What Is The Cost Of Such Returns?
Returns are nothing but the items purchased by customers but are sent back to the seller due to dissatisfaction with the item purchased. This may be due to a defect in the item purchased, non-confirmation with the specifications or even due to a wrong item delivered other than what’s been ordered. It may not cost anything to the customer; however, it leaves the sellers at losses. Let us know about “Where Do Amazon Returns Go?”
Now, coming to Amazon returns and where do they go after they are sent back, usually Amazon returns are dropped off at Kohl’s, UPS or Whole foods.
Out of these returns, over 6 billion pounds of landfill waste and 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions generated during the year.
As per the National Retail Federation report 2021, record merchandise of $761 billion was returned out of which about 10.3% were fraudulent.
Amazon usually gives the seller up to four options for what to do with returns:
- Return to seller
- Disposal
- Liquidation
- Fulfillment by Amazon Grade and Resell (FBA)
Return To Seller:
In the Return to seller option, the returns head back to the seller. The seller further processes the returns and sends them to Amazon’s warehouse for sorting and repacking and then onto a new customer.
Disposal:
The next option is Disposal which is a widespread practice in e-commerce. Amazon disposes of its returns through resale, a donation to charitable organizations, recycling unsold products or sending items to energy recovery as a last resort. However, Amazon is working towards zero product disposals by way of landfilling i.e., no returned items are sent to landfill.
Liquidation:
Another offer by Amazon to sellers is the option of liquidation instead of simply disposal of returns. In the case of liquidation, Amazon and many other retailers partner with the liquidation marketplace which auctions off unwanted inventory to resellers. Through this option, sellers can recover up to 5% of their sale price if the product is resold. Allen, a YouTuber and buyer of products on liquidation auctions said that it’s like a fancy version of dumpster diving, but slightly more promising, safer and more legal.
FBA Grade And Resell:
Lastly, the option to Fulfillment by Amazon Grade and Resell is only given for a limited period. Under FBA Grade and Resell program, Amazon grades the returned products as New, Very Good, Good or Acceptable and then sells them on various sections of its site like Warehouse Deals in case of used goods, Amazon Renewed for refurbished items, Amazon outlet in case of overstock.
Conclusion:
The main theme one has to pick from the above information is that the sellers should take due care and responsibility in delivering the products to the customers with good quality, defects free and as per the specifications prescribed if any to bring down the rate of returns. It would result in achieving the goal of zero product disposals and saving our environment by simultaneously saving lives as a whole. And, this is all about the fate of Amazon returns and the ways that Amazon deals with the returned goods.
