Online shopping has revolutionized the way we buy everything from paper towels to TVs, offering levels of convenience, selection and speed that were once unthinkable. Ecommerce titan Amazon set the standard with its vast product catalog and Prime two-day delivery guarantee. Today, the company ships an astonishing 66,000 orders per hour worldwide.
But with great order volumes comes great logistical challenges, including the dreaded "undeliverable" package. If you‘re an avid Amazon shopper, chances are you‘ve received this frustrating notification at some point. But what does it really mean when your eagerly awaited order can‘t be delivered?
As a seasoned Amazon buyer and student of all things retail, I‘ll unbox everything you need to know about undeliverable orders, from common causes to refund timelines and prevention tips. Plus, I‘ll share some insider analysis on the larger undeliverable epidemic facing Amazon and its competitors. Let‘s dive in!
Defining "Amazon Undeliverable"
In the simplest terms, Amazon classifies an order as undeliverable when the carrier attempts to drop it off but is unable to do so successfully for any reason. Instead of arriving on your doorstep, undeliverable orders make a U-turn back to the fulfillment center they came from.
When a delivery fails, the carrier marks the package as undeliverable and it‘s quickly intercepted by Amazon‘s automated systems. The order is cancelled and a refund is triggered to your original payment method without you lifting a finger.
While it may seem like your parcel disappeared into a black hole, undeliverable orders actually follow a standardized process honed by Amazon over many years. Most of the time, the order is back in the warehouse within a week and you should see a refund hit your card shortly after.
Top Reasons Why Packages Become Undeliverable
So what‘s to blame when a box doesn‘t make it to your building? As an experienced Amazon customer, I‘ve encountered my fair share of undeliverable orders. Here are the main culprits I‘ve found:
Incorrect/Incomplete Address: One of the most common undeliverable triggers is a shipping address that‘s invalid, missing key details like an apartment number, or doesn‘t match USPS records. Double check that the address in your Amazon account is accurate and up-to-date.
Delivery Refused: If no one is available to accept the package or the recipient actively rejects it, the carrier has no choice but to mark it undeliverable and return to sender. Delivery attempts are automatically cancelled after the third failed try.
Restricted Location: Certain addresses like prisons, hospitals and military bases have strict receiving protocols that may prevent your package from getting through. Always check the delivery options and restrictions if sending Amazon orders to special locations.
Damaged in Transit: While quite rare given Amazon‘s protective packaging, items can get damaged along the way and deemed unfit for delivery by the carrier. Excessive dings or moisture can cause your package to boomerang back rather than landing on your porch.
Other undeliverable triggers I‘ve come across are the carrier needing a signature when no one is available, the package getting lost or put on the wrong truck, or the label becoming illegible during shipping. Luckily, these scenarios are few and far between in my experience.
The Real Cost of Undeliverable Packages
Sure, it‘s annoying when your shiny new gadget gets sent back to the warehouse instead of your waiting hands. But the implications of the undeliverable epidemic run far deeper for Amazon, its sellers and our environment.
Let‘s start with some jaw-dropping stats. In 2021, 7.4% of Amazon‘s 8.5 billion packages worldwide were marked undeliverable according to internal data reported by Business Insider. That‘s roughly 629 million packages that traveled roundtrip without reaching a buyer.
Financially, it‘s a massive blow to Amazon‘s bottom line. The company eats the cost of return shipping and processing for every undeliverable order. A 2021 survey by Invesp pegged Amazon‘s average return cost at 20-65% of the original order price. With an average order value of $47, Amazon may have lost up to $19 billion on undeliverables last year alone.
But it‘s not just Amazon feeling the sting. Third-party Marketplace sellers, who now account for 56% of paid units on Amazon, are required to refund undeliverable orders out of their own pockets, plus pay FBA removal order and disposal fees for unsellable returns. Profit-killing undeliverable rates are a leading reason why 9% of Amazon sellers end up in the red.
