A Look at Amazon’s Return Methods

By Paul Ausick Updated Jan 13, 5:05AM EST · Published Jul 31, 9:35AM EDT

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To say that Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has revolutionized the U.S. retail industry may be to state the blindingly obvious. Even traditional retailers report significant growth primarily in their e-commerce business. Amazon’s impact on product returns, however, may be equally significant.

In general customers can return any product within 30 days of receipt. If the item was sold by Amazon, the return goes to the company; if it was sold by an Amazon reseller the return goes to the seller. Amazon notes that “most sellers offer a returns policy equivalent to Amazon’s.” To make sure that happens, Amazon holds sellers’ feet to the fire:

Third party sellers must either provide a return address within the United States, provide a pre-paid return label, or offer a full refund without requesting the item be returned. If a seller does not offer these methods to return your items, [customers] may file an A-to-z Guarantee claim to seek help with your return.

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Amazon makes returns easy because the company figured out long ago that satisfied customers come back and buy more stuff. Fighting with a customer over a return is a loser. It’s the same principle that drives all the benefits that come with Amazon Prime and with any successful retail operation: it is more cost-effective to keep a customer than it is to find a new one. If that means a retailer has to invest more in existing customers with things like returns and refunds, that’s just the price of poker these days.

Even Amazon has its limits, however. Here’s the list of items that the company will not accept for returns:

Items that are classified as hazardous materials or use flammable liquids or gases (contact the manufacturer directly for service, warranty, return, and refund information)
Computer laptops, desktops, and Kindles more than 30 days after delivery
Any product missing the serial number or UPC
Downloadable software products
Online subscriptions after they have been accessed
Gift cards (except as required by law)
Pay As You Go (or prepaid) phone cards (contact a local authorized dealer or the carrier directly)
Prepaid game cards (World of Warcraft, Xbox 360 Live, Wii Points, etc.)
Items purchased from sellers other than Amazon.com (but the seller may accept the return)
Some jewelry orders
Some health and personal care items
Grocery products
Prime Pantry products
Fresh flowers and live indoor plants
Open software
Items with special shipping restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (as indicated on the product detail page)
Live insects
Wine

Those of us of a certain age may remember when some big department stores would accept returns even if the product had been used. Those days are long gone, but keeping customers satisfied is still at the heart of retailing.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.