If you ship your own Amazon orders in the US, your returns process is about to change. Starting December 18, 2026, Amazon will no longer accept "address-only" return labels for most seller-fulfilled returns. Every eligible return will need a prepaid label, or a refund that lets the customer keep the item.
Amazon sent the notice by email, and sellers have been sharing it on the Seller Forums. The rule comes with a hard seven-day deadline. If you miss it, Amazon may refund the buyer for you and take the money from your account.
Here is what changes, what Amazon has clarified, who pays, and what to set up before December 18.
Fewer returns start with better products and clear listings. This free checklist helps Bubba Academy students choose products carefully, vet suppliers, and decide when FBA or seller fulfillment makes more sense.
The email opens with one sentence that sums it up: "Starting December 18, 2026, all US returns for seller-fulfilled orders (excluding heavy and bulky items) will require a prepaid return shipping label."
Today, some return requests can be handled by giving the buyer your return address and letting them pay for shipping. After December 18, Amazon says, "Address-only labels that require customers to pay for return shipping will no longer meet the requirement, except temporarily for heavy and bulky items." Amazon's stated reason is a more consistent process for US and international returns and a better customer experience.
Within seven calendar days of a return request, you must do one of two things:
If you do neither, Amazon says "a returnless refund may be automatically issued and the balance deducted from your selling account." The customer keeps the product, gets a refund, and you pay for it. As PPC Land pointed out in its review of the email, the clock starts at the return request, not when the item arrives back at your door.
Many sellers read the email as "you now have to make a label for every return." An Amazon moderator, KJ_Amazon, checked with the Returns team and posted two clarifications in the same thread.
"If Amazon currently provides prepaid return labels to buyers on your behalf, that will not change," the moderator wrote. All US sellers are automatically enrolled in the Amazon Prepaid Return Label (APRL) program for seller-fulfilled orders, so for most returns nothing new happens.
The change only removes the address-only option for returns that are not covered by Amazon's prepaid labels. For those requests, you will need to provide your own prepaid label, which Amazon calls a Merchant Prepaid Return Label (MPRL).
The moderator also said the change "does not alter any existing return-eligibility policies." Categories such as Custom, Handmade, and Dangerous Goods keep their current return rules. Only the label requirement changes.
If every return in your store already gets an Amazon prepaid label, you may barely notice the change. The sellers who need to act are the ones whose return requests still need manual authorization.
Amazon's February 8, 2026 announcement removed the old high-value exemption from the APRL program but kept some category exemptions, "including Handmade, certified preowned watches, non-physical items, dangerous goods, and extra-large or heavy items." It also said items that are ineligible for prepaid return labels remain exempt. Amazon's seller guide to returns adds that some hazardous items, such as nail polish, do not qualify for prepaid labels and usually need manual authorization.
When a request is sent to you for review, Amazon asks you to respond within 24 hours. That 24-hour rule still applies. As Seller Essentials notes, the new seven-day window does not replace it.
Heavy and bulky items are left out "temporarily." The email does not define heavy and bulky and does not give an end date. For context, Amazon's 2024 update for large and heavy returns described a large or heavy package as one that weighs more than 90 lb (up to 150 lb), exceeds 96 inches in length, or exceeds 130 inches in length plus girth. If you sell large items, treat the exception as temporary.
Return labels, refunds, and lost inventory are real costs of selling on Amazon. Bubba Academy's step-by-step program shows sellers how to pick products, count every cost, and protect their margins from day one.
No. Who finally pays depends on the return reason the buyer picks. Amazon's help page on return shipping costs explains the basic rule.
If you sent the wrong item or a damaged product, you pay the return shipping and must give a full refund, including the original shipping cost. In a Seller Forums post on who pays, Amazon moderator Indy_Amazon listed seller-fault reasons such as an item that arrived damaged or defective, the wrong item sent, an item that does not match the description, missing parts, a missed delivery date, and damage from poor packaging.
If the buyer ordered by accident, found a better price, or no longer needs the item, you can deduct the return shipping cost from the refund. For returns with Amazon prepaid labels, Amazon charges the label to the buyer or seller automatically based on the reason code. Another moderator post on return label costs explains that the label cost is first debited from your account and then withheld from the buyer's refund on buyer-fault returns.
