Update to international returns
Effective September 16, 2024, the policy for seller-fulfilled, international returns will be updated.
This update will require international sellers (those without a default US return address in Seller Central) to issue a returnless refund or provide a prepaid international return shipping label within two days of a return request.
Currently, our return policy states that we may refund the customer on your behalf and charge the amount to your seller account if you don’t offer any of the above return resolutions within five days of a return request. We’ll update this window from five days to two days to improve the customer experience.
When this refund happens, you’ll receive an email notification. You can upload a return label on the Manage returns page in Seller Central when you click Authorize request for the return request for which you want to provide a label.
For more information on uploading a label, go to Upload a prepaid return label.
For more information on our international returns policies, go to Customer returns for international sales.
10 replies
Seller_HExmkTih1yI2x
As a seller who is based in the US but often has international sales / returns, can I request that the team PLEASE fix the restrictions on uploading pre-paid labels? Currently, sellers are only allowed to upload a single file, which must be a .jpg, .bmp, .gif, or .tif.
However, international returns typically also require customs documentation (i.e., a commercial invoice or equivalent). There is currently no mechanism to upload these documents with the label, so the only way to share them is separately via buyer/seller messages. Once the buyer receives the uploaded label, it is HIGHLY unlikely that they are going to go back into buyer/seller messages to print out other documents – they really need to be sent to the buyer together.
Could you please change the upload options so that either multiple files are allowed, OR to allow a PDF to be uploaded (which can contain the label + any other required documentation in a single file)?
Seller_xeDdQgRH5VZwO
So happy I never sell internationally on here. The policies re: international selling on here are insanity. eBay is significantly better for me when it's come to international sales.
Seller_6hJubz0dAqgph
Unfortunately, I heading right now to turn off all international sales. Unless its FBA selling to the countries I have turned on such as Canada, Mexico, etc.... the last thing we need as business sellers are window shoppers from half way around the world. Example, I sell a truck flexplate, I make $20-25 profit at best, customer pays shipping to south africa of $115USD, then decides he wants a return...........Im on the hook for 115 to him, 115 back, amazon is going to charge me a return fee, and at that point, im out nearly 235USD, hassle and time. So it will take me over 10 future sales just to recoup the loss from that 1 window shopping international buyer. Can't run a business like that. I know we are suppose to absorb those losses and price accordingly, but when you cant raise your price or you will be above all the sellers, explain how I am suppose to do that on an average selling item? Just as the previous seller posted, I'll sell international on ebay and not be on the hook for the huge loss of an international return. Amazon customers have a 10X higher return rate than ebay as well since Amazon encourages buyers to return their items. I hate to say it, but unless Amazon can give us a cheap way to ship international, this is going to drop your FBM international offerings. Im on board for most things Amazon does because once you play the game, it works in your advantage, but 1 return can kill any good international sales I will have on FBM.
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
Anyone selling internationally should be looking at eBay's Ship International.
ebay: customer returns are covered by ebay(!)
amazon: you're on the hook for return costs (and outgoing shipping and a return fee) and/or need a return center in every country you ship to
ebay: ship to a domestic center where they handle reshipping, no international documentation required
amazon: I've had multiple cases where Amazon has promised and failed to update their docs, but shipping via Buy Shipping (DHL) will result in insane, undisclosed fees coming months after the shipment
ebay: reasonable timeframes are given, and over time the policies on international shipping have gotten increasingly seller-friendly
amazon: even if you don't work weekends per your Amazon settings, you'll have to work weekends now to avoid them giving away your money and product on international returns; policies are a ratchet, and only get more restrictive over time
ebay: make no assumptions about whether the seller or buyer is the a-hat in the transaction, which is extra-important for international sales where one bad sale can eat your profits
amazon: the seller is always wrong, the scammer is always right
ebay: can't afford to act like a monopoly
amazon: can't afford not to act like a monopoly if they want to prop up their share price (at a P/E of 42)
Seller_OBTLLI8kQqi4Q
Long term record seller here. I dropped all international selling on amazon as soon as they started the returnless refund nonsense. This is just more craziness, making it even worse. That's unfortunately an amazon specialty-when it comes to third party sellers here.
