I know this has been tossed around on the forums but I need to say my peace with the customer auto authorized return shipping costs. We offer free shipping for all purchases on Amazon which cost us up to $5 domestically. Our items weigh less than .05 oz and are packed in 5x3x1 bags. The cost of auto authorized returns used to be around $7 which was super high for our items size/weight but we dealt with it but now its doubled. This is not fair business practices- not that Amazon is ever fair- but seriously how do they expect us to afford this cost? WE want our customers to be able to return items if something is wrong but the FACT that sellers are now dealing with these insane extra costs is wrong. We cannot afford this. What are sellers supposed to do? And furthermore many customers return items that are not eligible for a refund but yet they return them anyway- so then we are dealing with this ridiculous overage return cost and the fact that the item returned is used/worn/disgusting. Forget getting any assistance with this issue too- no one knows anything.

Sellers are cornered- needing this platform to sell our items but yet getting robbed with the return shipping costs. Where do we go from here?

Why are we Sellers taking the brunt of the return costs?!?!

i sell men's apparel on this platform and one thing that has been a thorn in my side has been returns. the buyer can use any excuse for their dislike for the product and theyre automatically refunded. im fortunate that shirts sweaters etc dont weigh much compared to other products. but being in a competitive market where free shipping is part of the game, how is it fair for us to be charged for the return shipping automatically.

for example, i made a safe-t claim yesterday on a return because i was getting fed up with taking the brunt of the cost for the return label on all my returns. the first shipping label for the product to be sent to the buyer was $4.68. the return shipping label, from my understanding based on the returns report, was the same amount. So basically im out $9.36 because, for no reason thats my fault, the buyer can make any excuse for their dislike for the product and i lose double shipping cost. how much money as sellers are we losing for no fault of our own. u multiply $9.36 times how many ever returns in a week, month, or year? how are we suppose to survive on this platform, let alone thrive, knowing that there's so many scams and theft going on and us taking the brunt of the costs.

How do you handle customers using "defective doesn't work" when they add a comment on the return that they just bought the wrong size? Is there any way to get the return shipping costs, as we have set up for these orders where a customer used an inaccurate return reason to avoid the shipping cost? I saw that safe-t claims are an option, but every time I have tried to use that system it says it is ineligible. We charge return shipping, period.