The following examples illustrate how the refund credit and holdback are calculated for a BMVD Product.
Suppose you receive the following single-item order for a book with standard shipping:
Cost of book: | $50.00 (item price set by you) |
+ Standard Shipping: | $6.49 (rate set by Amazon) |
Buyer's Total: | $56.49 |
For this order, your proceeds would be as follows:
Product charges: | $50.00 |
– Referral Fee: | $7.50 (referral fee of 15%) |
– Variable Closing Fee: | $0.24 (fee for Domestic Standard Books) |
+ Shipping: | $6.49 |
Seller's Total: | $48.75 |
You then create a partial refund in the amount of $15.00 of the product charges. The amount returned to you is calculated as a percentage of the referral fee, or commission, paid on the product charge, not including shipping. The variable closing fee is retained by Amazon.
$15.00 (partial refund) / $50.00 (product charge) = 30%
30% (percentage refunded) x $7.50 (amount of commission) = $2.25 (credit for refund)
The Amazon holdback in this case is 70% of $7.50, or $5.25, plus the $0.24 variable closing fee, for a total of $5.49.
Because shipping for BMVD products is set per item, the shipping amount charged to the buyer cannot be consolidated. If a buyer orders multiple items from you, or multiple quantities of the same item, the buyer will be charged the same shipping rate for each item. In this case, you may want to issue a partial refund to return a portion of the shipping charges to the buyer.
Suppose you receive the following multiple-item order for DVDs with shipping to the US:
1 copy of DVD-1: | $20.00 |
+US Shipping: | $7.49 |
5 copies of DVD-2: | $100.00 |
+US Shipping: | $37.45 |
1 copy of DVD-3 (box set): | $75.00 |
+US Shipping: | $7.49 |
Buyer's Total: | 231.33 |
For this order, your proceeds would be as follows:
Product charges: | $195.00 |
– Commission: | $29.25 (referral fee of 15%) |
– Variable Closing Fee: | $17.43 (7 x $2.49 fee for US-shipped DVD) |
+ Shipping: | $52.43 |
Seller's Total: | $200.75 |
You then refund a partial amount of the shipping fees to return $27.43 to the buyer (retaining $25.00 as your actual shipping and handling costs). The amount returned to you is calculated as a percentage of the referral fee, or commission, charged on the product price. For BMVD Products, Amazon does not calculate a referral fee on shipping, instead charging a percentage on the product price, exclusive of shipping, and adding a variable closing fee. The variable closing fee is retained by Amazon when you create a partial refund.
$27.43 (partial refund) / $195.00 (product charge) = 14%
14% (percentage refunded) x $29.25 (amount of commission) = $4.10 (credit for refund)
The Amazon holdback in this case is 86% of $29.25, or $25.15, plus the $17.43 in variable closing fees, for a total of $42.58.
The Amazon holdback in this case is 98.22% of £33.64, or £33.04, plus the £1.12 in variable closing fees, for a total of £34.16.