A word of warning about Amazon Trade-ins

ssjmichael

ssjmichael

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I've traded in quite a few games and movies to Amazon snce they started doing trade-ins, but lately I haven't been so pleased with their service, at least when it comes to movies. They recently changed their trading tiers for movies (not sure about other categories), adding a "New" level and it seems like they've become stricter about what they consider like new.

I sent in 4 sets (mostly tv shows). Two sealed, so they accepted those. The other two were in perfect like new condition. I take great care of my DVD's and I watched these once and put everything back in the case. The two were rejected because of "small marks on the case".

I opted from the start to have them sent back to me if they were graded lower because I didn't want to be sent the significantly lower trade in value for the lowest tier (and I mean much lower). So I just got my sets back to me, and they appear to not only be in worse condition than I sent them, but each of them came with stickers on them. A sticker on the front that said "Previously used" and a huge sticker on the back covering the original UPC. The stickers on the back were a pain to remove and left sticky residue and some remnants of the paper, thus making it more difficult to resell on ebay or wherever else I choose. I don't see why they have to put stickers on them before doing their inspection considering they could be rejected and sent back to the user. If they did so after an inspection then that's even more inexcusable.

I'm certainly not the only one finding faults with whoever Amazon is using for these trades. If you go to the discussion section on Amazon you'll find plenty of people saying they were offered lower values, even when they sent items that they literally removed the shrinkwrap and sent it in (this was before they accepted new as a higher value).

So I'm merely trying to give a heads-up to always trade in items with the following in mind:

-Expect the chance of getting a lower value. If that value is too low for you then make sure to select the option of having the items returned back to you.

I'll be sending a complaint to Amazon of course; hopefully they take note. If this is better suited for another section then by all means please move it. Also note, that I'm not trying to stop anyone from trading in to Amazon, I just want people to know what you think might be like new, may not be considered so by the merchant, and to watch out for getting a lower than expected value.
 
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You should also check out the CAG Amazon trade-in thread for some discussions going on about Amazon trade-ins:
www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296660

We ran across the issue with the "Like New" changing TIV calculations at the beginning of this month when they created the "New" category.

[quote name='shrike4242']Six Blu-Ray movies I sent them, set as "Like New" condition, were rejected for the same reason.

At the time of my trade-in, there were two conditions, "Like New" and "Good". Now there are three, "New", "Like New" and "Good". "New" items have the same TIV my "Like New" movies did, with one caveat:

It needs to be sealed/shrinkwrapped for it to be considered new.

I checked the trade-in order on the site and they're all listed as "Like New" with the same rejection reason. If I did a new trade-in with the same six movies and the same "Like New" trade-in condition, my $43.45 is now $24.00. :wall:

My guess is NorAm changed things again and they were considered as "New" due to the TIVs for the "Like New" items matching the "New" TIVs. Since they weren't shrinkwrapped, they were sent back.

I sent Amazon a rather lengthy email about the situation and that I'm less than pleased. I'm sure the response should be interesting.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='shrike4242']I did my trade-in for the 6 BD titles on either the evening of the 28th or the morning of the 29th, and it was only "Like New" and "Good" at that point for conditions, no "New". I can only guess it showed up sometime between the 29th and the 4th, which is from shipment to receipt. The items I sent them were opened and never played, so they certainly fit the "Like New" category, as they were only missing the shrinkwrap that would classify them as "New". The TIVs I had for my "Like New" items are now the TIVs for "New" and the "Like New" TIVs are a bit less as follows:

"New" / "Like New":
$11 / $9.70 (Walking Dead S1)
$5.15 / $1.05 (State Of Play (non-combo))
$5.15 / $4.20 (American Gangster (non-combo))
$8.85 / $5.25 (Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (BD / DVD / DC))
$5.50 / $2.10 (Serenity (non-combo))
$9.00 / $4.20 (Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (BD / DVD / DC))

Had they done the condition correctly, they would have passed as "Like New" without any issue and I wouldn't have a problem. Since the TIVs I had are now at the "New" levels, they must have assumed they were "New". Since they lacked shrinkwrap, they were rejected as "New", and I never accept a lesser amount for my trade-ins, they were sent back.

Games are still showing "Good" and "Acceptable", so that hasn't changed.

I'm hoping my stuff comes back in the same condition I sent them in, and if not, then I'm going to be even more irritated with how it was being handled.

