Before you issue a refund, consider the following:
For more information, see Manage returns.
Sellers are responsible for the return shipping cost of any Seller Fulfilled Prime items that buyers return, except as outlined in Table 1. The cost of return shipping may only be deducted from the buyer's refund according to the reason codes detailed below.
Table 1. Customer return reason codes
# | Return Codes | Paid by |
---|---|---|
1 | Accidental order | Customer |
2 | Better price available | Customer |
3 | Performance or quality not adequate | Seller |
4 | Incompatible or not useful for intended purpose | Seller |
5 | Damaged due to inappropriate packaging | Seller |
6 | Missed estimated delivery date | Seller |
7 | Missing parts or accessories | Seller |
8 | Damaged during shipping | Seller |
9 | Wrong item sent | Seller |
10 | Defective or does not work properly | Seller |
11 | Arrived in addition to what was ordered | Seller |
12 | No longer needed or wanted | Customer |
13 | Unauthorized purchase | Seller |
14 | Description on website was not accurate | Seller |
15 | Part not compatible with existing system | Customer |
16 | Excessive Installation/Did not Install | Customer |
17 | Wrong size: too small/short | Customer |
18 | Wrong size: too large/long | Customer |
19 | Dead battery/does not work | Seller |
20 | Missing paperwork/manual/warrantee | Seller |
21 | Missing promised certification | Seller |
22 | Tarnished/unacceptable condition | Seller |
In addition to providing free returns for the reasons detailed above, sellers must provide free returns for all Seller Fulfilled Prime items in the following product categories regardless of the reason code selected by the buyer:
You have the option to Issue Concessions in addition to or as an alternative to refunding order amounts.
When you issue an order refund, you must provide a reason. The following table lists the reasons you can select from along with their definitions.
Reason | Explanation or utility |
---|---|
Out of stock | You do not have the product in stock. |
Buyer return | The customer is returning or will return the item. |
General adjustment | Refund for a reason not listed. |
Shipment not possible | You could not ship the item even if it was in stock – for example the customer’s address is incorrect. |
Wrong item | The customer received an item that did not match the description and exchanged it for a less expensive item. |
Cancelled by buyer | The customer contacted you before shipping and requested that the order be cancelled. |
Product not received | You shipped the item but the buyer did not receive it. |
Product does not correspond to its description | The item the buyer received does not match the description on the product page or does not match the description given by the seller. |
Pricing error | You decided the total price for the order was too high. |
Cannot be delivered to this address | The package was returned to you marked not deliverable. |
Late delivery due to carrier | Although you shipped it on time, the package was delivered late by the carrier. |
Promised ship date not fulfilled | You shipped the package late. |
To issue a refund, follow these steps:
To refund the full amount:
To refund a partial amount:
Allow up to 15 minutes for the data to be updated. Submitting the refund will automatically close any associated buyer return requests. You can contact the buyer from the closed orders section of Manage Returns. Note that the buyer has the option to open a new return request for the remaining amount.
When you manually generate a refund, it will remain in Pending status for up to two hours. This provides an additional buffer in case you accidentally refund the wrong amount or wrong order. In case you accidentally refund the wrong amount or wrong order, see Refund Mistakes below. This feature is available for manually generated refunds only. Refunds issued through feeds will continue to be processed immediately.
After a refund for the order is executed, the referral fee paid to Amazon will be refunded to sellers. For information about Amazon fees that are refunded to you after you issue an order refund, see Refund Holdbacks.
While a refund is in Pending status, you can cancel it by clicking "Cancel all pending refunds for this order." If you cannot see this link, then the refund has been released to the buyer and cannot be canceled.
In this case, you can contact the buyer to see if they will allow their credit card to be recharged by Amazon. If the buyer agrees, ask them to contact Amazon Customer Service to request a recharge.
Once the customer's card has been recharged, the recharged amount will appear as a credit in your Payments account.
If you cancel a refund, we don't notify the buyer. We only notify buyers about refunds that are actually released.
If an Amazon gift card or gift voucher was used to pay for all or part of an order, process the refund as you normally would. The gift card or gift voucher portion of the refund will be credited back to the buyer's Amazon account and can then be used on a future purchase.
If an Amazon Points was used to pay for all or part of an order, process the refund as you normally would. The Amazon Points portion of the refund will be credited back to the buyer's Amazon account and can then be used on a future purchase.