Walmart Marketplace Return Policy and Return Methods: Explained

Return policies can help boost conversions on the Walmart marketplace. When you offer a seamless return experience to customers, they don’t see risks associated with their purchases. Offering a seamless return experience to Walmart customers is an indispensable way of making them repeat purchasers. So keeping customer satisfaction a top priority, Walmart’s Return Policies are such that they help customers initiate product returns hassle-free on the marketplace. If you are interested in knowing the products’ return process at Walmart or the Walmart marketplace Return policy and want to discover how to manage Walmart marketplace returns effortlessly, this blog is for you. Let’s begin!

Walmart marketplace Returns Policy

“You have 90 days after purchase to exchange or return, unless noted in our exceptions. You can return items in-store, for free by mail, or via a scheduled pickup from your home.-Walmart”

Though seller’s return policy rules may vary a bit from the marketplace return rules, Walmart has laid down the following minimum set of return policy requirements to be fulfilled by sellers to deliver an unmatched shopping experience to customers at Walmart:

Return Window

The return window begins 7 days after the ship date of the product. You need to have a return window of 30 days, with exceptions for certain electronics.

For the below-listed products, you can have a return window of 15 days:

• Computers
• Computer/video game hardware
• Printers (excluding 3D printers)
• Camcorders
• Digital cameras
• GPS units
• Digital music players
• Tablets
• E-readers
• Portable video players
• Drones
• Post-paid cell phones
• Prepaid cell phones

Return Eligibility

Customers can return products at the Walmart store or through the mail by printing shipping labels. For exceptions listed below, the customer needs to contact you to initiate a product return.

• Freight shipments (shipments more than 150 lbs in weight and 165 inches in length+girth)
• Hazardous shipments
• Products for which ground shipment is not possible
• Prepaid cellular phone cards and electronically fulfilled PINs.
• Not returnable items(e.g., perishables).
• An item that cannot be returned in a single box.
• Tires.
• Luxury products. New and pre-owned Apparel, Jewelry & Watches above $300, Shoes & Accessories (e.g., Scarfs, Sunglasses, Handbags), Fine Art, Collectibles (e.g., Coins, Stamps), Loose Gems & Gemstones, Memorabilia, and Precious Metals. For luxury items, you need to check the items that they are in the same original condition.

Return Labels

You have two options- choose your preferred carrier(FedEx or UPS) or choose Walmart’s Return Shipping Services (RSS) to generate Return shipping labels. If you fail to provide your preferred shipping carrier, RSS automatically applies to the returns.

Return Center

You need to configure at least one return center. On configuring more than one return center, the return center closest to the customer is selected when a customer initiates a return on Walmart. One more option is to set a destination for the returns to arrive at the item level if you want to specify a particular return center for a product.

It’s a must to provide a valid return center address too. Walmart ships the returns to your address if you don’t furnish a return center address. You can also not charge the return shipping charges or the restocking fee to customers unless the product comes under the exceptions specified by Walmart.

Keep It

‘Keep it’ rules signify that the customers can keep the product with them, but a refund will still be issued. You can set category-wise threshold prices for the products. And when a customer starts a return process, they can be asked to keep the product with them if their product falls within the specified price limit. But that doesn’t mean that they will not be issued a refund. A refund will still be transferred to the customer, and you will have to let the product be with them.

Who handles the cost of Returns?

Handling the return costs depends on why a customer initiates a return on Walmart. You will have to bear return costs if the reason for return is one of the following:

wrong size, late to arrive, missing parts, damaged item, box damaged, defective item, poor quality, etc.

The customer rarely has to bear the return cost, and it can be because of reasons like- a product not needed anymore, bought from somewhere else, etc.

Free Return Benefits to the Sellers

Offering free and easy returns gives you numerous benefits, the key being the ones listed below:

Cost-efficient

Offering enhanced returns is a cost-efficient way to handle customer returns on Walmart. Allowing Walmart to handle the returns also gives you monetary benefits as it helps you save on shipping costs.

Loyal customers

When customers get a seamless return experience, they return to you whenever they want to shop. This helps you get repeat purchasers without any extra effort from your side.

Effortless management

Managing returns on Walmart is easy. With the reconciliation reports from Walmart, you get quick and accurate return details.

What Return methods does a customer have on Walmart?

Offering various return methods to customers helps them find the best per their convenience. At Walmart, the following ways of initiating a product return are available:

Schedule for pickup

In this method, customers can schedule a pick-up. They need to provide their preferred time and place to FedEx to pick up the return from them. The customers need to print the return label provided to them.

Return at Walmart store

Customers can return items at Walmart stores. For this, they need to go to Walmart.com and select the products they want to return. Now select Return to store to get a return barcode and submit the request. Then they will have to go to the Walmart store with the products and the confirmation email to return the products.

Return by mail

Customers can also return products by mail. And for that, they need to go to Walmart.com and select the items they want to return. Then they will need to print the return label by clicking Return by mail. At last, they will have to pack the items they want to return and drop them at a FedEx location.

To Sum up

Walmart Marketplace Return Policy plays a vital role in affecting shoppers’ future mindset about you and Walmart marketplace. The more seamless the return procedures you offer to shoppers, the more loyal your Walmart shoppers will be to you. The flexibility you offer to customers if they happen to return a product makes them come again to you for any future purchases.

If you still have any queries about returns at Walmart, do drop a comment below. And if you are not selling on the Walmart marketplace but want to sell, and want to know the onboarding process, get in touch with the experts.