My items were packed perfectly to survive the trip and I'm betting they'll be tossed in a bubble mailer or some other piss-poor packaging on the way back. I've only had one item rejected previously from any trade, and it was accepted on the second time I submitted it. We'll see what happens when I get my items back.[/QUOTE]

When I complained to Amazon about this mess, this is what happened:
[quote name='shrike4242']Amazon gave me a $20 promotional certificate to make up for the near $20 I'll lose in credit if I re-submit my games back to them for a new trade-in under the "Like New" status and TIVs. They also said that they would refer the matter to NorAm to ask them why there was such an issue with my items being treated as New when they weren't.[/QUOTE]

I ended up getting all six items clumped together in a bubble mailer when they sent them back. I re-submitted the trade-in with another item, all of them being "Like New" conditions. I had no issues with those seven items (the six items referenced above + The Incredibles BD set) on the new trade-in.

I would never allow for lower valuation of the trade-in on anything I sent in to them, as it gives them perfect reason to give you the lowest TIV possible on the trade. You should always get your items sent back to you if you think they may be rejected for some reason.

All the items I send in are always "Like New" without question, and with this "New" calculation, the better TIVs we've seen for some items in the past are likely to be gone.
 
I just looked at the individual cases from The Wire season set I sent in. Every single Disc in the 5 disc set was placed back in the case upside down, i.e. with the bottom facing upwards and with smudges on most of them. How incompetent are these people??

edit: Same thing for the other rejected set. WTF
 
Noram sucks if those assholes are still running the trade ins. They've been doing crap like this for well over a year.

One thing to never ever do is send in multiple trades in one package. I was dumb enough to do this last year and of course they only credited me for one of them and said they never received the other. Of course I had zero evidence I ever actually sent in what they said they didn't get because it was all in a single package.

The other thing they did was similar where they rejected a game I sent in that was straight out of the shrink wrap. They rejected it for "missing artwork" I think it was (which was a complete lie) and then they sent me back the game with a case and artwork that was literally broken and ripped in 2 separate pieces. fuck them.

Of course eventually Amazon fixed it all so I kept my broken game and got my credit for both that and the one they "never received".
 
I just sent in 11 movies, 6 of them sealed, and the other 5 were in flawless condition. I was expecting 6 to evaluate at "New" and the other 5 at "like new".

All 11 were evaluated as "good".

I spent two seperate phone calls for about an hour total and managed to get a promotional credit for the difference between good and new for the 6 that were still factory sealed, but they basically said I was SOL for the other 5.
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']I just looked at the individual cases from The Wire season set I sent in. Every single Disc in the 5 disc set was placed back in the case upside down, i.e. with the bottom facing upwards and with smudges on most of them. How incompetent are these people??

edit: Same thing for the other rejected set. WTF[/QUOTE]They're pretty incompetent, if you read some of the stuff that goes on for the people that trade games in. I'm about to do some of those, so we'll see if the stupidity gets to me on my trade-ins.

[quote name='ShockandAww']Noram sucks if those assholes are still running the trade ins. They've been doing crap like this for well over a year.

One thing to never ever do is send in multiple trades in one package. I was dumb enough to do this last year and of course they only credited me for one of them and said they never received the other. Of course I had zero evidence I ever actually sent in what they said they didn't get because it was all in a single package.

The other thing they did was similar where they rejected a game I sent in that was straight out of the shrink wrap. They rejected it for "missing artwork" I think it was (which was a complete lie) and then they sent me back the game with a case and artwork that was literally broken and ripped in 2 separate pieces. fuck them.

Of course eventually Amazon fixed it all so I kept my broken game and got my credit for both that and the one they "never received".[/QUOTE]I can't see why anyone would do multiple trade-ins in the same package. No way to track the trade-ins being received save the tracking numbers, so if that extra trade-in slip disappears from the shipment when it's being unpacked, you can't prove it was there.

What happened with the new item that came back far less than new and broken in two pieces?

[quote name='stubadub']I just sent in 11 movies, 6 of them sealed, and the other 5 were in flawless condition. I was expecting 6 to evaluate at "New" and the other 5 at "like new".

All 11 were evaluated as "good".

I spent two separate phone calls for about an hour total and managed to get a promotional credit for the difference between good and new for the 6 that were still factory sealed, but they basically said I was SOL for the other 5.[/QUOTE]That one makes no sense because Good is the bottom rating for any trade-in and it sounds like they all should have been "Like New" at the worst and as you expected them for the best case.

