Why You Can Trust CNET Amazon Could Charge You for Your Next Return Through UPS
You can still return items for free at Whole Foods and Kohl's.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Amazon will begin charging a $1 fee for some returns made through UPS, the online retail giant confirmed Friday.
You can continue making Amazon returns for free at Whole Foods, Kohl's and Amazon Fresh stores, however.
"We offer convenient, easy returns to Amazon customers, with one or more options for label-free, box-free returns at no cost," Eileen Hards, Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement emailed to CNET.
If you instead choose to return your item at a UPS Store "when there is a free option closer" to your delivery address, that's when you could be hit with the fee, Amazon says. Here's more from CNET on how to get free returns on Amazon and how to return Amazon purchases at Kohl's.
Read more: Amazon's New Webpage Shows Prime Perks, Updates
Though Amazon doesn't provide specifics on how many returns it deals with, a survey published in December by the National Retail Federation said the average retailer gets about $165 million in merchandise returns for every $1 billion it makes in sales -- and loses around $10.40 to return fraud for every $100 in returns accepted.
The NRF report estimated that buyers would return more than $816 billion worth of goods purchased anywhere, both online and in-store, during 2022. Online return rates decreased last year, the NRF survey found, from 20.8% in 2021 to 16.5% in 2022, which it said was consistent with overall return rates for the first time ever.
Last month, Amazon also began tagging items with a "frequently returned" label to warn customers.
