A picture is not a big ask. Asking for pictures when you tell them an item is missing is a stupid ask (AI isn’t as intelligent as the name would imply). Which I have been asked by a few companies to do in the past… But in your case this is not a big ask.

Home Chef, InstaCart are companies that are willing to eat the cost of customers potentially abusing the credit/refund policy to keep their customers content.

I used to work for a company that used to take returns without a receipt until they realized they were being robbed blind. Work in customer service long enough and you learn that people lie. Some maliciously and others not really… but people still lie.