My trade-in bridged between the introduction of the New condition, so I was guessing that when they saw the TIVs for my items, they assumed they should have been New, which is why they were bounced back for "incorrect packaging".
 
[quote name='shrike4242']I can't see why anyone would do multiple trade-ins in the same package. No way to track the trade-ins being received save the tracking numbers, so if that extra trade-in slip disappears from the shipment when it's being unpacked, you can't prove it was there.

What happened with the new item that came back far less than new and broken in two pieces? [/QUOTE]
Yeah me doing multiples in one package was just stupidity for just the reason you said. I shouldnt have done it in the first place. The logic was that I already had one trade in locked in for a good price, and it had dropped. So it wouldn't have worked to cancel and redo it. So then I had another game to send in and just sent two games in with two separate trade in slips in one package not thinking they could easily screw me over by me doing that. Lesson learned.

The new game I had sent in and just ticked to have it returned if it wasnt accepted. They just plain lied and said the artwork wasn't there. So they sent it back but instead of sending it back in the like new condition it was sent to them in, they sent it back with a broken case. I dont know if they sent me back my actual game or swapped it and sent another back in it's place. I sold that one to a CAG in a lowball if I'm remembering right.

I complained to Amazon about both instances and they gave me full credit for both games (the missing one and the one that was sent back broken) eventually. It was an absolute pain in the ass though to get my credit for the game they claimed to have never received. Eventually Amazon just took my word for it (just to shut me up I'm sure) and gave me the credit. I never got that game back.
 
I had the same problem where they tried to downgrade the condition of a bunch of movies I sent in but I have always made a habit of taking high resolution pictures of items I trade in online or sell on eBay and of them being packed up to ship. I got into a chat with an Amazon rep and showed him pictures of the items and how they were packed with ample padding and protection. They credited me the difference in trade in value.

Seems like the trade-in company they use is pretty shitty from reading the other bad experiences.
 
I've traded in stuff that I marked "good" and they even upgraded it to "like new" automatically for me. Just to counterbalance the bitchfest a little.
 
Thanks for the heads up. I rarely send things in but I just recently sent in a tv show blu ray set and now I'm curious as to how that will turn out.

I will post results.


M
 
I just traded in Friday the 13th (1, 2 and 3) from the previous Trade and Save as one package, 2 copies of MI 1, 2 copies of MI 2 and 2 copies of MI 3 as three separate packages (like new condition) and didn't have any problems.
 
First off, OP, contact Amazon CS about that. Tell them that they were rejected for no good reason and you received them back in conditions that really hurt the resale value.

As for conditions, it's best to go for "good" condition when trading in and hope that they'll upgrade it to "Like New". That usually works for me. But the opposite usually happens if you send it in with "Like New" condition.

Funny thing is is that they're picky about trade-ins, but don't give a crap about conditions for the stuff they sell. There's 3 different accounts I've ordered from them under(Sourcemedia, Expressmedia, Direct Liquidations). Usually used DVDs are crap shoot, like getting one listed as "Like New" and the disc look like it's been resurfaced(where you can see a ton of light scratches). It annoys the crap out of me, but they also like to swap cases where you'll get one of those cheap eco-box cases. I've got quite a few OOP dvds from them where they sent it in a black eco-box case when the original case was white or clear.

Noram is basically the Gamestop of online shopping & trade-ins.
 
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zomg in for 3!!!!1!!one

:lol:

:lol:

Ever since they screwed us over with the kinect wall mount trade ins I have decided not to trade anything else to Amazon. Sucks for those of you who are getting shafted.
 
I understand the complaints against Amazon on this issue but really what are the options. I was looking today and there are a few DVDs that if i send in i can get some decent cash for. But even if the knock it down a dollar im still making more then having them sit on my shelf.
 
As I already said, I'm not trying to stop anyone from trading in to Amazon. I myself will no doubt trade stuff in. I just want to give a heads-up so there's no surprises if you are forced to accept a lower value unfairly.

If the lowest base value for the item is acceptable enough for you then there's really nothing to worry about, but I've seen cases where it's like this:

New - $10
Like New - $7
Good - $1

Obviously if I'm expecting $7, and I get $1, that would be a huge enough difference to be quite upset about. I just want people to be more aware of that possibility and choose to have their items sent back to prevent that from happening.

Amazon did get back to me and they credited me the value of the DVD's that were returned so they went above and beyond, as I never asked for anything in the email, just complained about the condition. I just wish they dealt with a more trustworthy company to handle these trade-ins.
 
