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Which of your Amazon SKUs are being returned the most?

A high return rate on a single SKU can silently erode your margins, damage your seller metrics, and attract negative reviews. This query surfaces it automatically after every data sync.

📊 Amazon Seller Central👥 Amazon FBA sellers🔤 Plain-English → SQL
Part of the Explore all Amazon analytics queries

This is part of the Taptic Data Amazon query library. Explore related queries: SQL query for Amazon return rate by SKU, SQL query for Amazon net margin after FBA fees, SQL query for Amazon buy box percentage by ASIN, and more.

Show me return rate by SKU for the last 90 days, ordered by highest return rate first
Amazon Return Rate by SKU — generated by Taptic Data AI
SELECT
  i.sku,
  MAX(i.product_name)                                      AS product_name,
  COUNT(DISTINCT o.amazon_order_id)                        AS total_orders,
  COUNT(DISTINCT r.return_quantity)                        AS total_returns,
  ROUND(
    COUNT(DISTINCT r.return_quantity)::numeric * 100.0
    / NULLIF(COUNT(DISTINCT o.amazon_order_id), 0), 2
  )                                                        AS return_rate_pct
FROM amazon_order_items i
JOIN amazon_orders o
  ON o.amazon_order_id = i.amazon_order_id
LEFT JOIN amazon_returns r
  ON r.sku = i.sku
WHERE o.order_status NOT IN ('Canceled', 'Cancelled')
  AND i.item_price IS NOT NULL
  AND o.purchase_date::date >= CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '90 days'
GROUP BY i.sku
HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT o.amazon_order_id) > 10
ORDER BY return_rate_pct DESC
LIMIT 25
Schema-aware SQL generated from plain English21 lines

This query was generated by Taptic Data from plain English against a real Amazon Seller Central schema. In Taptic, you type the question — the AI writes the SQL, runs it, and returns the result. You can edit the SQL, ask for explanations, and save it as a refreshable report. This type of analysis is commonly used in amazon fba analytics and ecommerce alerts.

Breaking it down line by line

  1. Joins order_items to orders to get SKU-level order counts, filtered to non-cancelled orders with valid prices
  2. Left-joins the returns table so SKUs with zero returns still appear (with a 0% rate)
  3. The HAVING clause filters out SKUs with fewer than 10 orders — low-volume SKUs have noisy return rates
  4. NULLIF prevents division-by-zero on SKUs with no orders in the period
  5. Orders by return rate descending so your worst performers appear first

Result description

Returns a ranked table of SKUs with their order count, return count, and return rate percentage — filtered to the last 90 days and sorted worst-first.

The business impact

Amazon's A9 algorithm factors return rate into seller health metrics. A return rate above 8% on a product can trigger listing suppression. Catching it at 4% gives you time to investigate and fix the root cause — product quality, misleading images, or inaccurate descriptions — before it escalates.

New to this metric? What is Amazon return rate? — definition, formula, and business context.

All queries and use cases on this page relate to analyzing your Amazon Seller Central data in Taptic. To see the full analytics workflow, explore amazon fba analytics, ecommerce alerts, ecommerce reporting.

Common questions

How do I generate a "Amazon Return Rate by SKU" query automatically?
In Taptic Data, type "Show me return rate by SKU for the last 90 days, ordered by highest return rate first" and the AI generates schema-aware SQL against your real Amazon Seller Central data — no manual writing required.
What database does this query work with?
This query is designed for Amazon Seller Central. Taptic reads your live schema so the generated SQL always matches your actual table and column names.
Can I edit the generated SQL?
Yes. Taptic shows you the exact SQL it generated. You can edit it directly, ask the AI to explain any line, or request a revision in plain English.
Can I save this as a scheduled report?
Yes. Once you run this query in Taptic, you can save it as a report, add charts and KPIs, and schedule it to email your team on any cadence — daily, weekly, or monthly.

Skip the SQL. Ask the question.

In Taptic Data, you type "Show me return rate by SKU for the last 90 days, ordered by ..." and this SQL runs automatically against your real Amazon Seller Central data.

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Next step
Run this query on your own Amazon Seller Central data
Connect 🛒 Amazon Seller Central to Taptic Data and this SQL generates automatically from plain English — against your real schema, your real tables.
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