Returns solution for small FBM amazon seller in UK selling to US

[jjscruff]

I sell items from the UK to US on amazon (FBM)
Occasionally customers want to return items. At the moment i use a returns company
The customer can ship the product to this company at my expense, via amazon returns
Then the company return the items to me from the US
This worked OK when i was busy but now i only get 3 returns a month so i am way over paying for this service. (monthly fee way exceeds dollar value of returned goods)

However if i stop using a returns service the customer is simply refunded in full if they try and return an item
1/3 out of all my customers don't return the item after requesting a refund so if i no longer use the return service i'd be refunding them too

Any other small FBM sellers, what do you do?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

A lot will depend on the value/cost of your products.

 

[WaveJumper]

A problem many large online retailers I believe have here in the UK they spend a fortune on returns, restocking items etc especially if you’re selling clothing. As above this is all going to depend on the value / costs etc, can you arrange to have your courier pick up items as a last resort

 

[Mister B]

We were (are,) in a similar boat to yourselves, and refuse to engage in the return-less refund programme - it simply encourages fraud.

Our solution was to find a US based charitable organisation that could put the goods to good use-we now have our returns sent to them. Okay, we still lose the cost of the goods and the return charge, but it's cheaper than repatriating them and at least a good cause benefits.

We price in the US to reflect this.

 

[AmazonGeek]

You could use FBA instead but it depends on the size of the product. It may work out cheaper to send a box/pallet over rather then individual units every time someone orders. You will also get the Prime badge and be competing with native sellers as you will be able to deliver as fast as them.

When it comes to returns, you could use the refurbishing service and have returned items go back into inventory at various discounts depending on their state (i.e. Amazon warehouse). Or you could automatically liquidate them.

The best thing is to do your sums and see if it is worth having them returned at all.