It sucks that you guys are running into these issues with them. I've traded in tons and tons of items to them and have yet had a single one downgraded or rejected.
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']As I already said, I'm not trying to stop anyone from trading in to Amazon. I myself will no doubt trade stuff in. I just want to give a heads-up so there's no surprises if you are forced to accept a lower value unfairly.

If the lowest base value for the item is acceptable enough for you then there's really nothing to worry about, but I've seen cases where it's like this:

New - $10
Like New - $7
Good - $1

Obviously if I'm expecting $7, and I get $1, that would be a huge enough difference to be quite upset about. I just want people to be more aware of that possibility and choose to have their items sent back to prevent that from happening.

Amazon did get back to me and they credited me the value of the DVD's that were returned so they went above and beyond, as I never asked for anything in the email, just complained about the condition. I just wish they dealt with a more trustworthy company to handle these trade-ins.[/QUOTE]

I respect that, I will probably trade with them and knowing my luck ill get hosed too.
 
[quote name='Stele']I've traded in stuff that I marked "good" and they even upgraded it to "like new" automatically for me. Just to counterbalance the bitchfest a little.[/QUOTE]

They did that for me once. I never really ran into any real problems with them. Only time an item got rejected was when I sent in an iphone and it got rejected but everything got sent back.
 
Great. I just sent in Saints Row: The Third (PS3) and Eastbound & Down Season 1 on DVD this morning. Both are in flawless condition. I'm a little nervous now.
 
Complaining to amazon should not be an answer because you are just begging them to ban you eventually.
 
The last time I did an Amazon trade in must have been quite some time ago. I never experienced these problems but now I'm thinking that I won't even bother with them anymore unless it's a new item.
 
I haven't had any issues with the trade ins, but the used markets are weird. I bought a set of Indiana Jones DVDs that was to be fulfilled by Amazon, and all of them came without inserts and the main slipcase that the set usually has. Keep in mind the description by the seller was "like new". So weird.
 
FWIW I've had no issues with Amazon trade-ins until recently too, for some reason they claim my game was in "acceptable" condition when it was just opened, beaten and sent in. I try to use their boxes though when possible so they can't say it was crushed in a mailer.

To be fair though, I rarely keep my games and generally trade-in, so I was due for an issue sooner or later, based on the nightmare stories I've read regarding Noram anyway.
 
They can reject your trade for any reason.

We make every effort to ensure that the posted trade-in values (TIV) on our site are accurate, but occasionally a small number of items may display an incorrect TIV. If you trade in an item on which an incorrect TIV has been posted, we and the Merchant each reserve the right to accept or reject the item at our discretion. If your trade-in is rejected due to an incorrect TIV, we will send you an email notification and return the item to you at no additional cost. You will not receive any payment for the rejected items.
Click to expand...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...e=UTF8&nodeId=200302940&qid=1327090706&sr=1-1
 
Here's my fun story: I sent in a bunch of Blu-Rays, and because I didn't want to send them broken cases, I replaced the cases on two of them. The only cases I had were some 2-disc cases that I'd bought in bulk, so I used those even though they were one-disc movies. Those two Blu-Rays were sent back as Unacceptable. The reason? When I got the movies back in the mail, each one had a sticker placed on the empty side that read, "Disc missing."
 
I had an item with an authenticity sticker for its designated country be denied for the "wrong region". It is the only one in existence, Amazon sells it identically, listing it as an import multiple times, and the sticker is even present in the item picture. They are so thick and idiotic.

They regularly downgraded my items without reason and decreased the value received tremendously. They were pristine, new in shrinkwrap and flawless. NorAm is systematically lowering values on trade-ins sent in the with the "do not return" option. Heck, I think we should put a warning in the trade-in thread to be honest. It's that bad.

I probably shouldn't even say this, but I think they have a way of seeing customer purchases and can actively fluctuate TIVs for people who get decent trade-in returns. I noted alot of the items I found that were profitable recently, were immediately sapped down to single dollar increments, ending in three cents, multiple times.
 
[quote name='marginal']Here's my fun story: I sent in a bunch of Blu-Rays, and because I didn't want to send them broken cases, I replaced the cases on two of them. The only cases I had were some 2-disc cases that I'd bought in bulk, so I used those even though they were one-disc movies. Those two Blu-Rays were sent back as Unacceptable. The reason? When I got the movies back in the mail, each one had a sticker placed on the empty side that read, "Disc missing."[/QUOTE]They did that to me with the first time they rejected a trade-in of mine.

