Summary: Amazon have announced a new Returns Requirement – requesting that International Sellers offer either Returnless Refund or provide a Domestic return option (in country of marketplace) for items and orders under £20 / 25 EUR (including VAT and shipping charges).
Announcement: 9th Sept 21
Effective Date: 5th October 2021
Feature: Sponsored Display expands Custom Bid Optimisations
Type: Amazon Returns Policy
Regions: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, United Kingdom
Accounts: International Sellers (Seller Fulfilled Orders)
Customer Benefit: Medium
Seller Benefit: Very Low
Impact For Effected Sellers: High
Most Effected Sellers: International Sellers selling lower priced products (less than £20/25 EUR inc VAT + Shipping) who were previously servicing different countries from a regional hub – i.e. German Warehouse for entire EU.
Important: If Sellers do not provide Amazon with a default return address in the local country of the marketplace, for items and orders under £20, Amazon will automatically issue the customer a refund on your behalf where return requests fall within the scope of the Amazon Return Policy, without requiring the customer to return the item to you (Returnless Refund).
Propel Your Product’s view: This continue’s Amazon’s recent trend of encouraging and/or enforcing Sellers to offer Free Returns or Returnless Refunds. Whilst the convenience benefits for the customers obvious, Sellers may have concerns over 3 main areas:
- Increased Fraudulent Returns. The automated returns processes increase the potential for fraudulent activity. For example – customers untruthfully claiming a policy compliant returns issue to get full refund from Amazon and keep the product without the Seller having a chance to review and validate any claims.
- Increasing returns Rates. Automation the returns process removes the opportunity for Sellers to resolve customer issues directly which can result in both higher returns and lower feedback scores.
- Increased Costs & Complexity – Setting up a returns facility in each marketplace country will result in increased costs and complexity for Sellers to manage. For Sellers who sell above and below this threshold it will also increase complexity in how returns are handled differently depending on their order value.
- Overall Impact On Profit Margins – If Sellers are effected by any of the above then the increased returns costs will impact on Sellers Profit margins. For Sellers selling low value items already on tight margins this could be a bitter pill to swallow.
It would be good to hear from Amazon on any plans they have for improving their fraud detection and return reduction policies to benefit the Sellers as well as the Customers.
As with many of these types of Customer first policies from Amazon – Sellers need to believe that if it’s good for the customer, it should be good them too but the practical realities of this are not as straight forward.
Tell us your thoughts? Whether a Seller, Vendor, Brand or Customer – we’d love to know your thoughts, questions and feedback in the comments section.
Amazon Announcement: Amazon’s full UK announcement below: (links only for registered Sellers with European account)
Effective October 5, 2021, if you fulfill customer orders sold on Amazon.co.uk from outside the UK, we request that you offer either Returnless Refund or provide a Domestic return option for items and orders under £20 (including VAT and shipping charges) as part of our Selling on Amazon Returns policy.
Where you have provided a return address in the UK, we will generate a prepaid return label (see Amazon Prepaid Return Label), which the customer can use to return the items. To set your UK default return address, access the Seller Account Information page, <> go to Settings > Account Info > Shipping and Returns Information section, click Return Address, and then provide with the appropriate address.
If you do not provide Amazon with a default return address in the UK for items and orders under £20, Amazon will automatically issue the customer a refund on your behalf where return requests fall within the scope of the Amazon Return policy, without requiring the customer to return the item to you (Returnless Refund).
This change will help to simplify and standardize the returns process for customers and sellers for low-cost items, where international labels are generally more expensive than the cost of the item. If you do not have a UK default return address, our International Returns provider on the Solution Provider Network may be able to help. The above policy will also apply to Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, and Amazon.es, for all items and orders under €25 (including VAT and shipping charges).
For more information on returns, go to the help pages below:
• Customer returns for international sales <https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G201468550>
• Returnless Refunds <https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G202174940>
• Prepaid returns for seller-fulfilled order <https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/202072200>
Amazon Services Europe