Before the January 31 Returns Wave: Customized Grading, Grade and Resell, Partial Refunds and Returnless Rules for FBA Brands
Amazon customized grading, Grade and Resell, partial refunds by return reason and FBA returnless rules to set before the holiday returns that run to January 31.
By Bernardo Campelo, Forbes Business Council E-Commerce Leader, Amazon SPN Certified provider, Amazon SP-API authorized partner, and Founder of PrepVia.
As of October 29, 2026, Amazon's announcement of the extended return window says items your customers buy on Amazon.com between November 1 and December 31, 2026 can be returned until January 31, 2027, and Apple brand products until January 15, 2027. The window applies automatically to FBA and seller-fulfilled orders, and Amazon says the policy will apply every year. Its Extended Holiday Returns policy page gives the same 2026 dates in a sentence that still begins "Our 2025 Extended Holiday Returns policy."
A December order can become a return you are still paying for in March, and this fall Amazon gave FBA brands more say over what that return costs. Since October 9, sellers choose which return reasons qualify for FBA partial refunds, and since October 19, customized grading lets a brand tell Amazon what "sellable as new" means for its products.
Two older controls complete the set: FBA returnless resolutions by price, available in the US since November 2025, and the renamed Grade and Resell, where Restore to New has charged the same processing fee as Sell as Used since September 30, 2026. This post takes the four controls one at a time, then turns them into a decision table per SKU and a January cash plan.
The 60-second version
Most of what customers buy on Amazon.com from November 1 to December 31, 2026 can be returned until January 31, 2027, and four FBA settings shape what those returns cost you. Customized grading lets a brand give Amazon its own "sellable as new" criteria per ASIN, as guidance; ASINs without a rule stay on Amazon's default grading. Partial refunds can now be set by return reason. On Amazon's FBA help page, returnless resolutions work by a price cap between $1.00 and $75.00 or by ASIN list; a July announcement mentions category and reason rules but links to the seller-fulfilled page. Grade and Resell charges one processing fee of $1.50 to $4.10 a unit, and only when it relists the unit. Partial refunds and returnless cover only returns created after you enable them, and Amazon reimburses neither. Where an ASIN's return rate is above its category threshold, returns processing fees for November and December shipments are charged in February and March.
Every date and name below was checked on October 29, 2026 against Amazon's Seller Central help pages, its Seller Forums announcements and the Selling Partner API documentation, linked in the section that covers each. Amazon edits these pages without notice, and the holiday returns page still carries last year's label, so open the live page before you act on a date or a fee.
The January 31 Window and What It Does Not Change
Amazon's announcement describes the change as extending its "standard 30-day return window during the year-end holiday shopping season" and adds: "This policy will apply every year." The leftover "2025" on the help page suggests the window itself is not new.
The extension moves the deadline, not the rules. The policy page says "return eligibility for all orders remains the same," so an item that could not be returned before still cannot, and Apple brand products close 16 days earlier, on January 15.
Amazon's pages also differ on one word. The announcement and the policy page cover items bought between November 1 and December 31, while the FBA customer returns policy says customers can return eligible items "shipped during November and December until the end of January." Plan on the purchase dates, and note that no source gives a time zone for either deadline; our seller calendar for 2027 lists both.
Customized Grading: Your Definition of Sellable as New, Used as Guidance
Every FBA return gets one first call, which Amazon's Grade and Resell help page describes as sellable as new or unsellable as new. Amazon announced customized grading on October 19, 2026 to shape that call: "With customized grading, you tell us what 'sellable as new' means for your products, including when items can be restored to new or when to sell them as used."
The Customized grading help page sets the limit in the same paragraph: Amazon "uses them as guidance during grading," alongside its standard process. Your rule informs the grader; it does not bind the outcome. The setting sits under Settings > Orders > Recovery > Customized grading.
Rules are written per grading attribute, which the rule setup calls a "category": seal and packaging, included accessories, product authenticity indicators, device capabilities, and other capabilities. Each rule covers the whole catalog, a pasted list of ASINs or a CSV upload, an ASIN carries one rule per attribute, and a new rule replaces the old one. The page adds that this "applies to applicable categories" without listing them, so confirm your ASINs are covered.
The seal and packaging rule asks three direct questions: whether a unit can be resold as new if only the seal is broken, whether a broken seal or damaged packaging can be resealed or repackaged to restore it to new, and whether it can be resold as used. One rule can only group ASINs that share the same seal type and packaging type. ASINs without a rule stay on Amazon's default grading.
"Most of what your customers buy in November and December can come back until January 31. Tell Amazon now what sellable as new means for your brand. Without a rule, its default grading decides."