I traded in one of the SciFi Channel Dune mini-series sets and one of them came in a 4-disc case and was a 3-disc mini-series. Said so on the back of the package that it was a 3-disc set. The other copy I had came in a 3-disc set for some reason, and I sent in the 3-disc set in the 4-disc case. They rejected it for the same reason. I resubmitted it as soon as I had it back and it was accepted without issue.

Sometimes, it seems like if someone has a bad day in the trade-in acceptance department, it gets taken out on the customers with "issues" like this.
 
I think you people brought that on yourselves. People are probably getting paid minimum wage at Noram and if it looks like at first glance a disc was missing, seriously, what did you think was going to happen? Oh, you could say they should just check how many discs the titles should be, but honestly, the main difference between min. wage jobs like those provided at Noram and say, Goldman Sachs investment banking department, is a requirement for attention to detail.
 
[quote name='whodeybengals9']Great. I just sent in Saints Row: The Third (PS3) and Eastbound & Down Season 1 on DVD this morning. Both are in flawless condition. I'm a little nervous now.[/QUOTE]
I'm going to send in 3 :ps3: games tomorrow, not going to be too nervous because never had problems with games trade-in before, hope they don't give me trouble now
 
[quote name='62t']Complaining to amazon should not be an answer because you are just begging them to ban you eventually.[/QUOTE]
The more complaints Amazon gets about trade-ins the more likely are they to do something.
 
[quote name='mrx001']The more complaints Amazon gets about trade-ins the more likely are they to do something.[/QUOTE]

by banning more people.
 
While it seems that there's been a crop of less than favorable transactions/experiences in this thread, I'll chime in and say that I've sent in 30 items since the start of Nov. and all but 2 were accepted and generally overall happy with the program. One new dvd box set was returned opened and the "new" condition TIV dipped $2.85 and another new dvd returned in the same condition that is up $0.45. I do wish that if an item wasn't accepted, that we'd get more information about why it wasn't. Not by stickers when we get our items back but in our trade in account page.

[quote name='vivafriend5']I probably shouldn't even say this, but I think they have a way of seeing customer purchases and can actively fluctuate TIVs for people who get decent trade-in returns. I noted alot of the items I found that were profitable recently, were immediately sapped down to single dollar increments, ending in three cents, multiple times.[/QUOTE]

I see no reason for NorAm to have the purchase history of anyone participating in the trade in program. According to the terms and conditions, they're provided with our name and address to return items to us. If they have more than that, I'd expect that detailed to have been explained in the T&C. I do notice that many items I have submitted for trade dip in price soon thereafter.

[quote name='62t']by banning more people.[/QUOTE]
You've mentioned this twice now. Is there something I missed about this or is it internet sarcasm?
 
[quote name='Sway']You've mentioned this twice now. Is there something I missed about this or is it internet sarcasm?[/QUOTE]

It's silly, and frankly completely irrelevant fear-mongering. By 62t's logic, no one should ever complain to Amazon for fear of being banned. And what basis is he using for such paranoid thoughts? The fact that a CAG got banned from Amazon? That person got banned for admittedly abusing their customer service to get back money. No one, including myself, has stated anything of the sort here.

As consumers, we have the right to complain if we've received poor service from a company. That is what customer service is for believe it or not. To fear-monger and outright say that we'll get banned if we complain to Amazon is completely baseless.

I would also guarantee that he is a hypocrite for preaching about not complaining. I bet if he orders something from Amazon and it was torn to shit or [Insert any other scenario of Amazon screwing up here]. Should someone chime in and tell him not to because it'll somehow lead to him being banned? Like I said, his comments are silly and irrelevant to this discussion, and are essentially a subtle form of trolling considering he's said the same thing twice now without any proper justification. Sad.
 
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What happen here is repeated incident of people of having problem with Norma. You are looking at multiple complains with amazon. The person banning you isn't going to look at a problem with Noram, they are going to look at you as someone you call X number of times over X time period. The amazon CSR doesn't have any communication with Noram, but issuing credit just to make you happy.

I used to trade in huge number of games to amazon every month but have move on to Best buy. The value is either close enough or better with bonus. So I am no longer trading games to amazon to avoid problems.

