One of the most common questions and queries that we see posted on most Amazon-related social media ages is: “Does Amazon accept receipts?” We can even go so far as to say that most of these times, this is not even asked as a question, rather this is posted as a factual statement that “Amazon does not accept receipts.”
Now the question arises, that whether these statements that we keep hearing are true or not? Therefore, to understand this let us take a moment to talk about something really important here. How do these so-called facts and statements start to go about the internet and how do these statements become so widely recognized and accepted? Furthermore, if you want expert business insights on your Amazon FBA business then visit our website https://olifantdigital.com/ to get them.
How does This Information Circulate?
First of all, let us begin with the origins. These statements are usually generated by people with either little to no knowledge about the matter, who just want to sound like someone who knows what he is doing, or by someone who is spreading false information on purpose, and is trying to mislead the people and guide them away from the truth.
Someone posts something and the people quickly catch on and start spreading these made-up facts and statements like “hey, I heard this is like this…” or “hey did you know someone posted this…”, or maybe “I read someone’s comments and he was saying this about the matter…”, etc. and hence these statements start going about and reach everyone until everyone just starts believing and spreading information that has no basis and is false and misleading. You can also promote your business by using our Facebook Ads Agency service so that you can get a head start on your competitors and catch up to others who are ahead of you very quickly.
How to Avoid This Problem
The best way to avoid all this commotion and spreading of false news and facts is to only go to credible sources of information and only go to those groups and forums that are credible and known to share only the authentic facts about Amazon-related stuff. DO not go to any unknown or incredible sources, pages, groups, or forums that may provide you with false and misleading information and may cause you to incur some kind of loss. Therefore, the best way to go about this is to approach every bit of information with great caution, even if the information is coming from credible and reliable sources. Always cross-verify this information from Amazon’s official support pages or talk with an Amazon expert and verify from them that whether the piece of information you have is correct or not and whether you should act upon it or not.
Proof of Purchase
Well then, we think it is about time we came back to the question originally at hand: “Does Amazon accept receipts?”. To understand and elaborate this question any further, we first need to understand about a “receipt”. Therefore, we shall now talk about what a receipt is.
A big mistake that quite a lot of Amazon sellers often make is that they believe that their receipt is their only proof of purchase. This is where they are wildly mistaken. Well, receipts ARE a type of proof of purchase, but they most certainly are not the only ones. Let us tell you about a few more these proofs of purchase that most people do not usually know about at all:
- Retail receipt (whether in person or online)
- Invoice of your purchase.
- Packing slip that comes with your delivery.
- Confirmation of your order via email.
- Your credit card statement.
All these different types of proofs of purchase are different from each other and all have their significance and insignificance in certain matters and situations. For example, an invoice contains much more data (like your address, UPCs, line items, etc.) as compared to your credit card statement that only contains the transaction amount and the store name. Some of these items that we have listed above are enough as a pretty solid and irrefutable proof of your purchase while other items may only be regarded as just mere support for your claim in your proof of purchase.
Requirements of Amazon
Now that we have talked about what a receipt is, it is time to come back to the question originally at hand again. Before proceeding to further explain the question and its definite answer, let us now take a quick little look at the word “accept” used in the original question at hand. Therefore, we shall now talk about what this acceptance is.
Whenever you see “Amazon does not accept receipts” written anywhere on the internet, you are forced to ask yourself the question: “What does Amazon accept them for anyway?” Why is it that even need to give Amazon the proof of a purchase that you made from Amazon itself? Crazy, right? Well, no! Let us elaborate on this a little bit.
There are two main reasons why Amazon may require a seller to provide proof of purchase for its inventory.
1. Ungating in any brand, category, or ASIN.
2. Proof of authenticity when you claim something sold.
The first reason means that Amazon does not accept retail processes in case of ungating in a brand, category, or ASIN, like Walmart or maybe any other online retail store.
The second reason implies that if you present the retail receipt as your proof of purchase to Amazon in the proper and preferred way by Amazon, then certainly Amazon will accept that as the proof of your purchase from Amazon.
These observations helped us get a better understanding of the situations in which amazon does not accept retail receipts and under what condition Amazon does accept retail receipts.
Conclusion
Hence, we concluded that a retail receipt is just one kind of proof of purchase on Amazon and that Amazon accepts retail receipts in only a few cases (for inauthentic claims), and not for other cases (for ungating purposes).