Amazon never consults any of us on these endless changes.
Every change amazon has ever made-in the 14 years I've been selling here-has been for the worst. A truly amazing streak of cluelessness!
That, when combined with their refusal to fix the 1 Million (!) broken Vinyl listing pages (broken by amazon, every one), means that they have basically destroyed the Vinyl section of this site. There's no prize for that.
Naturally, I moved the majority of my business elsewhere 8 years ago. That's the only rational course of action. Oh well.
Until the day this site is broken into pieces, sold to and managed by someone else. As Jeff Bezos publicly admitted 2.5 years ago, they're failing.
Any third party seller could have told him that. I sure did.
Seller_iDD9b1SV65vS0
Give us a way to get cheaper and discounted return label, I am 1000% sure because you can negotiate with DHL and UPS we will get them from you and send them to your customer, to let us get us get a return label for $50 ! honestly I don't know who makes those policies!
Update to international returns
Effective September 16, 2024, the policy for seller-fulfilled, international returns will be updated.
This update will require international sellers (those without a default US return address in Seller Central) to issue a returnless refund or provide a prepaid international return shipping label within two days of a return request.
Currently, our return policy states that we may refund the customer on your behalf and charge the amount to your seller account if you don’t offer any of the above return resolutions within five days of a return request. We’ll update this window from five days to two days to improve the customer experience.
When this refund happens, you’ll receive an email notification. You can upload a return label on the Manage returns page in Seller Central when you click Authorize request for the return request for which you want to provide a label.
For more information on uploading a label, go to Upload a prepaid return label.
For more information on our international returns policies, go to Customer returns for international sales.
Update to international returns
Effective September 16, 2024, the policy for seller-fulfilled, international returns will be updated.
This update will require international sellers (those without a default US return address in Seller Central) to issue a returnless refund or provide a prepaid international return shipping label within two days of a return request.
Currently, our return policy states that we may refund the customer on your behalf and charge the amount to your seller account if you don’t offer any of the above return resolutions within five days of a return request. We’ll update this window from five days to two days to improve the customer experience.
When this refund happens, you’ll receive an email notification. You can upload a return label on the Manage returns page in Seller Central when you click Authorize request for the return request for which you want to provide a label.
For more information on uploading a label, go to Upload a prepaid return label.
For more information on our international returns policies, go to Customer returns for international sales.
10 replies
10 replies
Seller_HExmkTih1yI2x
As a seller who is based in the US but often has international sales / returns, can I request that the team PLEASE fix the restrictions on uploading pre-paid labels? Currently, sellers are only allowed to upload a single file, which must be a .jpg, .bmp, .gif, or .tif.
However, international returns typically also require customs documentation (i.e., a commercial invoice or equivalent). There is currently no mechanism to upload these documents with the label, so the only way to share them is separately via buyer/seller messages. Once the buyer receives the uploaded label, it is HIGHLY unlikely that they are going to go back into buyer/seller messages to print out other documents – they really need to be sent to the buyer together.
Could you please change the upload options so that either multiple files are allowed, OR to allow a PDF to be uploaded (which can contain the label + any other required documentation in a single file)?
Seller_xeDdQgRH5VZwO
So happy I never sell internationally on here. The policies re: international selling on here are insanity. eBay is significantly better for me when it's come to international sales.
