How to contact a third-party seller on Amazon

• Contacting a third-party seller on Amazon is relatively easy once you know where to go.
• Prime-eligible items will be redirected to Amazon's customer service.
• Here's what you need to know to get in touch with a seller on Amazon.

You place an order on Amazon through a third-party seller and then something happens.

Maybe you realize you ordered the wrong size dog sweater, or maybe you just realized that it doesn't have the right kind of closure and you're hoping they might be able to do a custom version that works better for your pup. (Hey, no judgement.)

Or maybe you have an issue that's somehow completely unrelated to a dog. That's fine, too.

In situations like these, it's best to contact the seller.

How to contact a third-party seller on Amazon

If your item was eligible for Amazon Prime, Amazon customer service will handle any issues. Otherwise, here's a full rundown of how to get in touch:

1. Log into your account.

2. Click on "orders," located in the top right corner of the screen.

3. Find the order you want to contact the seller about and copy the product name or ASIN/ISBN. You'll need it later.

4. Under the name of the item, you'll see "sold by X." Click on the hyperlinked name of the seller. From this section, you can also check out the vendor's return and refund policies.

5. Click the yellow "ask a question" box on the upper right side of the screen. This will launch a new window.

6. You'll then be prompted to fill out two drop-downs:

• • I need assistance with - either an order you placed or an item for sale. When you select "an order I placed," your most recent order will appear on the screen but you can also select a different one by clicking, "choose a different order." From here, you can track your package, return the items or continue with the seller contact process. (Please note that this will change your options for the following drop-down, so it's important to fill these out in order.)
  • Select a subject for your issue. These include options like, "Where's my stuff?" "Cancel order," "Received wrong item," and "Other question," among others.

7. Click "Write message."

8. Write your message in the above box (this should include the product name or ASIN/ISBN). As Amazon notes: "For your security, please do not include links, email address, credit card numbers, or other personal information in your message. We may automatically remove this information from your message."

9. Click "Send email."

When you communicate this way, your email address is replaced by an auto-generated one provided by Amazon, similar to the way that Craigslist protects its users email addresses.

Amazon asks customers to give the seller two business days to reply, but says that most reply sooner than that. If you ever need to reference your communiques with the seller later on, you can do that by going to your account (under "Accounts and Lists") and clicking on the "Message Center" option. This is also where you'd be able to reply.

An alternate method

If the third-party seller also does their own shipping, there's another method you can use to contact them:

1. Log into your account.
2. Click on "orders," located in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Find your order and click "get help with order."

After you've provided all of the necessary information, Amazon will process your issue and, if necessary, help you contact the seller.

• Read more:

• The best ways to contact Amazon for help when you have a problem with your account

• How to start selling items on Amazon - a step-by-step guide

• How you can use PayPal on Amazon, despite it not being directly accepted