About the principle of return supremacy when exporting from Amazon [FBA sales edition]

If you are doing Amazon export sales,
there will always be a certain number of returns.

I'll use the United States as an example here
, but
returns to online shops are
more commonplace than in Japan, so
you'll see this email most of the time each month.

“Refund initiated for order…”

This
means that refund processing has started for the purchaser, but
basically there is no way to completely eliminate returns.

It is impossible to eliminate them, but
possible to reduce them , so
let's take a look at these methods.

Flow when a “return” occurs

what is the process when a return occurs

I will explain them in order.

• Return to FBA warehouse after receiving return request

Returned items
will be returned to the FBA warehouse from which they were shipped.

there is a

"shipping agency when shipping by FBA in all cases such as if the buyer cancels the item after the FBA shipment,

or
it is determined that there is a problem with the seller. In this case, this fee will be borne by the seller.

• Amazon inspects the product

the products returned to the FBA warehouse
and makes two decisions.

Resellable or Unfulfillable

• Resellable

Products that have received this determination
will be returned to FBA inventory and
will be available for sale on the product page.

The risk here
that if Amazon doesn't do a good job of inspecting the product,
the next customer will consider it to be a "used item" and
request a return for that reason.

In order to avoid this risk,
return the returned product to Japan and
inspect it yourself, but
in that case, you will of course be responsible for paying the shipping costs to Japan, so
it may be difficult to balance this with that.

• Unfulfillable

Products that have received this determination
will not be returned to FBA inventory, but will become defective inventory, and
you will be forced to choose between "returning them to Japan" or "discarding them."

If the item has been determined not to be resaleable,
there is a corresponding reason for the scratches, damage, etc., so
I think it would be better to have it ``discarded''.

Both "return" and "discard" requests
from the same form in Amazon Seller Central,
so I will explain.

1. Open Amazon Seller Central
2. Press “INVENTORY”
3. The “Manage Inventory” screen is displayed.
4. Press the right arrow part of the product in question
5. Press "Create removal order"
6. The “Method of Removal” form is displayed

When requesting “Dispose”

1. Select "Dispose"
2. Enter the number of items to be discarded in the "Unfulfillable" field
3. Press "Continue"

When requesting "Ship To Address"
*You must provide an address in the United States.

1. Select "Ship To Address"
2. Enter a return address within the United States

Additionally, there will be a set fee for returning and discarding the item
, so we will list them below.

• Standard size
  transfer: $0.50
  Discard: $0.15
• Oversize
  transfer: $0.60
  Discard: $0.30

Understand the “reason for return”

important to know the reason for returning your products .

whether or not you go through this process
will be directly linked to your future profits.

You can check
the reason for the return in the report from Amazon Seller Central be sure to check it regularly.

1. Open Amazon Seller Central
2. "Reports"
3. "Fulfillment"
4. "Customer Concessions"
5. "Returns"
6. "Event Date (specify period)"
7. "Generate Report"

There are some reasons for returns that

Real reasons for returning goods

we will introduce the actual

• The price was higher than I expected
• It wasn't new
• I received an item that is not an official manufacturer's product.
• The model number was different
• The design was different from the image
• The product description and the main body were different.
• The product was damaged
• The address was incorrect and could not be delivered.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but
as Amazon is famous for its customer-centered approach,

many returns occur
for unimaginable reasons
I would like to introduce you to a forum where Amazon sellers gather. I think.

The questions
are answered by active sellers, which is very helpful.

"Seller Forum"

lastly

As long as you continue export sales on Amazon,
it is impossible to avoid returns.

By keeping in mind the reasons why
returns actually occur
and how to handle them when returns actually occur,
you can exclude products that are likely to be returned from the purchasing stage

should be carried out consciously , even if it is a sensory process at first

Reducing the return rate by even a few tenths of a percentage point

cannot be achieved by neglecting detailed work like this