A new policy change at online retail giant Amazon says the company will reimburse customers up to $1,000 for defective products sold by third-parties through its marketplace if those products cause personal injury or property damage.
It's an about-face for the retailer who has argued in court in the past that it is not responsible for products that don't originate from Amazon's warehouses.
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The new policy was made public on an Amazon blog post and goes into effect September 1.
Further, if a claim is above the thousand-dollar threshold, Amazon may honor it as well if the third-party seller "is unresponsive or rejects a claim we believe to be valid."
Amazon vets the merchants whose wares it amplifies to a much larger customer base by using machine-learning software, and while the company stands by its methods, they've taken their share of criticism – and been taken to court – when some of the things sold end up causing damage.
Now instead of fighting those damage claims in court when the sellers themselves are nonresponsive, they'll simply make restitution, though spokesperson Cecilia Fan said in the blog post that this new policy goes "far beyond our legal obligations" and Amazon maintains its believe that it is not culpable legally.
The blog post reported that most defective product claims Amazon receives are for less than $1,000 – over 80%.
