Amazon: returns

About this article

This article describes ChannelEngine's support for marketplace- and merchant-based returns on Amazon.

Table of contents

Amazon marketplace returns

Amazon merchant returns

Overview

Amazon marketplace returns

ChannelEngine supports returns for fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and fulfillment by merchant (FBM) for administration purposes, and only when they are present and handled on Amazon's Seller Central. 

Marketplace returns for FBA orders

With FBA, Amazon handles the fulfillment and customer service for you – including processing customer returns. FBA order returns include a status of the returned product:

• Unit return to inventory - the product has been returned to the sellable or unsellable inventory.
• Reimbursed - approved reimbursement. The product has not been returned to the inventory. Allow five days for reimbursements to post.
• Pending repacking - the product is being repackaged.
• Repackaged successfully - the product has been repackaged and returned to the sellable inventory.

The procedure for marketplace returns of FBA orders is:

1. Amazon Seller Central receives a return for an FBA order.
2. Once the order status is set to either Unit returned to inventory or Reimbursed, ChannelEngine imports the return with the status Exported at already set. This is done for administration purposes, preventing the return from being exported to Amazon again while also adding the correct order status on ChannelEngine.

Return condition

ChannelEngine retrieves the condition of the product when importing returns from Amazon. This allows you to determine if the product is sellable or not. To check the condition of the return, you can:

• Navigate to the Order details page on ChannelEngine and check the Extra information column under the Return section of the page.
• Retrieve the condition via the Merchant API by checking the return extra data.

Marketplace returns for FBM orders

With FBM, the logistics aspect is shifted to the merchant’s side. The procedure for marketplace returns for FBM orders is:

1. Amazon Seller Central receives a return for an FBM order.
2. Once the status is set to Approved, ChannelEngine imports the return with Exported at already set. This is done for administration purposes, preventing the return from being exported to Amazon again while also adding the correct order status on ChannelEngine.

Amazon merchant returns

It is possible to create a merchant return for Amazon via ChannelEngine. You can do this via the Merchant API or the web interface.

The procedure for merchant returns via the web interface is:

1. You receive a new return from a buyer.
2. You create the return on ChannelEngine.
3. Once the item or items that were marked for return are received, you can set the return to Received to trigger a refund.
4. Once the status changes to Received, ChannelEngine exports the return to Amazon as an Order adjustment with a refund amount.

Overview

The general rule that applies to the way ChannelEngine handles returns on Amazon is only the returns that involve the actual sending of the product back to the merchant's warehouse are imported. 

Below is an overview of how ChannelEngine handles each type of return: