The online shipping giant Amazon is probably the most popular online shop in this country. It feels like you can buy anything there – which is a huge advantage because you don’t have to search on numerous sites. For a long time, another advantage was free returns. However, this will be restricted in the future. TECHBOOK tells you what will change.
Last year, Amazon introduced the “Return unpackaged” option to save unnecessary parcel waste and to return products free of charge. The special thing here is that the return option is offered free of charge. All you have to do is bring the item to the parcel shop – assuming it offers this service – and show a QR code on your smartphone. The product is then packed on site and sent back.
Alternatively, pre-franked return labels for Hermes, DHL or UPS could previously be ordered via the user account. However, these will (probably) no longer be offered free of charge in the future. This means that if you pack your package for return shipping at home and put the sticker on it, you will have to pay an extra charge at the parcel shop.
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TECHBOOK editor Isa Kabakci ordered three different products via Amazon. There were both cheap and expensive items included.
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As part of the return process, he took a closer look at his Amazon account and checked the return options for the respective products. And here it actually became clear that free return shipments had been restricted.
Depending on the product – probably due to the price and size – the return options vary. The “return unpackaged” option was offered free of charge for two products. This means that you can return the product unpackaged to a DHL branch free of charge. To return it, all you have to do is show a QR code on your smartphone. The items are then packaged, labeled and returned to the store.
Also interesting: Amazon is planning practical changes to returns
But if you pack the package yourself and want to hand it over to DHL or Hermes, you have to print out the label yourself and pay 2.99 euros for the return shipping. Dropping it off unpackaged at a DHL packing station costs 1 euro. If you decide to collect it from Hermes, you also have to print the return label, package the product and pay 3.99 euros.
This is what Amazon says about the new return costs
But what does Amazon say about this? TECHBOOK asked the online shipping giant whether the only free option in the future would be “unpackaged returns” or whether there would be restrictions on free returns in the future.
Amazon said: “We regularly test ways to make product returns as easy and environmentally friendly as possible for our customers. We know that finding a box, tape, and printing a label for a return can still be a hassle – that’s why most Amazon returns are now easier than ever since no box is required.”
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There is no answer here as to whether delivery to DHL and Hermes will no longer be free in the future. However, it seems that the “Return without packaging” option could be increasingly (or exclusively) offered as a free return option in the future.