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ReturnsUSA · FBM

Prepaid return labels become mandatory on US seller-fulfilled returns

From 18 December 2026, every US return on a seller-fulfilled order needs a prepaid return label, and you have seven calendar days from the return request to provide one or refund in full. Return postage effectively moves from the customer to the seller.

What exactly is changing

  • Address-only labels that leave the customer paying postage no longer satisfy the rule.
  • The seven-day clock starts at the return request, not when the item ships back.
  • Labels must go through the Manage seller-fulfilled returns workflow — Buyer-Seller Messaging does not count.
  • Miss the deadline and Amazon may issue a returnless refund, deduct it from your account, and let the customer keep the item.
  • Heavy and bulky items are excluded for now.

Why this matters for sellers

Two things change at once. Return postage moves from the customer to you, which squeezes margin hardest on low-priced and heavy-for-their-size products. The bigger risk is operational: the seven-day clock starts at the return request, so one missed notification over a holiday week can turn a normal return into a returnless refund where you lose the item and the money. It is also unclear whether those automatic refunds qualify for a SAFE-T claim, because no item ever comes back.

What to do next

  1. 1Rebuild your return handling so every request generates a prepaid label inside the Manage seller-fulfilled returns workflow — nothing sent by message counts.
  2. 2Put a monitored alert on return requests so the seven-day window is never missed, including weekends and holidays.
  3. 3Reprice or reconsider low-margin, heavy items where return postage now lands on you.
  4. 4Have the process live and tested before 18 December, not on the day.

This summary is written from Amazon's own Seller Central and Amazon Ads announcements and is general guidance, not advice on your specific account. Amazon revises policies, dates and fees regularly and terms differ by marketplace — confirm the current rule in Seller Central for your store before acting on it.