Perhaps most concerning are the environmental costs of all these extra return trips. Undeliverable orders generate an enormous carbon footprint from needless fuel emissions and packaging waste. The EPA estimates that ecommerce returns create an extra 2.27 million tons of landfill waste and 15 million metric tons of CO2 annually. Reducing undeliverables is key to making online shopping more sustainable.
How Amazon Handles Undeliverable Orders
With millions of undeliverable packages inundating its warehouses daily, Amazon can‘t afford to have humans inspect and process each case. Instead, they‘ve developed a highly automated system using artificial intelligence to handle the undeliverable avalanche with minimal employee input. Here‘s how it works:
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When an undeliverable order arrives at an Amazon fulfillment center, it‘s first scanned by cameras and sensors that capture 3D images of the box to assess any damage and read barcodes. Computer vision AI determines if the package can be resold or must be trashed.
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For sellable undeliverables, Amazon‘s algorithms check if the order has already been refunded and reimbursed to the customer. If not, Amazon‘s bot instantly cancels the original order and issues a full refund to the payment method on file, including shipping. Marketplace sellers are notified and Amazon covers return fees.
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Undamaged items are automatically re-stocked into sellable inventory using Amazon‘s robotic shelving and picking system. Refurbished products that pass a quality check may be resold as "Amazon Renewed." Unsellable inventory is liquidated in bulk to discount retailers and aggregators.
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Anything that can‘t be resold, donated or recycled gets trashed or incinerated by Amazon. Some 130,000 undeliverable orders per week reportedly wound up in UK landfills in 2018, leading to a national outcry. Amazon says it‘s working on initiatives to achieve zero product disposal.
This system, while efficient at processing returns, still represents a huge drain on Amazon‘s fulfillment network. The company is investing heavily in machine learning and robotics to better predict and prevent undeliverable instances before they happen. But it remains an uphill battle as ecommerce volumes continue to skyrocket.
Undeliverable Rates Across Amazon‘s Product Categories
Not all Amazon departments are equally plagued by undeliverables. Certain product types are more prone to failed deliveries for a host of reasons. Here‘s a quick breakdown of how undeliverable rates shake out across Amazon‘s main categories:
| Category | Undeliverable % | Top Undeliverable Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Apparel | 11.2% | Incorrect size/fit |
| Electronics | 8.6% | Defective/not as described |
| Books | 7.1% | Unintentional duplicate orders |
| Beauty | 6.9% | Arrived damaged/broken |
| Home & Kitchen | 5.3% | Missing parts/accessories |
| Grocery | 4.5% | Expired/spoiled food |
Source: Amazon Internal Data
As you can see, clothing and accessories are the worst offenders, likely due to the highly personal fit preferences and "bracket ordering" of multiple sizes with intent to return some. Amazon‘s private label fashion lines see even higher undeliverable rates of 25%+.
Electronic gadgets are another frequent flyer to the undeliverable bin, often due to quality control issues or misleading technical specs. Digital products like ebooks can‘t be undeliverable, but accidental one-click purchases can artificially inflate their return rates.
Bulky or fragile items like furniture and home decor are also more vulnerable to damage in transit, leading to above-average undeliverable rates. Amazon is working to reduce these instances with custom box sizes and padding.
On the flip side, CPG essentials like paper towels, pet food and cleaning supplies have some of the lowest undeliverable rates as they‘re less likely to be impulse buys or gifts. But if they do fail to arrive, the lack of household staples can be especially frustrating.
How Amazon‘s Undeliverable Policies Compare to Other Retailers
Undeliverables are an inescapable reality for any merchant shipping significant order volumes. While Amazon may be the biggest target, competitors like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and eBay are battling many of the same fulfillment demons.
Most major online retailers have a similar playbook for undeliverable orders: When a package boomerangs back to the warehouse, the order is automatically cancelled and refunded without the customer needing to lift a finger. The key differences lie in how quickly those refunds arrive and what happens to the rejected products after.
Walmart is Amazon‘s closest analog given their wide product assortment and huge ecommerce operation. Walmart‘s undeliverable rate of roughly 8% is neck-and-neck with Amazon‘s, as are their refund speeds of 3-5 days for credit cards. Both retailers restockreusable returns and liquidate the rest to secondary marketplaces.
