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Amazon mandates prepaid FBM return labels, eBay FX fee rises

26 October 2026

Amazon mandates prepaid FBM return labels, eBay FX fee rises

Returns were the story this week: Amazon is shifting US seller-fulfilled return postage onto sellers, TikTok Shop plugged in a drop-off network and Shopify started taxing return shipping fees. If you sell across several channels, the cost of a return now varies by channel in a way it did not a month ago, and two Amazon deadlines land before Saturday is out.

Amazon makes you pay for FBM returns from 18 December

Amazon makes you pay for FBM returns from 18 December

Amazon emailed sellers that from 18 December 2026, every US return on a seller-fulfilled order will require a prepaid return shipping label, with heavy and bulky items temporarily excluded. You get seven calendar days from the return request to upload a label in Manage Seller-Fulfilled Returns or refund in full. Miss that window and Amazon can issue a returnless refund and deduct the amount from your account.

The mechanism is simple and it is permanent. Today a chunk of FBM returns never happen because the buyer has to pay to send the item back. From 18 December that friction disappears, so return rates on FBM lines will rise at the same time as the postage cost moves to you. Every FBM SKU now carries a hidden per-unit cost: return rate multiplied by label cost, plus the value of goods that come back unsellable.

The seven-day clock is the second cost. If returns are handled manually, one holiday week of slow inbox checking turns into returnless refunds deducted straight from your settlement, where they show up as a deduction rather than a return and quietly distort your SKU-level profit. That is exactly the sort of leakage /profitability is built to surface.

What to do: pull your last 90 days of FBM returns by SKU, multiply each SKU's return rate by a realistic label cost for its weight band, and add that figure to landed cost before you set Black Friday prices. Anything with a thin margin and a double-digit return rate is a candidate for FBA, a price rise, or dropping off Amazon altogether.

Amazon moves ASINs into new referral fee categories on 31 October

Amazon moves ASINs into new referral fee categories on 31 October

Amazon is reassigning selected ASINs to different fee categories with effect from Saturday 31 October 2026. The listing itself does not change, but the referral fee percentage charged on each sale does.

Referral fee is a percentage of the full sale price including shipping, charged on every order, so a move of two or three points on a high-volume ASIN is a bigger annual number than most sellers expect. Because nothing visible changes on the listing, the first sign is usually a settlement report that does not match your spreadsheet, and by then peak-season pricing is locked in and you have sold several thousand units at the old assumed fee.

What to do: before Saturday, export your top 50 ASINs by units and check the fee preview against the referral fee you have modelled, then recheck the same list on Monday 2 November and investigate any difference. Connecting Seller Central through /integrations/amazon means the new fee flows into your margin per SKU automatically, and if a reclassification looks wrong, raise a dispute with Seller Support with the product's actual category evidence attached.

Quick hits

  • TikTok Shop: Happy Returns is live, so buyers can return items box-free at around 10,000 Return Bar locations in shops such as The UPS Store, Ulta Beauty and Staples - cheaper returns handling on apparel if you switch it on before the post-Christmas wave.
  • Shopify: from 23 October, Shopify Tax and Tax Platform automatically apply US tax to return shipping fees - if you charge buyers for return postage, the amount they pay has changed, so recheck your returns pricing.
  • Walmart: eight more carriers approved for seller-fulfilled orders, including UniUni, SpeedX, TForce Final Mile, OSM Worldwide and DoorDash - more room to shop around on peak-season postage without a tracking validation penalty.
  • Walmart: UPS Ground Saver rates now appear in Ship with Walmart for eligible lightweight domestic parcels - small items may get cheaper to send while keeping seller protections and on-time delivery support.
  • Temu: the IACC-Temu Program gives coalition member brands a 48-hour escalation route for complex IP cases, including rejected notices - useful against copycat listings, but only if your brand joins the IACC.

On your radar next week

  • 26 October, Amazon: new dangerous-goods compliance questions for refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners, shock absorbers and suspension lift kits, markers and writing instruments, and pool and spa products. Existing listings need no action, but the questions appear next time you create or edit one, so have the safety data ready.
  • 31 October, Amazon: referral fee category reassignments take effect on selected ASINs.
  • 1 November, eBay: Australian seller currency conversion fee rises from 3% to 3.25%. The UK follows on 1 December at 2.75%, and Germany, France, Italy and Spain on 2 December.

Sources

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