Amazon FBA returns processing fee reductions

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The FBA returns processing fee applies to customer-returned products sold on Amazon in certain fashion categories for which Amazon offers free return shipping, including clothing and shoes and handbags. Amazon are reminding sellers that, in Amazon Europe stores, they have eliminated the FBA returns processing fee for customer-returned products in the Watches and Jewellery categories. The processing fee for Clothing, Shoes and Handbags has been reduced to 50% of the total fulfilment fee. These changes are effective from the 1st of March 2021.

Amazon say that offering free returns to customers in these categories helps build customer trust and encourages purchases.

FBA fee covers the cost of storing your products in Amazon’s fulfilment centres, picking, packing, shipping orders, and providing customer service for the products sold, but it doesn’t cover the cost of returns shipping and processing. To reflect Amazon’s costs, when a customer receives free return shipping on products in the Clothing, Shoes and Handbags categories, you are charged an FBA returns processing fee for each unit returned. This fee is equal to 50% of the fulfilment fees for an individual unit. The fee applies to all customer returns in the above categories except where the reason for the return is one for which Amazon takes responsibility in accordance with the FBA lost and damaged inventory reimbursement policy.

The fee applies to products sold on Amazon in selected categories for which they offer free customer return shipping that are physically returned to a fulfilment centre. These fees will apply to units fulfilled from local inventory as well as across Europe through the European Fulfilment Network (EFN) program. For products which free returns aren’t routinely offered then there is no FBA returns processing fee as the customer pays the cost of the return shipping.

Also, don’t forget that the referral fee promotion, which reduces the referral fee from 15.30% to 7.14% on the portion of total sales price greater than €45/£40 for Clothing, Shoes and Bags sold through FBA and Seller Fulfilled Prime, was originally scheduled to end on the 30th of April 2021. This promotion has been extended until the 31st of March 2022.