Sellers, please join this discussion to express your frustration about the inconsistency of SAFE-T Claim decisions on return shipping. Outcomes are all over the map, and we need clarification from Amazon.

I understand there are gray areas when a decision could go either way. Please save those discussions for another thread. Let's focus this one on the cases where Amazon's policy is clear that buyers are responsible for shipping charges. Such claims are frequently denied for the inaccurate reason that the item qualified for free return shipping.

Unless I'm missing something, Amazon's policy is that products are eligible for free returns ONLY if any of the following are true. To clarify, I am talking about standard orders (not Seller-Fulfilled Prime) that were shipped with Buy Shipping.

1. The listing showed the Free Returns badge at the time of purchase.
2. The item is in a category such as fashion or baby products that requires free returns.
3. Tracking shows that the item was delivered after the latest date of the delivery window.
4. The item is truly defective.
5. The item is damaged.
6. The description is verifiably inaccurate.

If none of the above are true, the buyer is responsible for shipping (both outbound and return). If there are other reasons why a buyer would get free returns, Amazon needs to inform sellers so that we can price our products accordingly. I've observed that denials frequently happen when there's an FBA offer (or ever has been) for the same ASIN. If that's part of the decision, sellers need to know it.

Until Amazon issues additional guidance, sellers' only solution seems to be to continue raising prices on the Amazon marketplace to cover the increasing costs of free returns. At some point, that's unsustainable. There's been plenty of press coverage about Amazon's return problem. This needs to be fixed.

@Tatiana_Amazon

@Quincy_Amazon

@KJ_Amazon

@Topher_Amazon

@Roberto_Amazon

@SEAmod