The Month of Many Returns

Returnuary is about to kick off. Buyers have until the end of January to return items bought between October 11th to December 25th! So sellers typically see higher than usual returns this month.

Please dont ignore these as they can decimate your profits given the low margins of this business.

Here’s some tips on how to handle Amazon FBA Returns and minimise those losses.

1️⃣ CHECK the return notification email from Amazon - sometimes they overpay the buyer!

2️⃣ SELLABLE RETURNS - will be automatically returned to your active inventory so need to do anything more, yay!

3️⃣ CUSTOMER DAMAGED RETURNS - these are usually “opened” items that will NOT be returned to your sellable inventory. You can't claim for these . Best is to raise a removal order so you can see if the item is worth being resold as new, like new, or very good condition.

4️⃣ CARRIER DAMAGED RETURNS - Make a claim if you’re not auto-reimbursed for these. Don’t open up a removal order as Amazon will not reimburse you if you request for the item to be returned to you.

5️⃣ DEFECTIVE RETURNS - If a customer says something is faulty they are auto-refunded, and (when returned) the item stays in your inventory as “unsellable.” Create a removal order, inspect the return and send it back in if all okay*** . (And check Voice of the Customer to make sure there aren't too many complaints for the same product!)

6️⃣ UNFULFILLABLE RETURNS - Don’t ignore your unsellable returned items as they will just sit in an FBA warehouse and continue to rack up monthly storage fees. Do what you can to get those items to become sellable or, at least, to make sure you get reimbursed for items that were never actually returned.

7️⃣ NON-RETURNED RETURNS - Amazon should automatically reimburse you if an item is not returned 45 days after the return was requested. But not always - so not raise a case to get your money back if necessary.

8️⃣ NON-RETURNABLE RETURNS - Cosmetics, grocery products, leaked items etc are not returnable even after Amazon refunded customer ☹

*** Some raise cases to let Amazon know if they find that an item has been returned as “Defective” has never been opened or is perfectly fine. Amazon may put a “buyer abuse” note on the customer’s account and even request a reimbursement for the item.

Hope this info helps!

Next week we'll explain why we should not underestimate the significance of return costs and break down the numbers to see what the exact impactreturn-related expenses have on your margins.

 Stay tuned to find out more.