Please beware of an Amazon Registry problem

kit.kat343

For everyone who is starting a baby registry with Amazon Baby, I wanted to warn you of a potential problem that you may not be aware of.  I had items on my Amazon baby registry that were fulfilled by distributors other than Amazon.com.  I tried to return one item, and Amazon told me that they will not accept a return for the item, and that I need to contact the distributor.  The distributor told me that he can only refund the credit card of the person who purchased the gift or offer me credit that can only be used at his store (which I don't have any use for).  Since it would be too embarrassing to have to ask one of my baby shower guests to process a refund for me, I have lost money by choosing to keep a registry with amazon.com.  

I just wanted to warn all of you to be careful when adding items to an amazon baby registry and make sure they are distributed by amazon directly, or that you know for certain that you will not need to return the item.

grace_smith03

wow. thanks for posting!

kit.kat343

Sorry - there was one thing I didn't make clear in my original posting.  This problem was not caused by Amazon's Universal Registry (which is an amazon program that lets you add items from other store's websites so that you can keep only one registry and have items to your registry from as many stores as possible.  Amazon is very clear about the fact that they are not responsible for any purchases made through Universal Registries and you do not pay Amazon when you make these purchases). 

The problem I encountered was caused by items that I found directly on Amazon's own website - not all of the products on Amazon's websites are distributed directly by Amazon, and they apparently do not take responsibility for returning items that they don't distribute. 

CCinLove

Ditto pp re: it being pretty simple to figure out what is and isn't sold by Amazon.  I buy on Amazon all the time, and typically avoid buying items that aren't being sold by Amazon.

I wanted to point out that your issue is really with the specific company that sold the item.  I recently returned a product that I bought from a 3rd party through Amazon, and I had no issues at all.  Many of the 3rd party vendors have good return policies.  You should post this company's name so that people can be aware that they do not allow returns.

kit.kat343

The third party company does allow returns.  The company just wants to credit the original purchaser's credit card (and it would be inappropriate for me to ask a baby shower guest to send me a check to reimburse me for a credit on their credit card), or to issue me credit that can only be used on items that they distribute on Amazon (which I don't have any need for).  

In the past, I also haven't had a problem purchasing items directly from third party vendors on Amazon, since I was paying for them directly and could get credit back on my credit card.  The problem here is that registries are set up with the expectation that other people will make purchases and that it should be easy for the recipient to return the items and get credit back (at least this is my expectation).  If a purchase is made for you on Amazon from a third party company with a limited selection, you may be stuck with credit you can't use.  And Amazon is fine with that.  But they are very clear about warning people before they add items to their Universal Registry that they will not be responsible if there is a problem; I think they should also warn customers before adding products distributed by third party vendors that they do not take responsibility for returns.  I certainly would not have added these items to my registry if I had realized that it was possible I would be stuck with credit I can't use, and I wanted to warn others so they had a chance to prevent this issue by not adding items to their baby registries that are distributed by third party retailers (unless they are big chains like Target, where moms-to-be will easily be able to use store credit).