Reverse logistics is everything that happens to a product after a customer decides not to keep it: the trip back, the inspection, the decision to restock, discount or write off, and the refund. For a small seller with no warehouse team, all five steps happen on one table, and only the first has a published price. Ours is quoted below.
The freight is the only step with a published price. The other four are your own time, and they are not free either.
Straight about what we sell: SMKlog sells US domestic parcel labels through a guest checkout, tracking included, with no account. We do not run fulfilment, we do not receive or inspect returns, we do not store stock, and we do not sell international labels or storefront integrations. This page is an operations guide, not a pitch for a service we do not offer. Our services page lists what we actually do.
Three parcel profiles coming back into a Newark, NJ 07102 address, priced through the SMKlog calculator on 2026-07-28. Each row shows the cheapest service on that quote at the full checkout amount.
| Parcel | From | Service | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 x 9 x 1 in poly mailer at 0.7 lb | Atlanta, GA 30303 | USPS Ground Advantage | $8.86 |
| 13 x 8 x 5 in shoe box at 3 lb | Los Angeles, CA 90011 | USPS Ground Advantage | $11.04 |
| 12 x 12 x 12 in carton at 15 lb | Atlanta, GA 30303 | USPS Ground Advantage | $17.01 |
Those three numbers are your disposal thresholds in disguise. A returned item that will resell for less than $17.01 is worth less than the freight on the carton it travels in, so paying to bring it home is a decision you are making for a reason other than money. Refunding in place and telling the customer to keep the item is a legitimate answer, and large retailers reach it constantly.
Three brackets are usually enough: back to full price, into a reduced-price listing, or gone. Attach a condition description to each and the inspection step stops being a judgement call every single time. Rules written in a quiet week hold up in a busy one.
Opening returns twice a week rather than as they land turns a scattered interruption into a scheduled task. USPS publishes free package pickup that can be scheduled up to three months ahead, which is the same principle applied to the outbound side. Details are on our pickup guide.
A photo of the item as it came out of the box, taken before you touch anything, settles every later disagreement about condition. It also gives you the evidence to apply a partial refund clause without it turning into an argument.
Whether to accept a return and whether to pay for its freight are two decisions, and small sellers routinely collapse them into one. You can accept a return, refund it, and still decline to pay the postage, provided your published policy said so first.
The whole path a product takes after a customer decides against it: the trip back, receiving, inspection, disposition and the refund. In a large company those are five departments. For a small seller they are five tasks on one table, and only the trip back carries a published price.
Priced through our calculator on 2026-07-28 into Newark, NJ, at the full checkout amount: $8.86 for a 0.7 lb poly mailer from Atlanta, $11.04 for a 3 lb shoe box from Los Angeles, and $17.01 for a 15 lb carton from Atlanta. All three were cheapest on USPS Ground Advantage that day.
When the item's resale value is below the freight. Our 15 lb carton quote came to $17.01 on 2026-07-28, so anything that will resell for less than that costs more to retrieve than it recovers. Refunding without requesting the item back is a normal answer in that situation.
No. We sell US domestic parcel labels through a guest checkout with tracking included, and that is the extent of it. We do not receive, inspect, store or restock anything, and we do not sell international labels, fulfilment or storefront integrations.