Why can't I get a refund from Amazon for gifts I don't want?

My son, who lives and works in the USA, bought me two birthday presents from Amazon. Unfortunately I do not have any use for them so wanted to return them and get an equivalent-value gift certificate.

I wanted to do this quietly and not cause my son any embarrassment and told Amazon this. However, Amazon said that the items had been bought through Amazon Marketplace and I would have to communicate with the individual sellers about the matter.

One said any refund would have to be done by Amazon and only to the original payment card. Another offered me a cheque but has refused to refund original postage.
John Smith

Mr Smith actually has no legal right to demand a refund for these items, nor the money for the original postage.

The only person who could request this under the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs) is the person who paid for the items and therefore has a contract with the suppliers but not with Amazon – in this case, Mr Smith’s son.

Amazon cannot authorise a refund as it simply provides a payment portal for Amazon Marketplace traders.

There is also another problem Mr Smith has not considered. His son lives in the USA, so we wondered if this meant he would be unable to depend on the DSRs. We asked Trading Standards for advice.

Trading Standards told us: “The answer would depend on the terms and conditions in the contract between the American buyer and the UK seller. If UK law has been specified in the conditions and/or the UK recipient has been made party to the contract (which in this case he hasn’t unless, for example, the buyer contacted the seller to specify the item was a present for someone else) the DSRs may apply.

“Otherwise Distance Selling Regulations are unlikely to apply as they cover contracts made within the UK, and contracts concluded outside the EU are generally subject to the law in the country where the consumer is located.”

Trading Standards also added a reminder. It said that this while this advice was given in “good faith”, ultimately it is only the courts that can rule on the law.

Buying gifts online
In a case such as this one, UK Trading Standards said it would advise the customer – in this instance, Mr Smith’s son – to discuss the specific circumstances with the trader before going ahead with the purchase.

This is because many traders are willing to give the recipient the same rights as the purchaser and any agreement that is made between the consumer and trader before the purchase would become a term of the contract.