Have I return product to amazon due to poor packing? Yes. However I have tone down and keep a few things that are not in prefect condition. I don't know about you but my amazon account is too valuale to risk getting ban with amazon Visa and Kindle acocunt. I am simply not going to take the risk of having to complain to amazon everytime there is a problem with a trade in.
 
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[quote name='62t']What happen here is repeated incident of people of having problem with Norma. You are looking at multiple complains with amazon. The person banning you isn't going to look at a problem with Noram, they are going to look at you as someone you call X number of times over X time period. The amazon CSR doesn't have any communication with Noram, but issuing credit just to make you happy.

I used to trade in huge number of games to amazon every month but have move on to Best buy. The value is either close enough or better with bonus. So I am no longer trading games to amazon.

Have I return product to amazon due to poor packing? Yes. However I have tone down and keep a few things that are not in prefect condition. I don't know about you but my amazon account is too valuale to risk getting ban with amazon Visa and Kindle acocunt[/QUOTE]

Your posts are just completely unwarranted. I contacted Amazon over an issue that needed their attention, That's probably the first time in a year that I've had to deal with them. ANd yes, Amazon is the one that is accountable even if it's a third party handling the trades since it is done through Amazon.

For you to come in here and talk about the potential of someone getting banned when you have no history of the amount of complaints I or anyone else here makes is just plain stupid. It makes zero sense. Amazon doesn't ban people left and right for no good reason, prove me otherwise. If people are abusing their CSR or Returns then they get what they pay for, but no one here is doing any of that. I never even expected any sort of credit from them when I contacted them, I just wanted to file my complaint with the hope that if enough people do that they'll get the message and change things up.

I'm sorry that you're so insanely paranoid for no good reason, but please take your fear-mongering elsewhere as it adds nothing to this particular discussion, and in fact takes away from it.
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']Your posts are just completely unwarranted. I contacted Amazon over an issue that needed their attention, That's probably the first time in a year that I've had to deal with them. ANd yes, Amazon is the one that is accountable even if it's a third party handling the trades since it is done through Amazon.

For you to come in here and talk about the potential of someone getting banned when you have no history of the amount of complaints I or anyone else here makes is just plain stupid of you. It makes zero sense. Amazon doesn't ban people left and right for no good reason, prove me otherwise. If people are abusing their CSR or Returns then they get what they pay for, but no one here is doing any of that. I never even expected any sort of credit from them when I contacted them, I just wanted to file my complaint with the hope that if enough people do that they'll get the message and change things up.

I'm sorry that you're so insanely paranoid for no good reason, but please take your fear-mongering elsewhere as it adds nothing to this particular discussion, and in fact takes away from it.[/QUOTE]

I never target you speicificly, but some people (at this topic and elsewhere) have basically calling amazon over and over until they get amazon to give them credit. If that type of behavior doesn't lead to eventual banning I don't know what will.

Warning about Norma is good but like you said we don't know what it takes to get ban from amazon.
 
[quote name='62t']I never target you speicificly, but some people (at this topic and elsewhere) have basically calling amazon over and over until they get amazon to give them credit. If that type of behavior doesn't lead to eventual banning I don't know what will.

Warning about Norma is good but like you said we don't know what it takes to get ban from amazon.[/QUOTE]
I almost got banned for that. I just dont do it anymore. I got lucky and they basically just gave me a warning (though I know they aren't always so nice about it). You really have to abuse shit to get banned though. Nobody is going to get banned just because Noram is screwing someone over and they complain about it. If it's a legitimate issue there's nothing to worry about.

Having said that, it is completely true that they have no problem banning you if you do abuse CS. I highly recommend not doing it.
 
Hey, I have a BUNCH of old DVD box sets from my brother that he wants to get rid of. I was going to amazon them, until I saw this new 'Like New' category. Is it kosher to list DVD sets in the CAG trading forum? Every place I'm looking I'll get like 2 bucks for these season sets of shows like Futurama, when really all I want is to trade it for a different show.
 
I also had a bad experience trading games that I had just removed from the shrink wrap. After they received them, I got a rejection notice stating that the discs was missing from every case. When I got my case returned, it was in terrible shape.

I did contact CS and got the full value amount but I have stopped trading into Amazon due to that incident.
 
