Reverse logistics deduction
A fee charged by a marketplace or 3PL to a seller for handling the return shipment of an undelivered or returned order — covering pickup, transport, quality check, and re-warehousing.
Reverse logistics is the operational chain that moves a product back from the customer (or attempted-delivery point) to the seller's warehouse or the marketplace fulfillment centre. The cost is usually deducted from the seller's settlement, with the per-return amount varying by weight slab, distance, and whether the return is buyer-fault or seller-fault.
Marketplace rate cards specify reverse-logistics fees by category and weight band. A common reconciliation issue is being charged at a higher weight band than the product actually weighs — particularly for items shipped in oversized packaging where the marketplace's volumetric weight calculation kicks in. Catching these requires per-SKU weight data on the seller side, matched against the deduction line.
Other patterns: deductions applied for returns that were never actually picked up (logistics cancellation that wasn't reflected on the seller side), double-deductions from carrier re-attempts being billed separately, and missing return-credit reversals when an item is later marked seller-fault and the deduction should be borne by the marketplace.