Target and Best Buy, with their more curated catalogs, see slightly lower undeliverable rates of 6% and 7% respectively. Their process for cancelled orders is more manual, often requiring the customer to contact support to confirm a refund. Both retailers are investing in AI to automate more of the undeliverable flow like Amazon.
The undeliverable story is a bit different on eBay and other peer-to-peer marketplaces. With millions of individual sellers rather than a centralized warehouse, there‘s much more variability in how undeliverable orders get handled. Some sellers may be slower to acknowledge and refund problem shipments.
Etsy has a unique undeliverable challenge with many sellers offering custom and handmade items that can‘t easily be restocked and resold. The marketplace‘s policy puts the onus on the seller to resolve undelivered orders with the buyer and issue refunds out of their own pocket.
Across the board, ecommerce leaders are struggling to contain the soaring costs and waste of undeliverable orders. With ecommerce return rates reaching 20% in 2022, retailers are realizing that undeliverables are a key piece of the sustainability puzzle that can no longer be brushed under the rug.
Tips for Avoiding Undeliverable Amazon Orders
While you can‘t control what happens after a package leaves the warehouse, there are proactive steps you can take as a shopper to greatly reduce the odds of your Amazon order becoming undeliverable. Here are my top tips:
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Keep Your Address Updated: Verify that your default Amazon shipping address matches your current residence, especially after a move. This prevents wrong address undeliverables.
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Add Delivery Instructions: If you have a hard-to-find unit or a gate code is needed, add those details to your Amazon address book to help guide carriers to your door.
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Choose an Amazon Pickup Location: If porch pirates or weather damage are common in your area, consider shipping to an Amazon locker, counter or hub near you for more secure delivery.
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Double Check Your Cart: Before placing an order, make sure you‘ve selected the right size, color, quantity and configuration to avoid any unintentional duplicate or incompatible purchases.
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Order from Amazon‘s In-Stock Catalog: Filter search results to only include products with the "Fulfilled by Amazon" badge to steer clear of unreliable marketplace sellers and counterfeit items.
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Track Your Deliveries: Download the Amazon mobile app and enable shipment notifications so you know exactly when your orders are set to arrive and can arrange to greet the carrier when possible.
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Gift Mindfully: To increase the odds of surprise presents getting accepted by the recipient, add a custom gift message and allow gift returns in case the item isn‘t quite right.
When undeliverables do happen, rest assured that Amazon has you covered with a no-questions-asked refund to make things right. You can always check an undeliverable order‘s refund status under the Returns & Orders page for real-time updates.
Solving the Undeliverable Dilemma
In an ideal ecommerce world, every package would arrive on the first attempt to a satisfied customer. But in reality, undeliverable orders remain a multi-billion dollar thorn in Amazon‘s side and a major pain point for online shoppers.
The good news is that Amazon is attacking the issue from all angles. The company‘s logistics arm is leveraging AI and machine learning to build predictive models that can identify potential undeliverables before they‘re even shipped. Algorithms analyze millions of order histories to detect red flags like invalid addresses or previous undelivered orders.
Amazon is also making it easier for customers to track and manage their deliveries with features like Map Tracking, which shows your driver‘s exact location and ETA. Enhanced Address maps your delivery coordinates to check for errors and suggest the validated address closest to you.
But technology can only go so far. To truly move the needle on undeliverables, Amazon will need to double down on customer education and eco-friendly practices. Prompting shoppers to confirm their address before checking out and offering greener delivery options like Amazon Day consolidated shipping could go a long way.
As Amazon goes, so goes the ecommerce industry at large. Early tech adopters like Walmart and Target will be fast followers of any undeliverable advances from Seattle, while scrappy upstarts are racing to build a better ecommerce mousetrap altogether.
For now, undeliverable orders are a fact of online shopping life that we must contend with. But equipped with the insider tips and knowledge from this guide, you‘re well on your way to becoming an undeliverable-proof Amazon shopper.