[quote name='Stele']I think you people brought that on yourselves. People are probably getting paid minimum wage at Noram and if it looks like at first glance a disc was missing, seriously, what did you think was going to happen? Oh, you could say they should just check how many discs the titles should be, but honestly, the main difference between min. wage jobs like those provided at Noram and say, Goldman Sachs investment banking department, is a requirement for attention to detail.[/QUOTE]No, I don't think so. If I send in items in a specific condition, including that they have all of their discs that they should have, I should expect them to honor the trade-in and get the credit I'm promised. If for some reason the item isn't correct, I certainly expect to get it back in the same condition I sent it to them in.

I understand that the people that are doing the manual work in processing the trade are likely low-paid workers, though they're supposed to be competent and do their job correctly. There's too much manual errors going on about trade-ins and Amazon needs to know about it.

[quote name='vivafriend5']I had an item with an authenticity sticker for its designated country be denied for the "wrong region". It is the only one in existence, Amazon sells it identically, listing it as an import multiple times, and the sticker is even present in the item picture. They are so thick and idiotic.

They regularly downgraded my items without reason and decreased the value received tremendously. They were pristine, new in shrinkwrap and flawless. NorAm is systematically lowering values on trade-ins sent in the with the "do not return" option. Heck, I think we should put a warning in the trade-in thread to be honest. It's that bad.

I probably shouldn't even say this, but I think they have a way of seeing customer purchases and can actively fluctuate TIVs for people who get decent trade-in returns. I noted alot of the items I found that were profitable recently, were immediately sapped down to single dollar increments, ending in three cents, multiple times.[/QUOTE]I can't see how something would be denied for being in the wrong region when there's only one region for that item. That really makes no sense.

I can see the TIVs changing as they get more stock of certain items, and I know I've seen evidence of it myself with items I've traded in and wanted to trade in, though I would never trust them to not downgrade an item on a whim if I give them the right to do so. I always make sure to have them send it back if the condition doesn't match what it should be.

There is no way that NorAm can see any customer information about our purchases unless Amazon is giving that to them. If that's the case, and we have no proof of that, I'd be more than a little angry with Amazon when they're not allowed to do such things without our express consent and our requiring to opt-in to allow third parties to see our information.

[quote name='Sway']While it seems that there's been a crop of less than favorable transactions/experiences in this thread, I'll chime in and say that I've sent in 30 items since the start of Nov. and all but 2 were accepted and generally overall happy with the program. One new dvd box set was returned opened and the "new" condition TIV dipped $2.85 and another new dvd returned in the same condition that is up $0.45. I do wish that if an item wasn't accepted, that we'd get more information about why it wasn't. Not by stickers when we get our items back but in our trade in account page.

I see no reason for NorAm to have the purchase history of anyone participating in the trade in program. According to the terms and conditions, they're provided with our name and address to return items to us. If they have more than that, I'd expect that detailed to have been explained in the T&C. I do notice that many items I have submitted for trade dip in price soon thereafter.[/QUOTE]I've had two bad experiences with trade-ins, one with the 3-discs in the 4-disc case issue and the one I mentioned earlier when they brought out the "New" condition for TIVs. Besides that, I've done a few dozen trade-ins with Amazon and had no other issues with it.

As I mentioned above, if NorAm has more than name and address information, it's Amazon providing it to them and something we didn't opt-in to allow.

[quote name='ShockandAww']I almost got banned for that. I just dont do it anymore. I got lucky and they basically just gave me a warning (though I know they aren't always so nice about it). You really have to abuse shit to get banned though. Nobody is going to get banned just because Noram is screwing someone over and they complain about it. If it's a legitimate issue there's nothing to worry about.

Having said that, it is completely true that they have no problem banning you if you do abuse CS. I highly recommend not doing it.[/QUOTE]There's abusing CS for trying to get credits they're not due and there's repeatedly contacting their CS to complain about an issue that isn't resolved.

If they don't fix an issue that's a legitimate issue, then I'll keep talking with them until it's resolved.

[quote name='Frankski']Hey, I have a BUNCH of old DVD box sets from my brother that he wants to get rid of. I was going to amazon them, until I saw this new 'Like New' category. Is it kosher to list DVD sets in the CAG trading forum? Every place I'm looking I'll get like 2 bucks for these season sets of shows like Futurama, when really all I want is to trade it for a different show.[/QUOTE]Of course it's kosher to list DVDs in the Trading Forum.

[quote name='62t']I never target you speicificly, but some people (at this topic and elsewhere) have basically calling amazon over and over until they get amazon to give them credit. If that type of behavior doesn't lead to eventual banning I don't know what will.

