Amazon's 2024 Holiday Returns Window

In brief: as in earlier years, Amazon stretched its returns window for the 2024 festive season. Items bought between 1 November and 25 December 2024 on Amazon.co.uk, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden or Belgium could be returned until 31 January 2025, or 30 days after delivery if later. The rule covered FBA, merchant-fulfilled and Amazon Retail orders alike. Return eligibility didn't change — only the deadline.

Amazon holiday returns 2024: the dates

Store	Bought between	Return by (or 30 days after delivery, if later)
UK, DE, FR, IT, NL, PL, SE, BE	1 Nov – 25 Dec 2024	31 January 2025
Spain	1 Nov 2024 – 6 Jan 2025	6 February 2025
DE and IT: camera, electronics, office, PC, wireless, games, music, video	1 Nov – 25 Dec 2024	15 January 2025 (or 14 days after delivery)

A worked example

A UK seller sells £30,000 of goods in December 2024 and normally sees 4% returned. With the longer window, many of those returns land in January — about £1,200 of refunds (30,000 × 4%) processed after the year end, not in December.

What happened next

The same pattern repeated for Christmas 2025 — see the 2025 holiday returns window.

What it means for your bookkeeping

• January carries December's refunds. Refunds are recorded when they're made, so January's figures look weaker and December's stronger than the underlying trading.

• Period-end accounts. If your year ends on 31 December, consider a returns provision for December sales likely to come back — agree the approach with your accountant.

• VAT: refunds reduce output VAT in the period the refund is made, so a VAT quarter covering January 2025 absorbs the December returns.

• Stock comes back too. Returned units re-enter stock (or are written off if unsellable), which affects stock valuation.

• Where it shows up. January refunds land in that month's settlements — see reconciling an Amazon settlement.

How TrueBooks helps

TrueBooks posts every refund from your Amazon settlements to Xero with the right UK VAT in the period it happens, so January's refunds reduce the right VAT return. See the Amazon Xero integration.