There are two types of Amazon shoppers: the person who sees an item and clicks "Buy Now" on a whim and the person who scours the reviews and only makes a purchase after carefully weighing the decision. Okay, maybe there's an in-between. And for those people, Amazon is rolling out a new feature to implore shoppers to think twice before buying an item: the "frequently returned item" label, which already appears on some items with high return rates, according to The Information.
To determine whether an item should get a "frequently returned item" label, Amazon evaluates the return rates of items sold both by the retailer and by third-party sellers, an Amazon representative told The Information. The move aims to encourage shoppers to dig a little deeper into the reviews before purchasing items that they might end up returning to save both the shopper and the seller time, money, and headaches.
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Shoppers logged into their accounts might already see the badge appear on some items although it's unclear as to when it will roll out to all accounts. The warning appears toward the bottom of the "About this item" section, and encourages shoppers to "Check the product details and customer reviews to learn more about this item."
The company's current return policy allows Prime members to return their items within 30 days of receipt, usually free of charge unless of course the item is deemed non-returnable. Users can choose "Return or Replace Items" on eligible items on their "Your Orders" page, choose how they want to send their return back to Amazon along with how they want to receive their refund, and Amazon will provide any return labels or QR codes.
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