Amazon are updating the process for seller-fulfilled returns for heavy and bulky items (weighing 31.5 kg or more, or whose longest side when packed exceeds 175 cm). From the 30th of August, you’ll be required to offer home collection on heavy and bulky item returns with a refund.
This change aims to make it easier for customers to shop seller-fulfilled heavy and bulky items on Amazon, by ensuring they have a returns experience that meets customers’ expectations.
However for some retailers it’s going to be a headache – whilst you may have a great carrier contract for deliveries, often this is from a fixed location (your warehouse) and ad hoc collections from remote addresses may cost considerably more than the original outward shipping price. Amazon recommend that you check with your carrier to make sure that home collection is part of your current contract and make any updates as needed.
You can continue to offer customers a partial refund or part replacement instead of home collection if the customer agrees. You’ll be required to share the tracking ID for the replaced part with the customer, and complete the return request using the reason code “Return request cancelled.”
To provide customers visibility into your return arrangements and avoid unnecessary A-to-z Guarantee claims or impacts to your order defect rate, you will need to:
- Authorise or deny a return request within 48 hours where the request is not auto-authorised.
- Within 48 hours of the return request authorisation, use Buyer-Seller Messages to let customers know that the collection process has started. Make sure to provide the estimated collection time and upload the prepaid return label and tracking ID.
- Arrange for the collection from a customer’s address.
- Ensure that the collection is successful within three attempts based on the scheduled time you provide to the customer.