Seller_6hJubz0dAqgph
Unfortunately, I heading right now to turn off all international sales. Unless its FBA selling to the countries I have turned on such as Canada, Mexico, etc.... the last thing we need as business sellers are window shoppers from half way around the world. Example, I sell a truck flexplate, I make $20-25 profit at best, customer pays shipping to south africa of $115USD, then decides he wants a return...........Im on the hook for 115 to him, 115 back, amazon is going to charge me a return fee, and at that point, im out nearly 235USD, hassle and time. So it will take me over 10 future sales just to recoup the loss from that 1 window shopping international buyer. Can't run a business like that. I know we are suppose to absorb those losses and price accordingly, but when you cant raise your price or you will be above all the sellers, explain how I am suppose to do that on an average selling item? Just as the previous seller posted, I'll sell international on ebay and not be on the hook for the huge loss of an international return. Amazon customers have a 10X higher return rate than ebay as well since Amazon encourages buyers to return their items. I hate to say it, but unless Amazon can give us a cheap way to ship international, this is going to drop your FBM international offerings. Im on board for most things Amazon does because once you play the game, it works in your advantage, but 1 return can kill any good international sales I will have on FBM.
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
Anyone selling internationally should be looking at eBay's Ship International.
ebay: customer returns are covered by ebay(!)
amazon: you're on the hook for return costs (and outgoing shipping and a return fee) and/or need a return center in every country you ship to
ebay: ship to a domestic center where they handle reshipping, no international documentation required
amazon: I've had multiple cases where Amazon has promised and failed to update their docs, but shipping via Buy Shipping (DHL) will result in insane, undisclosed fees coming months after the shipment
ebay: reasonable timeframes are given, and over time the policies on international shipping have gotten increasingly seller-friendly
amazon: even if you don't work weekends per your Amazon settings, you'll have to work weekends now to avoid them giving away your money and product on international returns; policies are a ratchet, and only get more restrictive over time
ebay: make no assumptions about whether the seller or buyer is the a-hat in the transaction, which is extra-important for international sales where one bad sale can eat your profits
amazon: the seller is always wrong, the scammer is always right
ebay: can't afford to act like a monopoly
amazon: can't afford not to act like a monopoly if they want to prop up their share price (at a P/E of 42)
Seller_OBTLLI8kQqi4Q
Long term record seller here. I dropped all international selling on amazon as soon as they started the returnless refund nonsense. This is just more craziness, making it even worse. That's unfortunately an amazon specialty-when it comes to third party sellers here.
Amazon never consults any of us on these endless changes.
Every change amazon has ever made-in the 14 years I've been selling here-has been for the worst. A truly amazing streak of cluelessness!
That, when combined with their refusal to fix the 1 Million (!) broken Vinyl listing pages (broken by amazon, every one), means that they have basically destroyed the Vinyl section of this site. There's no prize for that.
Naturally, I moved the majority of my business elsewhere 8 years ago. That's the only rational course of action. Oh well.
Until the day this site is broken into pieces, sold to and managed by someone else. As Jeff Bezos publicly admitted 2.5 years ago, they're failing.
Any third party seller could have told him that. I sure did.
Seller_iDD9b1SV65vS0
Give us a way to get cheaper and discounted return label, I am 1000% sure because you can negotiate with DHL and UPS we will get them from you and send them to your customer, to let us get us get a return label for $50 ! honestly I don't know who makes those policies!
Seller_HExmkTih1yI2x
As a seller who is based in the US but often has international sales / returns, can I request that the team PLEASE fix the restrictions on uploading pre-paid labels? Currently, sellers are only allowed to upload a single file, which must be a .jpg, .bmp, .gif, or .tif.
However, international returns typically also require customs documentation (i.e., a commercial invoice or equivalent). There is currently no mechanism to upload these documents with the label, so the only way to share them is separately via buyer/seller messages. Once the buyer receives the uploaded label, it is HIGHLY unlikely that they are going to go back into buyer/seller messages to print out other documents – they really need to be sent to the buyer together.
Could you please change the upload options so that either multiple files are allowed, OR to allow a PDF to be uploaded (which can contain the label + any other required documentation in a single file)?
