Every day there are excellent questions asked by people just getting started on their Amazon journey in the Facebook groups I frequent. Facebook feeds move so quickly that many times these questions aren't accessed by the people who really need them. Each week I'll select a few questions to answer here on my blog so that they will be available for other newbies down the road.
Newbie here…need help understanding something! (thanks in advance). I am FBA. Do all returns automatically go back to Amazon? Is there any way that they can come back to me instead? I guess I just don't trust Amazon for “quality control” with returned merchandise? And does the returned merchandise get added to my inventory, or do they destroy it? ~ Lisa (Amazon FBA Newbies Facebook Group 8-7-15)
There is no way to have Amazon FBA customer returns sent back to you. You can pay attention to returns using the Reports > Fulfillment > Customer Concessions – Returns Report on Seller Central (login required). Buyers have 45 days to return the item. Grocery items, Health & Personal Care, and some others Amazon refunds but doesn't accept the items back (liability reasons) and you should get refunded after the 45 day period passes. If you don't, you can request a refund. If they are items you only have one of you could raise the price on the inactive listing to make sure it doesn't sell upon return to Amazon if they put an item back in your inventory.
But, in all honesty, I have 3-4% of my items returned and many of them (like clothing and shoes and toys) go right back into my saleable inventory. When you are a smaller seller you can easily track each return and pull it back if you want. The bigger you get the harder it is to manage returns and not as much of a concern because 3-4% is a small percentage in the scheme of things.
Even items that are returned in unsaleable condition are not destroyed. They can be viewed under Inventory > Manage Inventory > Remove Unfulfillable Inventory on Seller Central (login required). If that option doesn’t show up you probably don’t have any. You can request to have the items returned to you or destroyed both for a fee.
If you have questions you would like answered please reach out to me at [email protected].
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