What Happens When You Make Too Many Amazon Returns?

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Shop on Amazon a lot? You may want to be careful with returns. Read on to see why. 

As someone who shops on Amazon just about every week, I’ve made my fair share of returns in my day. Now to be fair, usually, when I return something, it’s because there’s an issue with the item in question.

Recently, I returned shoes that didn’t fit my son at all even though they were his size. Another time, I returned a gift I’d purchased for one of my daughter’s friends because the box was dented and damaged when it showed up at my doorstep.

If you’re not happy with a given Amazon purchase, or it just doesn’t meet your needs, then there’s no point in letting that charge sit on your credit card when you have the option to return it. But you may want to proceed with caution when making Amazon returns and limit the number of items you send back. If you go overboard, you could risk having your account yanked away.

Are you putting your Amazon account at risk?

Amazon’s official return policy reads as follows: “Amazon.com and most sellers on Amazon.com offer returns for items within 30 days of receipt of shipment.” Now, this doesn’t mean that every item you buy on Amazon is eligible to be returned, or to be returned for free. But generally, when you go to make a purchase, you’ll be told on the spot whether the item in question qualifies for free shipping and returns.

But what if you get into the habit of making too many returns? Can Amazon revoke your account?

The frustrating thing is that Amazon does not publish an official policy on this. But based on anecdotal evidence, it’s fair to say that if your returns become excessive, you could risk losing your account.

In 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that some Amazon members had their accounts turned off for making too many returns. Worse yet, some claimed that happened to them without warning.

It’s all about moderation

It’s pretty fair to say that if you return 80% of the orders you make on Amazon, you’ll be putting your account at risk of getting flagged or potentially canceled. But Amazon expects customers to make their fair share of returns, and if you do so in moderation, you’re probably fine.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what that means because again, Amazon has no official policy on the matter. If I had to guess, though, I’d say I probably return one item for every 15 to 20 I purchase on Amazon. And so far, I’ve never had any repercussions. But in reality, you can probably get away with a much higher percentage of returns until it becomes a problem.

That said, making returns on Amazon can be a bit of a hassle, even if you don’t have to pay for them. You have to repack your items, find a dropoff point (like your local UPS store), and make certain you’re sending your items back within a preset window. Because of this, it pays to proceed with caution when ordering things from Amazon.

While I certainly make my share of Amazon returns, there have been times when I’ve specifically kept an item I didn’t want or like simply to not have to take 20 minutes out of my day for a $7 refund. I don’t know how many items I’ve kept due to not wanting to deal with a return, but it’s probably a good number of them. So for all I know, I could easily have a few extra hundred dollars in my bank account if it weren’t for my laziness. And you probably don’t want to fall into a similar trap.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Maurie Backman has positions in Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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