Overview

Amazon will introduce a new high‑return processing surcharge on June 1 2024. The charge applies only to SKUs whose return percentages exceed Amazon’s internal benchmark, while apparel, shoes and accessories remain exempt. Sellers with products that historically see many returns need to act now to protect profit margins.

Key Points

• Effective date — The surcharge starts on June 1 2024, giving sellers roughly a month to review inventory and adjust policies.
• Eligibility threshold — Only items whose return rate is higher than Amazon’s undisclosed cutoff will incur the extra fee; low‑return listings continue to pay the standard fee.
• Apparel exemption — Clothing, footwear and related accessories are excluded, so fashion sellers will not face the surcharge even with high return ratios.
• Additional to existing fees — The new charge stacks on top of the regular per‑unit return‑processing fee, raising the total cost for each returned unit.
• Per‑unit calculation — Amazon computes the surcharge for every returned unit based on the seller’s recent return‑rate data for that specific SKU.
• Margin pressure — Sellers whose return rates sit near the threshold could see a per‑unit cost increase of several cents, tightening margins on affected products.

How the Updated Return Processing Fee Works

1. Return‑rate monitoring — Amazon continuously measures the percentage of orders returned for each SKU. Example: A vendor selling Bluetooth earbuds logs a 28 % return rate over the past 30 days, prompting the system to flag the product for closer review.
2. Threshold evaluation — When a SKU’s return percentage surpasses Amazon’s secret benchmark, the platform tags it as “high‑return.” Example: The earbuds’ rate climbs to 35 %; Amazon classifies the listing as high‑return, activating the surcharge.
3. Per‑unit surcharge assessment — For every returned unit of a high‑return SKU, Amazon adds an extra processing charge on top of the standard fee. : A customer returns one pair of earbuds, and the seller now pays the usual $0.30 processing fee plus the new high‑return surcharge.