Overview

Amazon's Extended Holiday Returns policy for 2025 gives customers a longer window to return items purchased during the holiday shopping season. This annual policy affects all selling channels — including seller-fulfilled orders, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), and Amazon retail — and is something every seller should factor into their Q4 planning and inventory forecasting.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Extended return window — Items purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2025, are eligible for return through January 31, 2026, rather than the standard 30-day return period.
• Apple brand exception — Apple-branded products follow a shorter extended window and must be returned by January 15, 2026.
• All channels affected — The policy applies equally to seller-fulfilled orders, FBA orders, and Amazon's own retail orders, so no selling method is exempt.
• Return eligibility unchanged — While the returns window is extended, the underlying return eligibility rules for each product category remain the same. Items that are normally non-returnable do not suddenly become returnable.
• Automatic enforcement — Amazon automatically applies the extended window to qualifying orders, meaning sellers do not need to opt in or make manual adjustments.

How the Extended Holiday Returns Window Works

During a typical transaction, Amazon customers have 30 days from the delivery date to initiate a return. Under the Extended Holiday Returns policy, any order placed between November 1 and December 31, 2025, receives an extended return deadline of January 31, 2026. This means a customer who purchases a product on November 1 could potentially have nearly three months to request a return, while a purchase made on December 31 would still have a full month. The extension is designed to accommodate gift-giving — recipients may not open their items until after the holidays and need adequate time to decide whether to keep them.

Exceptions and Special Rules

The most notable exception involves Apple-branded products, which carry a shorter extended return deadline of January 15, 2026. This earlier cutoff reflects Apple's own return policies and agreements with Amazon. Beyond this specific exception, all other category-level return eligibility rules remain intact throughout the extended period. Products that fall under restricted return categories — such as certain hazardous materials, digital content, or customized items — are still governed by their standard return policies regardless of when they were purchased. Sellers should review Amazon's category-specific return guidelines to understand exactly which of their products may be affected.