Things to consider before issuing a refund

Before you issue a refund, consider the following:

• After you have authorized a return request, you can wait until you have received the product back from the buyer before you issue a refund. If you prefer, you can allow the buyer to keep the product even if you decide to issue a refund.
• If the buyer returns the item to you damaged, or in a condition that is different from the condition in which you sent it, you have the option to issue a partial refund. If you decide to issue a partial refund, we recommend explaining this to the buyer in advance to help avoid misunderstanding or a possible A-to-z Guarantee claim.

For more information, see Manage returns.

Charges for return shipping

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

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:

• Apparel
• Luggage
• Shoes

How to Refund

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.

Issue a refund

To issue a refund, follow these steps:

1. Locate the order you want to refund in Manage Orders. For more information about locating an order, see Search Orders.
2. Click the Refund order button in the Action column. Alternatively, click the Order ID and then click the Refund order button on the Order Details page.
3. Select a refund amount: full or partial.

To refund the full amount:

1. Select the Full Refund tab.
2. Select the appropriate Reason for refund.
3. Add a Memo to buyer (optional). This is a good customer service practice.
4. Add a Seller memo for your personal records (optional). This allows you to track the actions you’ve taken on an order, including reasons for concessions and reminders of promises to buyers.
5. Click the Submit Refund button.

To refund a partial amount:

1. Select the Partial Refund tab.
2. Select the appropriate Reason for refund.
3. In the Amount to refund column, enter the refund amounts. You can also refund gift wrap costs.
4. Add a Memo to buyer (optional). This is a good customer service practice.
5. Add a Seller memo for your personal records (optional). This allows you to track the actions you’ve taken on an order, including reasons for concessions and reminders of promises to buyers.
6. Click the Submit Partial Refund button.

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.

Refund mistakes

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.

Gift cards and gift certificates

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.

Refund Amazon Points

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.