A small business owner who runs a drinkware and lifestyle brand called frosty buddy It has been revealed that some Amazon customers are trying to game the system regarding returns.
In a TikTok video uploaded by Frost Buddy (@frostbuddy), the company’s co-owner shows how people are trying to scam his company out of free products.
The co-owner began by saying, “People never talk about small businesses and how much profit we make and what people give us back.”
Below are a few selected examples of items that viewers have attempted to return. “Look at this! What in the name of God is this?”
The TikToker holds up a giant ceramic cup with angel wings on the side and the inscription “In loving memory.” This is clearly not a Frost Buddy product. “Did you think you could send this back?” he asks rhetorically.
He also showed us a CamelBak and Starbucks bottle that someone had tried to return and said, “I think we partnered with Starbucks on this. Someone sent this back to us.” “I don’t even remember selling wine tumblers,” he said, and gave him a wine tumbler and a dog bowl from another brand.
He says this towards the end of the video. “I would say we get more than a dozen returns a week where people send random objects or items in packages so that they can keep the product and get their money back while still keeping the product.”
He points out that it’s “a bit of a wild story, but it’s something we don’t talk about.”
@frostbuddy People who deceive us 😂 #frost buddy #fyp ♬ Original song – Momoclo
As of this writing, the video has received more than 1.5 million views, with viewers sharing their thoughts on this sketchy practice in the comments section.
One person wrote, “I never thought of exchanging that item for anything else.”
“Works only on Amazon,” the creator clarified.
This is why another commenter who claims to be working with Amazon wrote, “Amazon employees are here. If a product does not match the corresponding label, the return will not be processed and will be sent to another building. Masu.”
However, another user claimed: You can do it almost anywhere that doesn’t check your luggage. I did this for the first time around 2015. ”
One commenter joked, “Thanks for the idea, I’m going to start doing this.”
Still others were amazed at the effort required to pull off such a stunt. “With this energy, you don’t even have to take a return package to the post office, much less take something that’s useless with you.” They concluded that “humans are wild.”
But one person beat out all the other return posts by sharing, “Someone sent back a live scorpion,” to which the poster replied, “Oh my god,” with two laughing emojis.
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator through a comment on TikTok and Amazon via email.
*First published: October 12, 2023, 11:59 a.m. CDT
phil west
Phil West is a veteran professional writer and editor and the author of two books about soccer, The United States of Soccer and I Believe That We Will Win, both published by The Overlook Press. His work has recently appeared in The Striker (where he was editor-in-chief), MLSSoccer.com, Next City, and Texas Highways. He is based in Austin and is also an instructor in the writing program at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
