Amazon is tightening return rules for US sellers who ship their own orders. From December 18, 2026, every US return on a seller-fulfilled order needs a prepaid return label, and sellers have seven calendar days from the return request to provide it or issue a full refund. Heavy and bulky items are excluded for now.
According to PPC Land's report on Amazon's seller notice, labels must be uploaded through the Manage seller-fulfilled returns workflow. This builds on Amazon's earlier removal of the high-value prepaid label exemption in February 2026.
What exactly is changing?
Prepaid labels on every US return: Address-only labels that make customers pay postage no longer meet the rule, except temporarily for heavy and bulky items.
Seven-day deadline: The clock starts at the return request, not when the item ships back.
Workflow only: Labels sent through Buyer-Seller Messaging or other channels do not count.
Automatic refunds: If you miss the deadline, Amazon may issue a returnless refund and deduct it from your account, and the customer keeps the item.
Why does this matter for sellers?
Return postage moves from the customer to you, which hits margins on low-priced and heavy-for-their-size products. The bigger risk is the deadline. A slow week, a holiday or one missed notification can turn a return into a returnless refund, so you lose both the item and the money. It is also unclear whether these automatic refunds qualify for a SAFE-T claim, because no item is ever received.
What should sellers do now?
Turn on automated prepaid returns: Set up the label workflow so labels go out without manual handling.
Review return settings by SKU: Check which SKUs are heavy and bulky and how Amazon classifies them.
Price return costs into your margins: Especially for low-priced FBM items with high return rates.
Monitor returns daily over the holidays: The rule starts right before the Christmas return wave.
Track refunds and file SAFE-T claims quickly: The claim window is now 30 days.
eStore Factory Tip: Automate before December 18. Missed labels will cost you more than the postage ever will. To catch refunds and claims Amazon owes you, use Refunzo or talk to our Amazon reimbursement specialists.
