Amazon now allows sellers to set partial refunds for FBA returns without requiring customers to physically return the goods. This feature is available in the USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Sellers can specifically determine which products are eligible and set custom refund amounts based on the listing price.
What do sellers need to consider?
Actively reduce return costs: The new partial refunds can help avoid unnecessary returns. Sellers should review which products make partial refunds economically sensible in order to significantly reduce storage and return costs.
Avoid negative return consequences: Partial refunds offer the opportunity to proactively lower the return rate and thus avoid negative consequences such as the “Frequently Returned” badge or potential penalty fees due to high return rates. Sellers should consider for which products a partial refund could positively influence return behavior to improve account performance in the long run.
Factor in the risk of false incentives: Before activating partial refunds, sellers should take into account that customers may be aware of the option and might attempt to initiate returns just to receive a partial refund.
