Amazon is to halt customer returns through PayPoint’s Collect+ network, resulting in lost commission and footfall for thousands of stores.

Retailers reported receiving emails from PayPoint stating that Amazon returns would be halted in their store from 21 April.

Speaking to Better Retailing, a spokesperson for Collect+ confirmed: “Amazon has decided to withdraw its returns option from the Collect+ network. This impacts 2,000 retailers out of the broader Collect+ network of 11,500 stores – but all of those will retain the Amazon Click & Collect option that is very popular with Collect+ customers. For context, we processed almost ten times as many Amazon Click & Collect parcels last year compared to Amazon returns.”

Andrew Johnson, of Dafarn Newydd Store near Llanwddyn, is one of those affected.

He commented: “We’ll still have Amazon Click & Collect. I wonder if it’s because Amazon weren’t getting enough returns for it to be seen as financially viable? It’s a loss of another service, and it’s quite disappointing. We’ll still get customers ordering and delivering for Collect+, but for returns we’ll have to send them on a 30-mile round trip because we’re in a rural area. Then they’ll drive to another shop to drop it off, so that’s lost business.”

It’s not the first time Amazon has withdrawn services from Collect+. In 2015, Amazon pulled out of the firm’s pick-up service, but this was reinstated in a deal between the two firms in 2019.

Better Retailing has approached Amazon for comment.