I wanted to put a warning out there for others like myself planning to build a new PC. I started using pcpartpicker and after enough price comparisons, I ended up buying a CPU from Amazon. Keeping an eye on the tracking updates, I pulled it inside as soon as it arrived so it wouldn’t be stolen off my porch.
Something was off as soon as I opened the Amazon box. I’ve built PC’s before and this didn’t look like a CPU box from AMD. Being suspicious, I took photos of the entire process of opening it and found it was completely empty. This apparently happens a lot with certain sellers on Amazon, even if it is sold and shipped by Amazon. I found some posts from others that appear to have had the same problem, but with a different color plastic packaging.
As soon as I noticed, I opened a chat support case with Amazon explaining the situation. I told them I had photos of the unboxing and could provide them if need be. Maybe I got lucky, but after asking for a replacement, the chat agent immediately opened up a replacement without question.
I pretty much exclusively purchase things on Amazon (I live in a rural area, so there are no stores within an hour away other than grocery stores), and I do tons of returns. I have never once had a return denied for any reason. Their support has always been excellent for me. What you are describing is completely normal behavior for Amazon. If I got a box with nothing in it, or one item from an order missing, and I have before, I wouldn’t even stress about it, because I know they would refund me no questions asked.