Amazon has a new returns feature and advised sellers who fulfill their own orders to update their product dimensions and weight for Amazon prepaid return labels. But sellers pushed back, asking what good it would do since buyers often use an oversized box when returning products.
“I just realized we are in the Holiday Returns period,” a seller replied. “So do you HONESTLY think the customer is going to have the box, that the item was shipped in when they receive items in November, December and return the items at the END OF JANUARY into February. I don’t think so.”
That’s when an Amazon moderator said it had updated its messaging to buyers when they submit return requests, encouraging them to use the original box to ship back returns.
Amazon posted the following advice for sellers on Friday:
New feature to update product dimensions and weight for return labels
If you’re part of the seller-fulfilled network, you can update product dimensions and weight for Amazon prepaid return labels through a new returns feature.
This feature will reduce carrier fee adjustments, based on incorrect dimensions, to your Amazon prepaid return labels for return shipments.
If you bought the original shipping label using Amazon’s Buy Shipping services, the dimensions from the original label will automatically be used for generating the return label.
To update the dimensions for your products, click SKU attributes in your Seller Central return settings.
For more information, go to Prepaid returns for seller-fulfilled orders.
“Customers don’t always send back the item in the original packaging so why should I be responsible when the customer decides to use an oversized box to ship something,” a seller wrote, adding that they believed Amazon should be covering the difference.
Another seller said, “The main cause of the shipping adjustments are because customers return an 8 oz shirt in a huge box” and said they were confused how the new feature would help. That seller said they thought Amazon should make the buyer pay the difference in postage if they didn’t return the item in the same sized packaging as it was shipped to them.
On Tuesday, the Amazon moderator posted the following response to sellers’ comments:
We recognize that sellers have strong feelings about carrier adjustments for return shipments and how they impact their businesses. As a result of seller feedback to the January 2023 policy changes to shipping charge corrections for seller-fulfilled returns, Amazon updated its messaging to buyers submitting return requests, encouraging them to:
1) Use the packaging that the order arrived in or packaging with similar dimensions.
2) Avoid using over-sized boxes or packaging.
3) If the product required assembly, disassemble the item first.
We also recommend that sellers provide clear instructions to buyers on how to package returns, especially for orders that are assembled and need disassembly instructions. Please see Shipping correction charges for seller-fulfilled returns for more guidance.
Changes to shipping charge corrections for seller-fulfilled returns
The moderator was referencing a change that took effect on January 14, 2023, explaining at the time: “Starting January 14, sellers will be responsible for any carrier shipping correction charges on customer returns of seller-fulfilled orders caused by incorrect return label information.” As we reported at the time, Amazon had previously absorbed those charges, but said “in line with industry standards, sellers will soon be responsible for shipping corrections for seller-fulfilled returns.”
So when the moderator said today that Amazon had updated its messaging to buyers, there’s nothing to indicate that it was a recent change. On the contrary, it appears the messaging to buyers about returning items in similar-sized boxes has been in place for the past 22 months or so.
Nevertheless, sellers should take Amazon’s advice about updating dimensions and weight seriously. As the moderator wrote, when a seller does not use Amazon Buy Shipping, “we may not have the necessary information in regards to product dimensions prior to return.” He said by updating the information, it would allow for the return label to be generated with the correct information inputs “coming straight from the seller.”
The question is how much this will really reduce shipping carrier fee adjustments.
