Amazon Returns

As your ecommerce business grows so will your returns. Returns are an unavoidable fact of life in the world of ecommerce, especially if you’re an Amazon seller. So it can be a priority to provide good Amazon returns management, even though merchants don’t like it.

Most of the time Amazon customers must request a return within 30 days of purchase. Amazon has banned some shoppers who have returned too many items, allegedly abusing the return privileges.

In any case, shoppers have a million reasons why they want to return things. For items like apparel and footwear, fit and finish are obviously top reasons for sending items back. But returns are also a reality for other types of products. While Amazon listings provide a lot of information and photos, sometimes there’s no substitute for holding a product in your hands.

To minimize the impact of Amazon returns management on your business, you need a logistics technology solution that’s up to the challenge. You can reduce the opportunity costs of managing returns, including the sunk costs of packing and shipping the item in the first place.

Your returns process must cover the entire process, including receipt, RMA, sorting, triage, credit processing and the final disposition of the returned product. One of the decisions you’ll have to make is whether to have returns shipped to your location or let Amazon handle the entire process. The right answer depends on the type of products and the value of the product. If it’s a product that can be damaged or have parts missing, you will probably want to inspect it before deciding to sell it as new or used or whether you should dispose of it. For low-value items, it may make more sense to have Amazon dispose of them or use a reverse logistics company to recapture some value.