For many cross-border sellers, the easiest way to handle returned goods is simply to discard them.
Especially in Amazon FBA operations, as the number of returned items increases, many sellers worry about rising storage costs or believe the goods have lost their resale value, so they choose to pay disposal fees to clear inventory as quickly as possible.
However, more and more sellers are beginning to realize that the real loss isn't the returns themselves, but the premature disposal of goods that could still be sold.
Returns in the US continue to grow, becoming an integral part of daily operations.
In recent years, the US e-commerce market has continued to grow, and the scale of returns has expanded accordingly. According to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, based on data from Digital Commerce 360, US e-commerce retail sales reached approximately $1.234 trillion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, accounting for 23.1% of all online retail sales, a record high.
At the same time, the demand for returns from US consumers is also constantly increasing. According to the "2025 Retail Returns Landscape" report jointly released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Happy Returns, total retail returns in the United States are projected to reach $849.9 billion in 2025, accounting for 15.8% of total retail sales; among which, the average return rate for e-commerce orders reaches 19.3%.
For cross-border sellers, this means that returns are no longer an isolated incident, but an unavoidable part of operating in the US market.
Many returned goods are actually not damaged.
Many sellers find when reviewing the reasons for returns that consumers request returns not necessarily because of product quality issues.
Taking categories such as clothing, footwear, bags, and home goods as examples, common reasons for returns include incorrect sizing, colors not meeting expectations, duplicate purchases, and changes in purchase plans. A significant portion of returned goods only have minor damage to the outer packaging, missing tags, dust from shipping, or were opened but not actually used by the consumer.
If these goods are simply discarded, not only is the total value of the goods lost, but the costs previously invested by the seller in procurement, initial logistics, and platform delivery cannot be recovered. Conversely, with professional local quality inspection, repackaging, and simple sorting, many of these items are still resaleable.
Disposal, seemingly convenient, can actually be more expensive.
Many sellers choose to discard items because they find handling returns too troublesome. However, from an overall operational cost perspective, direct disposal is often not the most cost-effective solution.
A returned item, from the moment it's shipped back by the consumer, goes through multiple stages: signing for receipt, warehousing, quality inspection, and sorting. If the seller lacks local processing capabilities in the US, it usually ends up piling up in the warehouse for a long time or is simply disposed of. For items without quality issues, this means a complete loss of value.
Therefore, more and more experienced sellers are changing their mindset. Instead of treating all returns as losses, they first assess whether the item still has resale value.
For example, a returned coat, after simple ironing, lint removal, and repackaging, can still be resold; a household item, simply repackaged, may be ready for sale again. Completing these basic processes locally reduces the number of discarded items, increases product utilization, and lowers overall operating costs.
U-Speed's US returns warehouses Help More Returned Goods Be Resold
To address the growing demand for returns in the US market, U-Speed has established two major returns warehouses in the East Coast (New Jersey) and West Coast (Los Angeles). The New Jersey warehouse has an area of 7,250 square meters and a daily processing capacity of over 20,000 items; the Los Angeles warehouse also has an area of 7,250 square meters and a daily processing capacity of over 10,000 items, accepting returns from consumers as well as goods returned from Amazon FBA and other overseas warehouses.
U-Speed employs a collaborative operation between its Chinese management team and a local Chinese-American operations team, providing sellers with services such as return receipt confirmation, photo inspection, and repackaging. Three inspection photos are taken for each item and uploaded to the system to help sellers quickly understand the product's status. Return logistics take approximately 3-5 business days, and inspection takes approximately 2 business days, allowing sellers to make faster decisions regarding return processing.
For high-return-rate categories such as footwear, apparel, bags, and home goods, U-Speed offers customized return processing services based on the specific condition of the goods, including lint removal, simple cleaning, ironing, and odor removal. This helps more eligible returned items return to resale status and improves product utilization.
Furthermore, U-Speed provides integrated US cross-border logistics services such as warehousing, dropshipping, and return processing, helping sellers reduce the costs of dealing with multiple suppliers and improve overall supply chain operational efficiency.
For cross-border sellers, returns do not mean the value of goods is zero. Many returned items end up being discarded simply because they lack professional local processing.
When returned goods undergo timely quality inspection, repackaging, and customized processing, they have the opportunity to return to the sales chain, recovering value for sellers and reducing inventory losses. As the scale of returns in US e-commerce continues to expand, establishing a comprehensive overseas return processing system has become an important choice for more and more cross-border sellers to control costs and increase profits.
