Amazon writes down why every unit comes back: a reason code, a damage grade, and often the buyer's own words. This guide teaches you to read all three, then hands you a tool that reads your whole file in five seconds. Which returns are your fault, which are Amazon's, and which are costing you money right now.
Sellers treat returns as one number and one feeling: returns went up, buyers hate the product. The report under the number says otherwise.
When I ran our own 90-day file through the decode, 323 units had come back. Read as one number, that stings. Read by reason, it fell apart into four different stories. 48% were buyer's-choice returns: changed minds, accidental orders, gifts that missed. 20% were delivery failures: the carrier brought the box back and the buyer never formed an opinion at all. 3% sat on Amazon's side of the fence. Only 29%, fewer than one in three, were actual verdicts on the product or the listing.
That last slice is the only one your photos, bullets, and factory can do anything about. It is also the slice almost nobody isolates, because Seller Central shows you the pile, not the split.
Not as described, defective, too small, quality complaints. The listing or the product set an expectation reality missed. Every one of these maps to a specific image, bullet, or factory conversation.
No longer wanted, ordered by mistake, found it cheaper. Mostly the cost of selling. Skim for patterns; a pile of "didn't need it" comments can mean the listing invites the wrong buyer.
Undeliverable, arrived too late, never arrived. Carrier and network failures. Not product feedback, and every one you count as product feedback poisons your read.
Wrong item shipped, damage on Amazon's watch. Small numbers, real money. The disposition column, page 04, decides who pays.
The reason column records what the buyer selected on the return form. Here is every code that matters, what Amazon's own documentation says it means, and the move it points to.
| code | the buyer is saying | the move |
|---|---|---|
| product rejected, the fixable ones | ||
| NOT_AS_DESCRIBED | It did not match the listing. | The gap is usually named in the comments. Fix the exact image or bullet that oversold. |
| DEFECTIVE | It did not work. | Clustered in time means a bad batch; spread out means design or QC. Take the comments to your supplier. |
| QUALITY_UNACCEPTABLE | It worked, but disappointed. | Your photos promise a nicer product than the box delivers. Close the gap in whichever direction is cheaper. |
| MISSING_PARTS | Something was absent. | Packing error at the factory, or the listing implies an accessory you do not include. |
| APPAREL_TOO_SMALL / TOO_LARGE | Sizing missed. Fires outside apparel too. | Real measurements in an image. If the comments agree it runs small, say so on the listing. |
| POOR_FIT undocumented | Wrong size or shape for their use. | Exact dimensions in the second image, with a familiar object for scale. |
| NOT_COMPATIBLE | Did not work with what they own. | Add a fits and does-not-fit list. Every one of these returns names a model for it. |
| WARRANTY | Failed after use. | A durability signal. The failure mode is usually in the comments. |
| buyer's choice, the cost of selling | ||
| UNWANTED_ITEM | Changed their mind. | Read the comments anyway. Repeated "didn't need it" means the listing invites the wrong buyer or quantity. |
| ORDERED_WRONG_ITEM / MISORDERED | Bought the wrong thing. | Clustering on a variation family means buyers cannot tell your variants apart. Name them by their difference. |
| FOUND_BETTER_PRICE | Price shopping after purchase. | A trickle is normal. A spike means someone undercut you this month. |
| NO_REASON_GIVEN / OTHER | Skipped the survey. | The comments are the only signal on these rows. |
| delivery failed, not about you | ||
| UNDELIVERABLE_* family | The carrier could not deliver. | Watch the share, not the count. A big delivery slice means your product feedback is cleaner than the raw count suggests. |
| MISSED_ESTIMATED_DELIVERY | Too late, no longer wanted. | If it spikes, check whether low stock forced fulfillment from distant warehouses. |
| NEVER_ARRIVED undocumented | Says it never showed up. | If the unit never re-entered inventory either, that is a reimbursement conversation. |
| DAMAGED_BY_CARRIER | Arrived damaged. | Check the disposition. Carrier-graded damage is Amazon's to reimburse. |
| amazon's side, small numbers, real money | ||
| SWITCHEROO | Amazon's definition: the buyer says Amazon sent the wrong item. | A warehouse mix-up, or a buyer who returned something other than what you sold. If it went back into sellable stock, inspect it before a future buyer does. |
| DAMAGED_BY_FC | Became damaged or defective after arrival. Attribution ambiguous. | Do not argue with the reason code; the disposition column on page 04 decides who pays. |
| EXTRA_ITEM | Something extra in the box. | Watch that the returned inventory reconciles. |
Meanings from Amazon's FBA customer returns report documentation, cross-checked July 26, 2026. Two codes flagged undocumented appear in real report files but not in Amazon's published table; their plain meanings are inferred from the buyer-facing return options.
The reason code is the buyer's opinion. The detailed-disposition column is Amazon's grade of the unit when it hit the warehouse dock, and it, not the reason, decides who eats the loss.
| disposition | what it means | the money |
|---|---|---|
| SELLABLE | Back in stock, available for sale. | You mostly recovered. On our file, 72% of returns landed here. |
| CUSTOMER_DAMAGED | Unsellable as returned. Amazon's docs note this does not necessarily mean damaged; opened packaging is enough. | Not reimbursed. Sits in unfulfillable inventory. Amazon's returns policy asks for a removal order within 30 days. |
| DEFECTIVE | Obviously damaged, or the buyer said faulty. | Not reimbursed. Same 30-day removal ask. |
| DAMAGED / CARRIER_DAMAGED | Damage Amazon takes responsibility for. Ownership transfers to Amazon. | Amazon reimburses under its lost-and-damaged policy. Confirm each one actually shows up in the Reimbursements report. |
| EXPIRED | Within 50 days of expiry; set aside and eventually disposed. | Not reimbursed. |
Two policy facts worth taping to the wall. First: a refund with no return is not automatically your loss. If the buyer keeps the item past 45 days from the refund, Amazon's policy is to charge the buyer back and reimburse you in most cases; the gap cases are worth watching. Second: the unsellable pile does not clean itself. Decide once, in settings: automated removals, or a standing monthly removal order. On our own file, 88 units were sitting in the not-reimbursed dispositions. That pile is invisible until you go looking.
Both facts come from Amazon's FBA customer returns policy, re-verified against current sources this week. Reimbursement valuation mechanics changed in 2024 and 2025, so treat any dollar-value claims you read elsewhere as stale until checked.
Everything the last three pages taught, computed from your own file in one drop. Also live anytime at returns.srv1001586.hstgr.cloud.
This page is interactive. Open the HTML file in your browser, or visit returns.srv1001586.hstgr.cloud, drop in your FBA Customer Returns report, and your own decode renders right here.
Reason meanings verified against Amazon's return reason codes as of July 26, 2026. Rates are approximate by nature: returns lag the orders they belong to, so treat any rate as a health indicator, not accounting. Files parse in your browser; nothing uploads anywhere.
The decode is not a one-time audit. It is a quarterly fifteen minutes that compounds.
The codes change slowly; the comments change fast. The comments column is the closest thing Amazon gives you to a free focus group: buyers who cared enough to type. Read them first, every time.
This guide and the tool go out weekly to 6,500 Amazon sellers in the Selling From the Beach newsletter. If someone forwarded you this file, that is where it came from: sellingfrom.co/newsletter