Bernardo Campelo, Founder of PrepVia
Two limits belong in your notes. Basic repackaging of eligible returns, such as a new poly bag or a new box, is automatic and, per Amazon's Restore to New page, "cannot be disabled in your settings," and no page says how that interacts with a rule against repackaging. At the other extreme, turning off returns evaluation for selected ASINs in the FBA customer returns settings has Amazon mark all their returns as defective, with damaged units no longer eligible for reimbursement, under terms that release Amazon, the carrier and the buyer from damage claims.
Grade and Resell After the Rename: Restore to New and Sell as Used
Grade and Resell is now the umbrella for two opt-in services: Restore to New, which Amazon says is the former Refurbishment, and Sell as Used, the service that used to carry the Grade and Resell name. On the Grade and Resell help page, an eligible return that fails the sellable-as-new check gets a second pass for Restore to New, light remediation such as re-taping, re-boxing or a new poly bag, and a restored unit is relisted as New at your existing new-item price.
If it cannot be restored, Sell as Used grades it Like New, Very Good, Good or Acceptable, or Unsellable, and only then does it follow your unfulfillable settings, such as removal, disposal or liquidation. Enrollment does not guarantee that every return is graded and relisted. Both services share one processing fee, charged once and only when a unit is relisted. Unsellable units pay nothing, and for sellers already enrolled in Restore to New, Amazon says the fee applies effective September 30, 2026.
| Size, as the Sell as Used fee table names it | Item weight | Processing fee at relisting |
|---|---|---|
| Small standard-size | 16 oz or less | $1.50 |
| Large standard-size | 21 lb or less | $1.80 |
| Small/medium oversize | 151 lb or less | $2.65 |
| Large/special oversize | Over 151 lb | $4.10 |
Used prices come from a recovery percentage you set for each condition, a share of the new price rather than a discount off it: at 85%, a $50 item lists in Very Good condition at $42.50. The percentage applies when the used listing is first created, Automatic Price Adjustments are on by default, and Amazon labels the percentages in its own example "for illustration only - not recommendations."
Sell as Used excludes items under $10, consumables, expiration-dated and meltable inventory, hazmat, and recalled and counterfeit products. Grading and relisting can take up to three weeks, longer during holiday seasons, and storage fees stop during evaluation and restart once the used unit is listed.
For a brand, the used listing is not anonymous. Graded units get their own SKUs with the amzn.gr prefix under the parent ASIN, compete only for the used featured offer, and their reviews roll up to the parent product if they meet Amazon's review guidelines. That argues for enrolling ASIN by ASIN: enrollment can be the whole catalog with up to 2,000 excluded ASINs, or a list you choose.
To compare a used unit with removal or liquidation, use the structure of Amazon's worksheet on the Sell as Used page: used price, minus the processing fee, the fulfillment fee and the referral fee on the used price, equals net recovery. Use the structure, not the sample numbers, which do not match the 2026 rate cards, and take January fulfillment fees from the Revenue Calculator, which shows Amazon's peak rates through January 14, 2027; Amazon has not published rates for after that date.
Partial Refunds by Return Reason
FBA Partial Refunds lets an eligible customer keep the item for part of the price, with no physical return and no program fees, in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Canada. Since an October 9, 2026 announcement, the brand chooses which return reasons qualify: up to three configurations of percentages by reason for the whole catalog, or an Excel file by ASIN and reason. Reasons left out follow the standard return process, and for sellers already enrolled, customers keep receiving partial refunds for all eligible return reasons.
One line on Amazon's FBA Partial Refunds page matters in a holiday quarter: "The partial refund is calculated based on the item's original list price without deducting promotional discounts." On a Black Friday or Cyber Monday order, the same percentage is a larger share of what the customer paid, so check it on a real order.
The high return rate fee is not charged on the unit, and you keep the refund of your referral fee less the administration fees. But Amazon provides no reimbursement for a partial refund, it counts as a customer return in the ASIN's average return rate, and Amazon uses it to determine the Frequently Returned badge.
A partial refund is not final either. Customers can still return the item within the return window and receive only the balance, and for holiday purchases that window runs to January 31. Amazon says to check the final status 58 days after the return was created, for US orders, but a holiday partial refund created before December 4 reaches day 58 before January 31, so check it again in February. Hazmat, hygiene and non-returnable items are excluded, the setting covers only returns created after it is enabled, and instead of a downloadable report Amazon emails a monthly "FBA Partial Refunds Performance Report."
Returnless Resolutions on FBA: A Price Cap or an ASIN List
A returnless resolution refunds the customer and lets them keep the item. Amazon's FBA Returnless Resolutions page offers three settings: a maximum item price between $1.00 and $75.00, available in the US store since November 20, 2025; all ASINs, with up to 10,000 excluded by CSV; or a CSV list of up to 10,000 ASINs.