Seller_HExmkTih1yI2x
As a seller who is based in the US but often has international sales / returns, can I request that the team PLEASE fix the restrictions on uploading pre-paid labels? Currently, sellers are only allowed to upload a single file, which must be a .jpg, .bmp, .gif, or .tif.
However, international returns typically also require customs documentation (i.e., a commercial invoice or equivalent). There is currently no mechanism to upload these documents with the label, so the only way to share them is separately via buyer/seller messages. Once the buyer receives the uploaded label, it is HIGHLY unlikely that they are going to go back into buyer/seller messages to print out other documents – they really need to be sent to the buyer together.
Could you please change the upload options so that either multiple files are allowed, OR to allow a PDF to be uploaded (which can contain the label + any other required documentation in a single file)?
Seller_xeDdQgRH5VZwO
So happy I never sell internationally on here. The policies re: international selling on here are insanity. eBay is significantly better for me when it's come to international sales.
Seller_xeDdQgRH5VZwO
So happy I never sell internationally on here. The policies re: international selling on here are insanity. eBay is significantly better for me when it's come to international sales.
Seller_6hJubz0dAqgph
Unfortunately, I heading right now to turn off all international sales. Unless its FBA selling to the countries I have turned on such as Canada, Mexico, etc.... the last thing we need as business sellers are window shoppers from half way around the world. Example, I sell a truck flexplate, I make $20-25 profit at best, customer pays shipping to south africa of $115USD, then decides he wants a return...........Im on the hook for 115 to him, 115 back, amazon is going to charge me a return fee, and at that point, im out nearly 235USD, hassle and time. So it will take me over 10 future sales just to recoup the loss from that 1 window shopping international buyer. Can't run a business like that. I know we are suppose to absorb those losses and price accordingly, but when you cant raise your price or you will be above all the sellers, explain how I am suppose to do that on an average selling item? Just as the previous seller posted, I'll sell international on ebay and not be on the hook for the huge loss of an international return. Amazon customers have a 10X higher return rate than ebay as well since Amazon encourages buyers to return their items. I hate to say it, but unless Amazon can give us a cheap way to ship international, this is going to drop your FBM international offerings. Im on board for most things Amazon does because once you play the game, it works in your advantage, but 1 return can kill any good international sales I will have on FBM.
Seller_6hJubz0dAqgph
Unfortunately, I heading right now to turn off all international sales. Unless its FBA selling to the countries I have turned on such as Canada, Mexico, etc.... the last thing we need as business sellers are window shoppers from half way around the world. Example, I sell a truck flexplate, I make $20-25 profit at best, customer pays shipping to south africa of $115USD, then decides he wants a return...........Im on the hook for 115 to him, 115 back, amazon is going to charge me a return fee, and at that point, im out nearly 235USD, hassle and time. So it will take me over 10 future sales just to recoup the loss from that 1 window shopping international buyer. Can't run a business like that. I know we are suppose to absorb those losses and price accordingly, but when you cant raise your price or you will be above all the sellers, explain how I am suppose to do that on an average selling item? Just as the previous seller posted, I'll sell international on ebay and not be on the hook for the huge loss of an international return. Amazon customers have a 10X higher return rate than ebay as well since Amazon encourages buyers to return their items. I hate to say it, but unless Amazon can give us a cheap way to ship international, this is going to drop your FBM international offerings. Im on board for most things Amazon does because once you play the game, it works in your advantage, but 1 return can kill any good international sales I will have on FBM.
