Amazon Customers Get Banned For Too Many Returns

A user on Amazon has been banned from the site because he returned too many items. The customer, Greg Nelson, received a notice that he was banned from Amazon because he had returned 37 of his items. 

Nelson, who declares himself as a "self-confessed Amazon addict," bought in total 343 items since over the past two years ago. 

He claims that each return was for a genuine reason, but the shopping company said he had failed to give "proper explanation" for the returns.

"I could understand if there was evidence that I had somehow tried to abuse the system, but I haven't," Nelson told The Guardian on Friday.  

The number of banned accounts from the site has been rising since 2008, states Digital Trends. However, according to The Guardian, nowhere in the shopping site's return policy does it state anything about banning accounts due to too many returns. 

Yet, Amazon told MarketWatch that the decision to ban accounts is made after reviewing the account carefully and working with the customer.

"In a tiny fraction of cases we are forced to close accounts where we identify extreme account abuse. This decision is only taken after we have reviewed the account carefully and tried to work with the customer over an extended time period to resolve any issues," Amazon said in a statement.

These unexpected bans can cause problems though, especially with Nelson's case, with amounts left on account gift cards.

Nelson had an unused gift card balance when his account was canceled. The Guardian cites another case where a woman's account was banned, canceling her Amazon Prime membership and $245 gift card balance.

Those who are banned will also lose access to sites owned by Amazon such as Audible, the popular talking books service, and Comixology, a site for comic books.