There is no category rule and no return-reason rule on that page. Those options are documented on Amazon's returnless resolutions page for seller-fulfilled orders, and Amazon's July 7, 2026 announcement, which describes rules by price range, product category or return reason for FBA sellers, links to that seller-fulfilled page. Plan FBA around the price cap and the ASIN list, and check your own FBA settings page before you count on more.
Each return is still checked: an average selling price of $75 or less, a customer with no history of program abuse, a seller in good standing, and no dangerous goods, recalled products, gift cards, heavy or bulky items or non-returnable items. There are no program fees and no high return rate fee on the unit, but Amazon states that "you do not receive any reimbursement," the return counts toward the ASIN's average return rate, and the setting covers only returns created after you enable it. Amazon's own rule of thumb is narrow: "Returnless Resolutions are most cost-effective when return shipping and processing costs exceed the item’s value."
A Decision Table per SKU: Price, Weight and Return Reason
The controls overlap, so decide them per SKU: price, size and weight, and the reason the item comes back do most of the sorting. Amazon's Returns and Recovery Insights tool, on the new Seller Central since an October 8, 2026 announcement, shows return rates, top return reasons and recovery by channel. The FBA Returns report (GET_FBA_FULFILLMENT_CUSTOMER_RETURNS_DATA in the SP-API) lists each returned unit with its reason and disposition, updated daily.
| If the SKU... | What Amazon's rules allow | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Averages more than $75 | No FBA returnless resolution: the per-item limit is an average selling price of $75 or less | FBA Returnless Resolutions |
| Averages $75 or less and costs more to send back than it is worth | Returnless by price cap ($1.00 to $75.00) or by ASIN list, the case Amazon names as most cost-effective | FBA Returnless Resolutions |
| Is dangerous goods, recalled, a gift card, heavy or bulky, or non-returnable | No returnless resolution | Not eligible |
| Is hazmat, a hygiene product or non-returnable | No partial refund | Not eligible |
| Comes back mostly for one or two return reasons | A partial refund percentage for those reasons only; other reasons follow the standard return | FBA Partial Refunds |
| Has a seal, accessories, authenticity markers or functions that define new | A customized grading rule for those ASINs, used by Amazon as guidance | Customized grading |
| Sells under $10, or is consumable, expiration-dated or meltable | No Sell as Used; unsellable returns follow your unfulfillable settings | Grade and Resell |
Weight sets the fees on the other side of the decision. These rows come from Amazon's 2026 rate cards for the returns processing fee, removal orders and Sell as Used, for standard-size, non-apparel units: the returns processing fee applies only to returned units above the category threshold.
| Unit | Returns processing fee, each returned unit above threshold | Removal or disposal fee | Sell as Used fee at relisting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small standard, 6+ to 8 oz | $1.96 | $0.84 (0 to 0.5 lb) | $1.50 |
| Large standard, 12+ to 16 oz | $3.39 | $1.53 (0.5+ to 1.0 lb) | $1.80 |
| Large standard, 1.75+ to 2 lb | $4.63 | $2.27 (1.0+ to 2.0 lb) | $1.80 |
The threshold is set by category and audited quarterly: on Amazon's 2026 returns processing fee page, Toys and Games is 4.7%, Home and Kitchen 8.1% and Consumer Electronics 11.2%. The rate counts units shipped in a month that are physically returned that month or in the next two, a product that shipped fewer than 25 units in a month is exempt, and apparel and shoes pay on every returned unit.
Two return rates are in play. Returns and Recovery Insights says the overall rate includes "both physically returned products and those refunded without requiring a return," while the rate behind the fee counts only physical returns; the Returnless FAQ blurs this by saying a returnless resolution counts toward the "high return rate threshold." Plan on what every page agrees on: the returnless or partially refunded unit itself is not charged the fee.
The January Cash Plan
Finance should read the window as a calendar. Amazon debits the seller account for all or part of each refund, the referral fee comes back minus a refund administration fee that the Selling on Amazon fee schedule sets at the lesser of $5.00 or 20% of the referral fee, and FBA fees are not reimbursed. The first two dates below are Amazon's own; the rest are arithmetic on its published rules for purchases in the holiday window, not dates Amazon publishes as such.
