Amazon FBA's new "refund only" policy takes effect! Some sellers have been cheated!

Some time ago, the domestic e-commerce circle was in an uproar over the "refund only" policy, which triggered a large number of merchants to attack it. In fact, Amazon can be regarded as the originator of "refund only", having launched this after-sales service as early as 2017.

Not only that, Amazon also upgraded this policy not long ago - in its latest low-price mall project, it is clearly stipulated that within 15 days, products priced below US$3 will be refunded without return.

However, the storm did not stop there. Just recently, Amazon implemented a new policy on "refund only", and this time it targeted FBA logistics.

Amazon, which has always been "unpredictable", has recently been planning new actions regarding its FBA policy.

It is learned that on August 13, Amazon US released the latest announcement, announcing the launch of a new program called "FBA Return-Free Solution" , which allows sellers to simplify the return process by providing customers with a full refund without returning the goods.

It is worth noting that the new return policy applies to non-dangerous goods, non-heavy and large items, and goods with an average selling price of no more than US$75.

Amazon said in the announcement that the program can help sellers reduce return-related costs and provide convenience for buyers on the one hand, and simplify the return management process on the other hand, without the need to process physical returns.

As soon as the new policy came out, it also triggered heated discussions among many sellers:

“It became mandatory a few months later.”

“Another way of saying 0 Yuan purchase.”

“It does reduce the cost of returns, but it also means some people will get free stuff.”

"You lose both money and goods. There is no further business in categories with high return rates and low profits."

It is learned that this service is not a mandatory requirement, and sellers can choose to turn it off or on. However, according to feedback from many sellers, all products that meet the regulations have this function turned on by default. For this reason, some sellers who are still in the dark have passively provided buyers with a refund without return service.

Of course, there are also many sellers who believe that the return process is complicated and requires an additional considerable disposal fee. If this model is adopted, it can improve the return efficiency while saving the corresponding return costs.

A seller admitted that this policy is mainly aimed at low-value products. If the cost of the product is not high, then enabling "refund without return" is actually a better choice. The probability of customers leaving bad reviews after receiving a refund is greatly reduced; and customers do not have to return the products, and the extra cost of receiving and processing returns is saved. It is actually beneficial to all three parties, but it also requires sellers to better control product quality.

But despite the good intentions, some people with ulterior motives will take advantage of the loopholes to fleece the sellers. It is understood that there are already special gangs that use refund-only services to blackmail sellers, and a large number of free tutorials are widely circulated on the Internet.

Not only that, as soon as the new policy came into effect, an accident occurred in a seller’s store - the product with an order value of only US$11.99 was refunded for US$75.

▲ The picture comes from the seller’s disclosure

Amazon's refund-only after-sales service has long been a pain for many sellers. It is understood that many overseas sellers have taken advantage of loopholes in the platform's policies to fleece merchants, and even a large number of tutorials on refunds without returns have emerged, causing many sellers to suffer heavy losses.

Now that FBA's no-return policy is online, although there is no large-scale mandatory requirement for sellers to use it, sellers with low product value still need to carefully choose whether to enable this model based on their own sales situation.

As the peak season in the second half of the year is approaching, Amazon's FBA policies have been changing frequently recently. In addition to launching a refund without return service, it recently announced that it would adjust the FBA claim policy.

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According to an announcement disclosed by Amazon, starting from November 1, 2024, Amazon will proactively compensate sellers for goods lost in FBA distribution centers. Once the distribution center reports the loss of goods, Amazon will immediately issue compensation, helping sellers save time and costs.

After the new rules take effect, almost all claims related to warehouse loss, damage, and customer returns will be automatically compensated. If sellers do not receive automatic compensation when inventory is lost or damaged, they will need to submit a claim manually.

Additionally, starting October 23, Amazon will also update its eligibility window policy so that all manual claims must now be submitted within the following deadlines:

• For units lost or damaged at a fulfillment center, a fulfillment center operations claim must be submitted within 60 days of the item being reported lost or damaged.

• FBA customer return claims can be submitted 60-120 days after the customer refund or exchange date. Claims should not be submitted earlier than 60 days to ensure that the customer has time to return the item to Amazon for processing.

• Sellers can submit a removal claim for items lost in transit between 15 and 75 days from the date of shipment. Claims must be submitted no earlier than 15 days to ensure the goods can be returned.

• Removal claims must be made within 60 days of the item being returned to the seller.

From the above, we can see that compared with the previous claims policy, the new regulations have made major changes in two aspects.

The first is the claims process. Under the old policy, sellers needed to submit claims manually and provide relevant evidence such as invoices, PODs, packing lists, etc. to support the claims. The new rules stipulate that Amazon will automatically make claims if the conditions are met, greatly simplifying the process and improving claims efficiency.

The second is the change in the claim time limit. In the past, if goods were lost or damaged, sellers usually had 18 months to submit a claim. After the new regulations take effect, the claim time limit is greatly shortened, which means that sellers need to track the goods and check the distribution center report in a timely manner to avoid missing the claim validity period.

It can be seen that the new policy provides sellers with a simple and efficient way to claim compensation, but it also puts higher requirements on the operation of sellers. To ensure the long-term and stable development of the business, it is necessary to pay close attention to the background report, and at the same time be good at optimizing inventory management and improving the accuracy and timeliness of inventory.

In general, logistics has always been an important hurdle for sellers on their cross-border journey. In the face of the recent frequent updates to Amazon's FBA policies, sellers must always pay attention to new changes and abide by the platform's compliance operating guidelines, rationally plan logistics management and control costs, so as to successfully welcome the peak season promotion in the second half of the year.