Warning about Norma is good but like you said we don't know what it takes to get ban from amazon.[/QUOTE]Yes, we do know. If you're not a profitable customer, they'll dump you. It's pretty clear. If you keep bothering them for minor items and make a huge nuisance of yourself, then you're likely to be kicked to the curb.

Your paranoia is pretty amazing, all told. To balance out that paranoia, I had Amazon send me a hand-written card either last year or the end of 2010 from one of their marketing reps, thanking me for all of my business and how they've enjoyed me as a customer. I'm sure they don't send those out to customers they're about to kick to the curb.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']
Your paranoia is pretty amazing, all told. To balance out that paranoia, I had Amazon send me a hand-written card either last year or the end of 2010 from one of their marketing reps, thanking me for all of my business and how they've enjoyed me as a customer. I'm sure they don't send those out to customers they're about to kick to the curb.[/QUOTE]
That's the common misconception about large corporations. They're not some all-knowing hivemind. These online retailers are a collection of people doing things based on decision support from their very very convoluted customer management IT platforms that are sometimes not interconnected well at all. The left hand doesn't really know what the right hand is doing. Some marketing dept might think you're great while some loss prevention dept just sees you've had so and so number of incidents hitting your account in the last X months, and that is their threshold for banning you, so they do it.

And switching out cases is tampering with the product and creating unnecessary issues for them. The problems they're having with you doing that is the same problems the end-user customers will be having.
 
[quote name='Frankski']Hey, I have a BUNCH of old DVD box sets from my brother that he wants to get rid of. I was going to amazon them, until I saw this new 'Like New' category. Is it kosher to list DVD sets in the CAG trading forum? Every place I'm looking I'll get like 2 bucks for these season sets of shows like Futurama, when really all I want is to trade it for a different show.[/QUOTE]You might try goozex.
 
[quote name='Stele']And switching out cases is tampering with the product and creating unnecessary issues for them. The problems they're having with you doing that is the same problems the end-user customers will be having.[/QUOTE]Where exactly have I been doing that?
 
[quote name='shrike4242']

There is no way that NorAm can see any customer information about our purchases unless Amazon is giving that to them. If that's the case, and we have no proof of that, I'd be more than a little angry with Amazon when they're not allowed to do such things without our express consent and our requiring to opt-in to allow third parties to see our information.


As I mentioned above, if NorAm has more than name and address information, it's Amazon providing it to them and something we didn't opt-in to allow.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, the sharing of our info is definitely something Amazon would have to be apart of, and it seems unlikely that they would have the cohesion or the resources to engage in something so trite as fixing TIVs, truthfully. I guess we can never know if it's just the marketplace price fluxes, trading frequency, or the actual purchases making the algorithms alter the TIVs so drastically. It's just creepy the random items' values ended in three cents after I got involved.

I guess everything boils to human and computer error/intervention. The NorAm verifiers make all these minor and massive mistakes (botching the transition to new item acceptance/not recognizing the obvious, like the "wrong region" bs/ruining items in too many ways to count), while the separate Amazon customer service division, scattered all across the world, has to rectify their mistakes. The system/digital aspect is just a mystery.
 
[quote name='62t']Complaining to amazon should not be an answer because you are just begging them to ban you eventually.[/QUOTE]
But just like my ban with GS, if demanding fair treatment is 'gaming the system', then whatever company thinks about their customers like that can get fucked.

One of the 'issues' that led to my ban from GS was when I traded in my 40gb PS3 towards a $150 guaranteed tiv promo and a stack of PS3 games towards a promo that got me 50% extra when pre-ordering Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The system only used one promo(for the PS3) and just gave base values + EDGE for the games.

So I requested that they re-run the game transaction as a seperate one and because of asking for them to do that(may have been a lil more demanding that just asking though:whistle2:#) I was considered a 'bad customer'.
 
:lol: I never said I was a perfect customer, since a "perfect" customer to GS is a sap who buys shit at MSRP with cash and then trades it in a week later for $15 with no promo or EDGE bump and maybe even takes the cash value since they started doing that.

I'll admit that I knew how to 'game the system'(a term which made me chuckle every time a manager or employee used it on me) and get the most for my shit and that apparently was what made me a truly 'bad' customer.

Either way, aside from the occasional halfway decent deal(current $40 new to used converted PS2 slims) Gamestop was ALWAYS my LAST place to buy shit and this was especially true for used stuff. So no big loss for me there.
 
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