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
Anyone selling internationally should be looking at eBay's Ship International.
ebay: customer returns are covered by ebay(!)
amazon: you're on the hook for return costs (and outgoing shipping and a return fee) and/or need a return center in every country you ship to
ebay: ship to a domestic center where they handle reshipping, no international documentation required
amazon: I've had multiple cases where Amazon has promised and failed to update their docs, but shipping via Buy Shipping (DHL) will result in insane, undisclosed fees coming months after the shipment
ebay: reasonable timeframes are given, and over time the policies on international shipping have gotten increasingly seller-friendly
amazon: even if you don't work weekends per your Amazon settings, you'll have to work weekends now to avoid them giving away your money and product on international returns; policies are a ratchet, and only get more restrictive over time
ebay: make no assumptions about whether the seller or buyer is the a-hat in the transaction, which is extra-important for international sales where one bad sale can eat your profits
amazon: the seller is always wrong, the scammer is always right
ebay: can't afford to act like a monopoly
amazon: can't afford not to act like a monopoly if they want to prop up their share price (at a P/E of 42)
Seller_r9wMm8LrE5iKj
Anyone selling internationally should be looking at eBay's Ship International.
ebay: customer returns are covered by ebay(!)
amazon: you're on the hook for return costs (and outgoing shipping and a return fee) and/or need a return center in every country you ship to
ebay: ship to a domestic center where they handle reshipping, no international documentation required
amazon: I've had multiple cases where Amazon has promised and failed to update their docs, but shipping via Buy Shipping (DHL) will result in insane, undisclosed fees coming months after the shipment
ebay: reasonable timeframes are given, and over time the policies on international shipping have gotten increasingly seller-friendly
amazon: even if you don't work weekends per your Amazon settings, you'll have to work weekends now to avoid them giving away your money and product on international returns; policies are a ratchet, and only get more restrictive over time
ebay: make no assumptions about whether the seller or buyer is the a-hat in the transaction, which is extra-important for international sales where one bad sale can eat your profits
amazon: the seller is always wrong, the scammer is always right
ebay: can't afford to act like a monopoly
amazon: can't afford not to act like a monopoly if they want to prop up their share price (at a P/E of 42)
Seller_OBTLLI8kQqi4Q
Long term record seller here. I dropped all international selling on amazon as soon as they started the returnless refund nonsense. This is just more craziness, making it even worse. That's unfortunately an amazon specialty-when it comes to third party sellers here.
Amazon never consults any of us on these endless changes.
Every change amazon has ever made-in the 14 years I've been selling here-has been for the worst. A truly amazing streak of cluelessness!
That, when combined with their refusal to fix the 1 Million (!) broken Vinyl listing pages (broken by amazon, every one), means that they have basically destroyed the Vinyl section of this site. There's no prize for that.
Naturally, I moved the majority of my business elsewhere 8 years ago. That's the only rational course of action. Oh well.
Until the day this site is broken into pieces, sold to and managed by someone else. As Jeff Bezos publicly admitted 2.5 years ago, they're failing.
Any third party seller could have told him that. I sure did.
Seller_OBTLLI8kQqi4Q
Long term record seller here. I dropped all international selling on amazon as soon as they started the returnless refund nonsense. This is just more craziness, making it even worse. That's unfortunately an amazon specialty-when it comes to third party sellers here.
Amazon never consults any of us on these endless changes.
Every change amazon has ever made-in the 14 years I've been selling here-has been for the worst. A truly amazing streak of cluelessness!
That, when combined with their refusal to fix the 1 Million (!) broken Vinyl listing pages (broken by amazon, every one), means that they have basically destroyed the Vinyl section of this site. There's no prize for that.
Naturally, I moved the majority of my business elsewhere 8 years ago. That's the only rational course of action. Oh well.
Until the day this site is broken into pieces, sold to and managed by someone else. As Jeff Bezos publicly admitted 2.5 years ago, they're failing.
Any third party seller could have told him that. I sure did.
Seller_iDD9b1SV65vS0
Give us a way to get cheaper and discounted return label, I am 1000% sure because you can negotiate with DHL and UPS we will get them from you and send them to your customer, to let us get us get a return label for $50 ! honestly I don't know who makes those policies!
Seller_iDD9b1SV65vS0
Give us a way to get cheaper and discounted return label, I am 1000% sure because you can negotiate with DHL and UPS we will get them from you and send them to your customer, to let us get us get a return label for $50 ! honestly I don't know who makes those policies!
