Does Amazon host a charity event at the end of the year and distribute random unclaimed Amazon packages for $1.95? No, that's not true: An Amazon spokesperson wrote to us saying that Amazon will sell returns to third-party buyers if the items can't be resold. The buyers then sell such liquidated products to their own customers. The link in this Facebook post does not lead to a website owned by Amazon.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post on August 6, 2022. The post opens:
A lot of unclaimed packages mail accumulating at the end of each year.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
According to the post, Amazon's rules say that they can throw these unclaimed packages away, but instead, they decide to host a charity event and "distribute" the packages for $1.95. The link in the post claims to lead to the opportunity to fill out a form and receive a pallet of packages.
The page advertising the $1.95 pallets, Pallets Store, was created on August 6, 2022.
In an August 12, 2022, email to Lead Stories, an Amazon spokesperson wrote:
At Amazon, the majority of returns are resold as 'new or 'used,' returned to suppliers and sellers or donated. In some instances, we sell returns that cannot be resold to third party buyers who sell the liquidated product to their own customers.
When Facebook users click on the link in the Pallets Store post, it leads to this page:
(Source: Nabillazhafira screenshot taken on Fri Aug 12 14:45:17 2022 UTC)
The URL of this page is nabillazhafira.com, which is not Amazon-owned or affiliated with Amazon. Users are also not able to click on the 6,781 ratings that can be seen on the page. That image of the ratings has most likely been photo edited in.
A local news station out of Hampton, Virginia, bought a pallet of Amazon returns from a third-party website that held an auction. This auction was not hosted by Amazon.
Other Lead Stories fact checks surrounding Amazon can be found here, here and here.
