A retailer label is prepaid by the retailer. Our own label only earns its keep when no prepaid one exists.
Where we fit: SMKlog sells US domestic parcel labels through a guest checkout, tracking included, with no signup. We are not connected to any retailer named below, we cannot issue or reissue a label inside their returns system, and we cannot look up your order. If a retailer has given you a label, that transaction is entirely between you and them. We also sell international labels to Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia, but no fulfillment and no storefront integrations.
What each retailer publishes
Every row below was read on the retailer's own site on 2026-07-28. Policies change without notice, so treat this as a snapshot and open the retailer's page before you act on it.
| Seller | Window published | Return label and what it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Macy's | 30 days of delivery or purchase for most items | Star Rewards members get return shipping at no charge; other shoppers have a $9.99 return shipping fee plus tax taken out of the refund |
| Temu | 90 days of purchase, with exceptions | A return label or a return code is issued after you submit the request; the first return per order is covered, and later returns from the same order have $7.99 plus tax deducted. The package must go back within 14 days of the request |
| Best Buy | 15 days for most products; 60 days for My Best Buy Plus and Total members | Prepaid FedEx label. Major appliances, TVs over 50 inches, kegerators and Soda Stream makers cannot be returned by shipping |
| Walmart | 90 days for most items; 30 days for items sold by Marketplace sellers | Handled inside Walmart's own returns flow; Marketplace orders follow the seller's terms rather than Walmart's standard ones |
| Target | 90 days for most items | Handled inside Target's own returns flow; holiday and limited-time-only collections may carry modified terms |
| eBay | Set by each seller in the listing | Under the eBay Money Back Guarantee the seller covers return shipping when an item does not match the listing. For a change-of-mind return it follows the seller's stated policy, either free returns or buyer pays |
Two large sellers are missing from that table on purpose. Amazon and SHEIN both block automated reading of their policy pages, so we could not confirm their current figures on 2026-07-28 and will not print numbers we did not read. Open amazon.com and shein.com directly for those, and treat any third-party page quoting their fees with suspicion unless it shows a date.
When you genuinely have to buy the label
- You are the marketplace seller, not the shopper. A Marketplace or eBay seller taking an item back is buying that freight themselves in most scenarios. Nobody is emailing that person a prepaid label.
- The sale happened off-platform. Goods bought through a classified ad, a forum, or a direct message come with no returns machinery at all. The two parties agree on who pays and one of them buys a label.
- The window closed. Once the published window has run out, the retailer's label generator stops producing labels, and any goodwill arrangement usually leaves the shipping to you.
- The retailer will not take that category back by mail. Best Buy publishes a list of goods that cannot be returned by shipping at all. Other sellers exclude bulky or regulated items. Those become problems you arrange yourself.
- It was never a purchase. Warranty items, borrowed equipment, and things going back to a relative all need a label and have no retailer standing behind them.
What buying it yourself costs
One box, one lane, priced through the SMKlog calculator on 2026-07-28. The figure shown is everything you pay at checkout.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Window returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $8.48 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS | Ground Saver | $12.07 | No window supplied |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $12.42 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS | Ground | $12.47 | 2-3 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $21.05 | 2-3 business days |
Set that $8.48 next to the two published deductions in the first table and the comparison is worth doing. Macy's deducts $9.99 plus tax from a non-member refund, which on this lane and this box is more than the label would have cost. Temu's later-return deduction of $7.99 plus tax is less. Neither result generalises, because the box and the distance decide it, which is exactly why you check instead of assuming.
Do not tape a label over someone else's
A prepaid retailer label carries their account details and their routing. Sticking your own label on the same box, or reusing a label from a different order, is how parcels get billed twice or refused outright. One box, one live label, old barcodes covered.
Keep the drop-off receipt
Whether the label came from a retailer or from us, the receipt carrying the tracking number is the only evidence the parcel left your hands. Photograph it. Refund disputes almost always turn on that first scan.
Bulky goods are a different conversation
Anything past parcel limits stops being a label problem and becomes a freight problem. SMKlog sells parcel labels only.
Retailer return label questions
Should I use the retailer's return label or buy my own?
Use theirs whenever they issue one. A prepaid retailer label costs you nothing extra and is already routed to the right returns centre. Buying your own is only the right move when no prepaid label exists: marketplace seller returns, off-platform sales, expired windows, and categories the retailer will not take back by mail.
Which retailers deduct a return shipping fee?
Read on 2026-07-28, Macy's takes $9.99 plus tax out of a mail refund for shoppers who are not Star Rewards members, and Temu deducts $7.99 plus tax on the second and later returns from the same order. Best Buy publishes a prepaid FedEx label for eligible items. Windows and fees change, so check the retailer's own page.
Can SMKlog reissue a lost retailer return label?
No. We have no connection to any retailer's returns system and cannot see your order with them. Ask the retailer to resend it. What we can do is sell you an ordinary domestic parcel label with any from and to pair, which is a different thing entirely.
What does buying a return label myself cost?
It depends on the box and the distance. Quoted on 2026-07-28, a 13 x 8 x 5 in box at 3 lb travelling from Atlanta, GA to Newark, NJ came to $8.48 with USPS Ground Advantage, $12.07 with UPS Ground Saver and $12.42 with FedEx Ground Economy, all at the full checkout price.