And that's your problem. If you deny a return within the return period, you're in violation of Amazon policy, and the A-Z team will rightly rule against you. The correct response is to accept the return, then deny a refund after it comes back to you because it wasn't sent back with the same accessories you sent it with.
> S-2.2 Cancellations, Returns, and Refunds. The Amazon Refund Policies for the applicable Amazon Site will apply to Your Products. Subject to Section F-6, for any of Your Products fulfilled using Fulfillment by Amazon, you will promptly accept, calculate, and process cancellations, returns, refunds, and adjustments in accordance with this Agreement and the Amazon Refund Policies for the applicable Amazon Site
I came here to say this also. You can’t reject the return, you need to accept it and then it’s on the buyer to return the item to you.
If it comes back with parts missing, you can do a partial refund. Buyer can still do an A-Z claim, but you’re in a much stronger position, especially if you have proof of how you sent it and how you received it.
Frankly, because the team that sets policy is different from the team that makes the buttons. The policy has lots of exceptions - e.g. some categories can't be returned, like groceries. To disable that button, they'd have to check for all the exceptions and constantly update it whenever a policy changed.
They did change to automatically approving returns a few years ago, but with an opt-out ability. My guess is either OP's product fell into an obscure exception to that rule, or OP opted out, or something similar.
It seems like there's room for a confirmation/warning on the button, though. ("If this is a returnable product, accepting the return is mandatory." "Disputes occur at a different stage of the process.")
I'm not an active seller anymore so I can't check how it currently works. I believe it did show whether the return is in or out of policy. I'm also not sure if there's actually a deny return button, or only an accept button and an option to close the return (which you could if you resolved the issue without returning, which sellers are encouraged to do).
> If you deny a return within the return period, you're in violation of Amazon policy, and the A-Z team will rightly rule against you.
Amazon makes the laws and acts as a court now? I don't understand why people respect "company policy" so much. The laws of the land take precedence. We are not corporate slaves.
Amazon knows that though, so its return policy isn't going to be in conflict with any statutory distance selling legislation. E.g. it might require a longer return period, but it can't shorten it.
Also, people respect 'company policy' when they want to do business with that company.
And that's your problem. If you deny a return within the return period, you're in violation of Amazon policy, and the A-Z team will rightly rule against you. The correct response is to accept the return, then deny a refund after it comes back to you because it wasn't sent back with the same accessories you sent it with.