There are exceptions. If you offer free returns on a SKU, you are charged for return shipping regardless of the reason. Amazon requires free returns for some soft-line items, such as fashion. And if you use a non-US return address, Amazon's international return policy applies, and for international returns you pay return shipping even when the buyer is at fault.
Our guide to calculating your true per-unit cost shows how to build costs like these into your pricing.
According to Amazon's seller returns guide, the steps look like this:
The same guide still mentions an "Amazon-generated unpaid return label" as an option. From December 18, that kind of address-only label will no longer meet the requirement for most US returns, so update any team instructions that rely on it.
Emailing a label to the customer will not count. Amazon's notice says, "Labels shared through Buyer Seller Messaging or other channels outside the Manage Returns workflow don't meet the requirements." If the label is not attached to the return request, the seven-day clock keeps running.
The second option is a full refund without a return, often smarter for cheap or awkward-to-ship items.
Amazon's refund policy page says Amazon issues returnless refunds when you have a returnless refund rule turned on in your return settings. Amazon's guide calls these rules "ideal for low-cost items where return shipping might exceed the item's value." You can also offer partial refunds or replacements to solve small problems without a full return.
Compare the cost of a return label with what you can actually recover from the returned item. One handmade jewelry seller on the forums shared the problem clearly: a $12.00 item with an $8.40 outbound label and an $8.40 return label means $16.80 in shipping before any fees or materials. In cases like that, a returnless refund rule may cost less than paying to get the item back.
Choosing a returnless refund is a business decision. Having Amazon issue one because nobody acted in time is a missed deadline.
In its post on return label costs, Amazon says that if you don't use Buy Shipping for outbound labels, it may use incorrect information to price return labels. You can review and update dimensions and weights in the SKU attributes tab of your return settings.
The same post explains that UPS adds area surcharges for some ZIP codes, so a return label can cost more than the outbound one. If you keep seeing $25–$30 adjustments on returns, Amazon suggests checking whether UPS considers your return address incorrect and is charging an address correction fee.
If buyers pick incorrect reason codes, or Amazon refunds a return that came back damaged or materially different, Amazon's moderators point to the SAFE-T claim process. Indy_Amazon's post says you have 4 calendar days from the return delivery scan to inspect the item and must file within 30 days of the refund. Note that a refund you issue yourself cannot be disputed later, according to Amazon's refund policy. Our guide to protecting your Account Health rating covers the metrics to watch, and our post on Voice of the Customer shows how to spot listing problems behind repeat returns.
December 18 lands in the middle of holiday shipping, so set this up now.
If you would rather hand returns to Amazon, FBA handles customer returns for you; see our guides to FBA returns and the returns processing fee and Q4 2026 peak fees.
A note on sources: Amazon's notice reached sellers by email. We quote it from the copy sellers posted on the Seller Forums and the moderator replies in that thread. Check your own Seller Central notifications for the exact wording that applies to your account.
Your next step: Open Manage Returns today, look at your last month of return requests, and count how many would have needed your own prepaid label.
Bubba Academy trains sellers on product research, sourcing, listings, fulfillment, returns, pricing, and ads, so you can run a store that keeps customers happy and your account in good standing.
Join Bubba Academy Today →December 18, 2026. From that date, most US returns on seller-fulfilled orders need a prepaid return label. Heavy and bulky items are temporarily excluded.
Seven calendar days from the return request. Upload a prepaid label in Manage Returns or issue a full returnless refund; otherwise Amazon may refund the buyer and deduct it from your account.
No. An Amazon moderator confirmed that if Amazon already provides prepaid labels for your returns, that will not change. The rule only removes address-only labels for requests not covered by Amazon's prepaid labels.
Not always. For seller-fault returns you pay; for buyer-fault returns the return shipping cost can be deducted from the refund. With free returns, you pay regardless of the reason.
No. Labels shared through Buyer-Seller Messaging or other channels outside the Manage Returns workflow don't meet the requirement.