Amazon dropped a new policy update 2 days before Christmas that impacts sellers who fulfill their own orders rather than using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). On December 23, Amazon said a new policy would take effect on January 26, 2026:
Update to seller-fulfilled refund process by January 26, 2026
Effective January 26, 2026, the Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) refund process will be updated to improve your return management experience and give you more time to assess returns.
The processing window for refunds will extend from two business days to four calendar days before Automated Refund triggers. For most return delivery days, you’ll gain additional processing time under this change.
If you don’t process a refund within four calendar days of receiving a returned item, we may issue an automatic refund. In these cases, you won’t be eligible for Seller Assurance for e-Commerce Transactions (SAFE-T) claim reimbursement except for specific situations such as when returned items are lost in transit or delivery confirmation was incorrect through no fault of your own. In these cases, since you did not receive the item for assessment, you can still file a SAFE-T claim for reimbursement.
We recommend that you use the Guided Refund workflow (GRW), which allows you to grade returned items, apply appropriate restocking fees, and upload evidence when items are returned in a different condition than shipped.
To learn how to use the Guided Refund workflow, go to Issue a partial refund.
For more information about SAFE-T claims, go to Reimbursement for seller-fulfilled orders.
A seller asked if the announcement meant that there will be no more RFS (Refund at First Scan) in cases where the refund is issued before the seller even sees the item, to which an Amazon moderator replied:
I reached out to our partner team and received clarification about this update:
Please note that RFS (Refund at First Scan) is not being eliminated. When Amazon issues prepaid return labels, RFS will continue to work as it currently does.
This new policy only applies to returns where Amazon has not issued an RFS through return requests authorized through Amazon’s prepaid return label program. For these cases, sellers will have 4 calendar days to process the refund after receiving the returned item. Currently, sellers must issue refunds within 2 business days of receiving a return.
The moderator also said, “The SAFE-T Claim help page is being updated to account for items lost in return transit. Please share any Case IDs about recent claims lost due to a lost return shipment.” A seller asked for further clarification, writing, “To be clear, does this effectively prevent SAFE-T Claims from being filed for any order that isn’t refunded at first scan? In the past, we could wait for an order to be auto-refunded and then file a SAFE-T Claim for reimbursement. Why is this feature being removed?”
While the announcement said the policy update would improve the selling experience and give sellers more time to assess returns, the response from sellers indicates they don’t agree or need further clarification.