For years, Amazon's extended holiday return window arrived like a weather forecast: announced each fall, different just enough to keep sellers guessing. That era is over. In a Seller News post on October 16, 2026, Amazon announced that items purchased between November 1 and December 31 can be returned until January 31, and added a sentence that changes how every brand should plan: "This policy will apply every year."
The window itself is not new. What is new is that it is now standing policy. A purchase made on November 1 can come back roughly 91 days later. Apple products are the one exception, with a January 15 deadline. The extension applies automatically to FBA and FBM orders alike, existing return and refund conditions stay the same, and there is no opt-out and no setting to switch on.
So the question is not whether to comply. It is how to run a business when your busiest quarter stays open for three months.
January is now part of Q4
The most expensive mistake a seller can make this season is treating December numbers as final. A November sale refunded in late January reverses revenue, margin, and ad return on spend that may already be reported, reordered against, or paid out as profit. Brands that plan purchasing off December sell-through without netting expected returns will overstock in January and wonder why cash feels tight in February.
The fix is a single report, built now from last season's data. Filter last year's returns to orders placed November 1 through December 31, count what came back by January 31, and divide by units shipped from those same orders, product by product. That rate is your January return rate, and it belongs in every Q4 forecast from here on. It will not be uniform: sizing-sensitive categories, giftable products, and higher-priced items will carry more of it.
FBM sellers carry the window themselves
For FBA sellers, the extended window is mostly a forecasting problem. For FBM sellers, it is also a staffing problem. The returns still arrive on your dock, still need inspection, restocking, and refunds inside Amazon's timelines, and they peak after the revenue does. Seasonal staff are usually gone by mid-January, but the last returns from a January 31 deadline keep arriving into the first week of February.
Two dates deserve a calendar entry. First, the December 18 prepaid-label rule: from that date, missing the seven-day label-or-refund window lets Amazon refund the buyer and charge you. Second, the reimbursement claim window: FBA customer return claims can only be filed 60 to 120 days after the refund or replacement date, which means a refund dated January 25 can first be claimed March 26 and is lost after May 25. Claims that come due in spring are easy to forget and expensive to miss.
Restocking fee rules do not change under the extended window. The conditions under which you can charge a restocking fee apply to a late-January return exactly as they would in July. A return inside the holiday window is on time, full stop.
What to do this week
First, build the January return rate by product from last season and put it into your Q4 plan before you place another reorder. Second, schedule returns coverage through the first week of February, not just through the holidays. Third, calendar your spring reimbursement claims now, while the refunds are still fresh. Fourth, if you are weighing FBM against FBA for holiday volume, count January returns labor as part of FBM's true cost, because that is the piece of FBM that peaks after the revenue does.
Amazon framed the change as a better shopping experience and a way to strengthen holiday traffic. For shoppers, it is. For sellers, the gift is different: a rule you can finally plan around instead of waiting to hear about each fall. Use it.