| Date | What happens | Rule behind it |
|---|---|---|
| January 15, 2027 | Last return day for Apple brand products bought November 1 to December 31 | Extended Holiday Returns policy |
| January 31, 2027 | Last return day for other items bought November 1 to December 31 | Extended Holiday Returns policy |
| February 7 to 15, 2027 | Returns processing fee for units shipped in November 2026, counting physical returns from November, December and January | Charged between the 7th and 15th day of the third month after the shipment month |
| March 7 to 15, 2027 | The same for units shipped in December 2026 | Same rule |
| March 30, 2027 | Partial refund created January 31: check the final status | 58 days after the return was created, US orders |
| April 1, 2027 | Refund issued January 31: the 60 days for the item to reach a fulfillment center end, and the claim window opens | Customer return claims |
| May 31, 2027 | Refund issued January 31: the claim window closes | 120 days after the refund |
A return requested by January 31 can still be refunded in February: Amazon's customer return policy says it can take up to 30 days to receive and process a return, and the 60 and 120 days count from the refund. The reimbursement side runs on Amazon's customer return claims page. If a refunded item does not reach a fulfillment center within 60 days, Amazon says it "will in most cases charge the customer and reimburse you," and claims can be filed no sooner than 60 days and no later than 120 days after the refund. Amazon decides on the unit's physical condition, not the reason the buyer picked, and a customer-damaged unit can earn a credit only if Amazon charged the customer a damage fee.
Returns graded Defective or Customer damaged need a removal order within 30 days of arriving at the fulfillment center, or an automated setting that handles them. Amazon's removal pages describe 10 to 14 business days in normal periods, and one warns that removal times "may increase to 90 days or more during peak removal periods." On Amazon's value-recovery page, liquidators pay a gross recovery value of about 5% to 10% of the average selling price, and Amazon's FBA Liquidations page lists what it deducts: a 15% liquidations referral fee on the gross recovery value and a per-item processing fee.
Our guide to Amazon removal orders in 2026 and the FBA returns loop cover the physical side: removal claim windows, the monthly aged inventory snapshot and the math of inspecting returned units. For the reserve itself, start from each ASIN's return rate in Returns and Recovery Insights, which reports with a 45-day delay, and remember that a partial refund can still turn into a full return until January 31.
Where a Prep Center Fits
Every setting here lives in your Seller Central account, and FBA customer returns go back to Amazon's fulfillment centers, where grading, refunds and reimbursements are Amazon's decisions. A prep center works on the same unit before it reaches Amazon or after it leaves, and cannot change how Amazon grades a return or set your returns settings.
That earlier stage touches returns in one way Amazon names itself: its guidance on return frequency badges tells sellers to make sure products are "high quality, free from defects or damage, and well packaged." PrepVia receives, inspects, counts, FNSKU-labels, poly-bags, bundles, boxes and palletizes seller inventory, then creates and ships the inbound to Amazon. For units that leave Amazon, PrepVia also offers removal order receiving and returns management. Questions worth settling with any prep partner before holiday inventory ships:
- Packaging per ASIN. Which Amazon prep does each ASIN get, poly bag, bubble wrap or box, and is it the same every time the ASIN ships?
- Discrepancies. How fast are differences against the packing list reported? At PrepVia, discrepancies are reported within 24 hours of arrival, with photos.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Amazon customized grading?
A Seller Central setting, announced on October 19, 2026, that lets a brand submit its own criteria for how FBA returns are graded for resale, applied to specific ASINs, the whole catalog or a CSV list. ASINs without a rule stay on Amazon's default grading.
Does Amazon have to follow my customized grading rules?
No. Amazon says it uses your criteria as guidance during grading, alongside its standard process. Basic repackaging of eligible returns is also automatic and cannot be disabled in your settings.
When do Amazon holiday returns end in 2027?
Items bought on Amazon.com between November 1 and December 31, 2026 can be returned until January 31, 2027, and Apple brand products until January 15, 2027. The window covers FBA and seller-fulfilled orders, and Amazon says it will apply every year.
Can FBA returnless resolutions be set by product category or return reason?
Not according to the FBA help page, which offers a price cap between $1.00 and $75.00, all ASINs with exclusions, or a list of selected ASINs. Category and return-reason rules are documented for seller-fulfilled returns; Amazon's July 7, 2026 announcement mentions them for FBA but links to the seller-fulfilled page.
Do partial refunds count toward my return rate?
Yes. Amazon tracks them as customer returns in the ASIN's average return rate and uses them to determine the Frequently Returned badge. The high return rate fee is not charged on the unit, and Amazon does not reimburse the partial refund.
How much does Grade and Resell cost?
One processing fee of $1.50 to $4.10 a unit, by size and weight, charged only when a unit is restored to new or graded as used and relisted. Units graded Unsellable pay nothing.
Final Take
Amazon has given FBA brands more say over returns this fall, and each control comes with its limit written in. Customized grading is guidance, partial refunds are not reimbursed and still count as returns, and Grade and Resell charges only when it relists a unit. Amazon's FBA help page offers returnless only by price cap or ASIN list, although its July announcement also mentions category and reason rules.
The holiday window turns those limits into dates. Set the rules per SKU before the holiday returns start, because partial refunds and returnless cover only returns created after they are on, and run the cash plan at least through May 31, 2027, when the claim window for a refund issued January 31 closes; a holiday return refunded later moves each date later.
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