Walmart increases return rates for third-party sellers, adds product retention policy

It is learned that on April 1, according to foreign media reports, due to recent changes in market conditions, Walmart has increased the return fees for third-party sellers, and buyers can choose to only get a refund without returning the goods.

Walmart spokesman John Forrest Ales said the new return rates took effect on March 20 and will not affect sellers who choose Walmart's delivery service. Although the details of the seller's implementation will not be shared publicly, the fee increase is actually very small, the first increase in nearly two years. In addition, Ales said that Walmart's rates are the lowest in the industry, providing low-cost end-to-end logistics services for sellers of all sizes.

Walmart third-party sellers can avoid the fee increase through a new feature. Sellers can add a "reservation" rule for products, allowing customers who are dissatisfied with the product to keep the product as they wish and receive a full refund. For sellers, it is more cost-effective to let customers keep the product than to pay for return shipping.

Currently, product retention policies are becoming more common among retailers that sell low-cost products. Since the shipping and processing costs incurred during the return process are higher than the price of the product, asking customers to return the product will result in a loss. According to goTRG data, in a study of 500 retailers in the United States, more than 59% of retailers have added retention policies for products with high return costs.

According to Appriss Retail and the National Retail Federation (NRF), online returns are becoming increasingly expensive for businesses. In 2023, approximately $247 billion worth of goods sold online will be returned, accounting for approximately 17.6% of total U.S. e-commerce sales, and the return rate for physical retailers is expected to account for 13.3% of total sales. Currently, many companies have updated their return policies to reduce logistics losses while serving customers, and may further adopt product retention policies in the future.

Editor ✎Rayna/

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