Amazon Return Policy Update! Can I get a refund without returning the product? !

In fact, e-commerce platforms are more or less biased towards consumers in their return policies, whether it is Taobao or Amazon.

However, unlike Taobao, where at least the product can be returned to the seller, our Amazon sellers have customers overseas, and the cost of shipping them back may be more expensive than the product itself.

Therefore, when a customer asks for a return, we usually communicate with the customer, persuading him to give up the idea of ​​returning the product or give him a partial refund so that he can keep the product.

However, Amazon updated its return policy yesterday, allowing some buyers to get a refund without even returning the product.

This change will seriously affect the seller’s operating strategy and may eliminate the room for dealing with buyers as mentioned above. What are the specific contents of this update?

Updates to this Return Policy

The update of the return policy is mainly for self-delivered orders. Sellers must set a valid U.S. return address for their self-delivered orders. If there is no address, Amazon will perform a prepaid return for returns that meet the policy, and buyers do not need to send the products back.

The policy only applies to products priced below $10 and will be officially implemented on November 15.

Because an overseas return address means a large amount of overseas warehouse expenses, most small and medium-sized sellers do not have their own return addresses. Therefore, they will try their best to deal with customers and try not to return the product or return a small amount so that the customer can keep the product.

However, after this policy comes into effect, if you do not have a return address and the buyer initiates a return request that complies with the rules, Amazon will directly refund the buyer without the seller's operation or review.

This way, sellers have no chance to communicate with buyers and reduce their return rate. Currently, it is only effective for products below $10. For such products with low value, self-delivery sellers usually send them out directly when they encounter returns. So it seems that this automatic refund does not have much impact?

However, according to the previous return process, the buyer initiates the application, the seller communicates and confirms the return and gives the address, and the seller will refund the money after receiving the return. Such a complicated and lengthy return process can be said to have prevented many buyers from returning the goods.

If buyers learn that they can get a refund simply by submitting an application without having to return the goods, the return rate will increase further, which can be fatal for low-price sellers who already have limited profit margins.

Apart from raising prices and paying to find overseas warehouses, what other ways do sellers of low-priced products have to deal with this policy?

Coping strategies

According to official documents, the following categories of products will not be affected by the above policy. Amazon will automatically enable prepaid return exemption for these products without the need for sellers to apply.

And if the seller is not in the above categories, but belongs to the following situations, he can also apply for policy exemption on his own to avoid automatic refund by Amazon.

If the product has the above characteristics, you can fill out the exemption application form in the background. After review, the seller can check whether the product has passed in the [Return Report]. If it shows "Approved", it means that the exemption has been passed, and the seller can manually authorize the return. If it is "Not Approved", the product will still remain in the automatic return status.

If you are a low-price seller affected, please check whether you can meet the exemption conditions. You can scan the QR code below to send me a private message to get the link and form to apply for exemption!

PS. If you want to join the seller discussion group, you can also private message me to let me add you to the group