had to refund the order. I gave the customer a general adjustment for the full refund + an extra $10 as hush money. They never responded so I assume its fine.

[SoulStorm]

LOL I would have ran out and hunted for a copy of that book to send to the customer for that money

[Canadianleaf]

Originally Posted by SoulStorm

LOL I would have ran out and hunted for a copy of that book to send to the customer for that money

I was thinking it, but its a super rare book and my price as the lowest, with the next price being like $1000 so was not possible.