Will Amazon’s Returnless Resolutions solve the returns debacle? [MDSR #30]

If you’re one of the many MDSR readers who have warehouse capacity limits on their mind ahead of peak shopping season, you might want to buckle your seatbelt.

As always, Amazon has many more twists and turns in store. Let’s get into it.

Hot Off The Presses 📰

It may be the first week of September, but peak shopping season is already well underway for Amazon sellers — lest we forget the October 19th deadline to send holiday inventory to AWD this year if you want to be 100% sure your products are Prime badge-ready in time for BCFM. 

But with seasonal sales events starting earlier and earlier, cropping up every month from Labor Day to Boxing Day — and bringing with them their fair share of technical troubles for shoppers and merchants — one has to wonder if they’re losing their luster (and their wallet share).

Nonetheless, you can bet your bottom dollar that Amazon is doubling down on sales events with the return of Prime Big Deal Days slated for next month. 

If the sales numbers come close to July’s record-breaking Prime Day event, it will spell chaos for the returns debacle that continues to plague B2B and B2C merchants with increased counts of fraud — despite UPS acquiring a $465 million startup to clean up Amazon’s free returns mess… And Amazon deciding to let sellers ditch physical returns altogether.

But hey, the logistical nightmares are worth it if consumers continue to spend! And they’re increasingly choosing to do so on social platforms. New data confirms that Facebook is the top platform for selling with 6 in 10 social shoppers buying something there in the last 12 months, trailed by TikTok and Instagram.

That explains why Amazon decided to cozy up to Meta and TikTok as social shopping partners, and take on the risk of turning those platforms into bigger rivals long-term. Not that rivals are anything new for Amazon — Target’s price-lowering strategy is definitely working, and Walmart’s the latest to make headlines by taking on Amazon with the addition of pre-owned watches and collectibles to their marketplace. 

It’s a different story for DTC brands, who are less resilient to rivals as they navigate a marketing apocalypse and rethink how and when to promote seasonal sales amid the election and a shortened holiday season — and actually resonate with growing factions of price-conscious consumers, and the uprising of wasteful consumerism’s new worst enemy: Gen Alpha tweens

With 40% of high-value shoppers regularly using ChatGPT to research purchases, the good news is that AI might be able to save Christmas for merchants — or at least deliver some helpful prompts for seasonal PPC strategies… 

Million Dollar Advice 💸 

Success as an entrepreneur can be scary. It sets high expectations for what we can accomplish, can leave us wondering where to go from there — and how to navigate the high highs and low lows in the aftermath of our initial success. 

David Ghiyam is living proof that lightning really can strike twice, and he shares all the wisdom that got him to where he is now — co-founder of MaryRuth’s, the #1 liquid vitamin brand in the US — in our limited series of unposted podcast episodes.

Breaking down Amazon’s new inbound placement fee update 🚨

Blink and you miss it, but Amazon has updated their Inbound Placement Service Fee policy once again — and the experts at Carbon6 say this change can make or break third-party sellers’ bottom line. 

Smaller sellers (or those offering a wide range of products) will face the biggest challenge meeting the new requirement — and have the most to lose by getting disqualified from Amazon-optimized options for inbound placement:

• For small sellers, losing out on Amazon-optimized options means paying more for placement fees — dropping the profit per unit, and adding up significantly with higher volumes.

• For sellers with a wide product range usually sold in smaller quantities, avoiding those placement fees would mean increasing the number of units per product regardless of demand — or disrupting their usual operations by consolidating shipments.

The results are the same in both cases: higher costs, poor inventory management, and the risk of delays getting inventory to Amazon. 

Beyond optimizing inventory levels to enable consolidated shipments wherever possible, it might be time for some sellers to reconsider their product mix to better align with this new policy.

Don’t miss the full article for an in-depth look at all the math and recommendations for common seller scenarios.

Think this is helpful?

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So, what's the solution? Our recent article has answers:

Can’t get enough of this stuff? You’ll love what we have in store for MDS Inspire 2025… 

Did you see that post 📲

Why aren’t more sellers doing this…

Until Next Time ✌️

As always, thanks for sticking with us until the end. 

If you’d care to share your thoughts on this newsletter, we’re all ears. Just hit reply to sound off. 

See you next time with more of the latest and greatest content you need to succeed this year 🔥

Sincerely, 

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Million Dollar Sellers (MDS) is an exclusive community of 650+ like-minded Amazon and DTC sellers from all over the world. Collectively, our members generate more than 8 billion in annual sales and dominate some of the biggest categories on Amazon. MDS offers world-class events, chapters, industry discounts, resource libraries full of SOPs, templates, and video recordings of private trainings, workshops, events and so much more.

If you are looking for a business professional community made for ecom entrepreneurs, then consider applying today. 

*To qualify, you must be a full-time seller or brand owner and do at least 1 million in verified annual revenue. Will Amazon’s Returnless Resolutions solve the returns debacle? [MDSR #30]