ZALANDO REFUNDING METHOD (.IT/.DE MAINLY)
This is a working method to refund ANY item from Zalando with an 80% success rate (this number is subject
to change but we'll get into that later), being able to keep BOTH the items AND the money.
The steps are:
1) You place a legit order of MAXIMUM 6-7 items for a total of MAXIMUM 250-300€. When you place the
order, you need to make sure to UNCHECK the option where it says 'Zalando allows the shipping to be split
into partial lots', otherwise you'll get more than one package in different days.
2) Wait few days and when you receive the package you can start the refund process by contacting the
Zalando support PREFERABLY via phone (if you're confident) or otherwise via email. The chance of success
via phone is higher (~80%) while via email is lower (~70%).
3) If the refund was successful, you get your money back within few days on the same payment method
you used to buy the items.
Now, there are 3 methods that you could use:
- The partial refund method (SAFEST):
This method is the safest because Zalando can't investigate on what actually happened. Basically, after you
received the package, you call/email the support and say that some items are missing from the package. If
you purchased 6 items, you can say that 3 are in the package while 3 are not. If you purchased 7 items, you
can say that 4 are in the package while 3 are not. This method works best even though you will eventually
need to pay for the items that you say are in the package, so to make it profitable you want to add 3-4
CHEAP items (below 50€) and 4-3 EXPENSIVE items (above 50€). This way you will only be able to pay for
the cheap items and get the expensive items refunded.
- The empty package method:
This method is less safe than the previous one but it allows you to refund ALL the items that you purchased.
When you call/email the support you simply have to say that the package was empty and no items were
inside it. They will most likely ask you if the package had some signs of opening (like if the courier opened it
and took the items from the inside), and you can choose to say yes or no depending on how confident you
are.
- The DNA ("Did Not Arrive") method (RISKIEST):
This method is the riskiest one and the result is pretty much the same as the ‘empty package’ method, so
you may always want to use that one first. Basically, you call/email the support 1 or 2 days after the
package arrived saying that it didn’t arrive and that you’re still waiting for it to come. This is dangerous
because Zalando keeps track of the packages and they know exactly when they leave the workshop and
when they get delivered. If you use this method, make sure none is signing the package for you and that
you actually sign it yourself with a fake sign the same moment it gets delivered.
Now I’ll give you some tips and notes to make the refunding process smoother and increases its chances of
success:
1) NEVER go over the 300€ limit because Zalando may actually investigate further with the courier and they
might make you file a police report and something like that.
2) NEVER go over the 6-7 items limit because, even if you untick the box to make sure Zalando doesn’t split
the items into different packages, they will probably split the shipping anyway if the number of items (or
their size) is too high and then you will have 2 packages delivered but you could only refund one of them*.
3) If you choose to call them, sound convincing but don’t sound too pissed that your package didn’t arrive.
Make it believable, eventually the confidence and the experience will come with time after few refunds.
4) NEVER refund more than one order on the same account, and always try to use fresh accounts (accounts
with no previous orders) to do the refunds. If you’ve already refunded one order, it will look like a weird
coincidence for Zalando that every package they send you has ‘issues’ (comes empty, doesn’t arrive at all or
has missing items).
5) Don’t spam refunds at your own address because it will only make Zalando investigate after a while. Try
to use different addresses like your parents’ or friends’ houses.
* = Keep in mind that you could try to refund both packages at the same time but it will be hardly
believable for Zalando that BOTH packages came empty or that they don’t have the right number of items.
Don’t push your limits and when you speak to the support you want to make the story as much believable
as you can.
If you follow all the previous steps correctly, after contacting the support they will send you an email saying
that they are processing the refund and you will get your money back within few days. Sometimes before
sending the money back to the payment method you used to place the order, they will ask you to read and
fill a legal form where you have to confirm that the package had problems (came empty, didn’t arrive at all
or has missing items, based on the method you used). After you filled it, you’re good to go and will only
have to wait for few days until the money comes back.
If something goes wrong during the process and Zalando doesn’t want to allow your refund request,
sometimes it’s better to step back without pushing too far. For example: if you say that the package didn’t
arrive and Zalando wants to investigate with the courier before sending you the money back, that means
that the refund is most likely going to fail and the best thing you can do is contact them again and say that
your neighbor took the package without telling you and that you found it (just be creative with the excuses
you choose to make). At this point they will close your refund request but you can always send back the
items the normal way if you don’t want to keep for them.