FBM Returns: Prepaid Return Labels Become Mandatory for US Orders on December 18, 2026

FBM sellers, are you still giving US buyers a return address and letting them pay the postage?

That stops working on December 18, 2026.

Amazon has emailed sellers that every US return on a seller-fulfilled order will need a prepaid return shipping label. Heavy and bulky items are the only exception, and Amazon says even that is temporary.

This is a Seller Central change. It covers FBM orders, not FBA, and it doesn't touch Vendor Central.

What changes

• Address-only return labels no longer meet the requirement.
• You get 7 calendar days from the return request, not from when the item comes back.
• In that window you either upload a prepaid label in the Manage seller-fulfilled returns workflow or issue a full refund without asking for the item back.
• Miss the window and Amazon may issue a returnless refund itself and deduct it from your account.
• A label sent through Buyer-Seller Messaging does not count.

What goes wrong here is process, not policy. A lot of FBM teams still handle returns by messaging a label or sharing an address. After December 18, that habit turns a return into a lost sale and lost stock. On low-cost items that may not hurt much. On high-ticket items it will.

And the timing is tough. December 18 lands in the middle of holiday returns.

If you want a second look at your returns workflow before December 18, our Seller Central consultant service can review it with your team.

What I would fix now

• Move all label creation into the Manage Returns workflow.
• Give one person ownership of return requests, checked daily.
• Decide SKU by SKU where a returnless refund is cheaper than return postage.
• Build return shipping into your FBM margins before Q4 pricing is locked.
• Check whether your products count as heavy and bulky, because Amazon hasn't defined it yet.

Is your returns process ready for a 7-day clock?