New Frequently Returned Badge Sending Many Amazon Sellers into Panic Mode

While shopping on Amazon, have you ever wondered how often other customers end up having to return the product you’re considering purchasing? Soon, that will be a mystery of the past, because Amazon has begun warning customers about products with high return rates directly on the Product Pages. For Sellers with higher-than-average Return Rates, unfortunately, your worst selling nightmare is going to be displayed with Amazon’s new Frequently Returned Item badge.   

How is Amazon Displaying the Return Rate Warning? 

Since no official communication has come out yet regarding the new Frequently Returned warning, we can only make assumptions for now. 

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Known 

• Amazon has started adding a high return rate warning on the front end of product pages 
• You must be logged into your Amazon account to see the return warnings show up

Unknown

• What return rate qualifies an item to receive the badge on the PDP

• If Sellers receive a warning when their ASIN gets the warning added to their PDP
• If the warning can be appealed, or if the product is stuck with the badge until the return rate is improved

From what we have seen so far, this is slowly being rolled out – we expect that more and more sellers are going to begin experiencing this in the coming months. 

What Can Sellers do to Improve Return Rates? 

If your product is consistently returned for the same reason, such as customers complaining they got the wrong item – it means there is a major issue with your product, and it should be investigated. Specifically with FBA, returns are free to the customer – so there’s no reason for customers to make up an issue to get a “free return” anymore. As a rule of thumb, trust what your customers are saying about your product. 

The Voice of the Customer page provides insights directly from customers who have returned your product. It’s a great tool to get a pulse on whether your product is defective, labeled incorrectly, or getting damaged in transit. If you have ASINs with Poor or Very Poor NCX ratings, it’s safe to assume they’re at risk of getting the Frequently Returned Warning badge.  

As a best practice, especially if you’re not the only Seller of an ASIN, you should be adding FNSKUs to your FBA offerings. This involves adding Amazon-specific labels to your products (which is done either by the Seller, or by Amazon for an additional fee). Adding FNSKUs greatly decreases the possibility of co-mingled products, because it means no longer having to share an inventory pool with other sellers (who could be selling counterfeit items or simply have poor quality control). 

Why Did Amazon Make this Change? 

Did Amazon go too far with their lenient Return Policy for customers? Adding a return warning badge to ASINs that are frequently returned is somewhat of a surprising decision — and it suggests they’re trying to avoid unnecessary returns for a change.

It’s reasonable to assume the new Frequent Return Warning badge was created to drive sellers to work on ultimately decreasing their return rates. Returns result in added costs for both the Seller and Amazon, so finding new unique ways to avoid returns in the first place makes sense.  

If you are a client looking for additional information, contact your strategist. Or if you are interested in learning more about how Blue Wheel + Retail Bloom can assist your brand efforts in online marketplaces, schedule a consultation with our team!