[decko]

> Fulfillment by Amazon Donations, which Amazon says will help sellers send returns directly to charities instead of disposing of them.

So the seller ends up having to take the loss?

[nearbuy]

The seller has the option of taking the item back if they prefer. If they don't want it back, they can donate it.

[TigeriusKirk]

Well, everyone who buys from the seller splits the loss. No doubt it's built into their prices.

[dleslie]

Yes, and it's a serious problem.

[winkeltripel]

But they at least get a tax write off for a percentage of the value of the donation.

[jlokier]

No. It's not "at least they get a tax write off", because that implies a benefit, such as when paying profits to a charity you want to support anyway.

With these returned items, the seller just loses money and has a lower income than if they could resell them.

Their tax goes down because of returns, but that's just normal income tax because their income goes down.

If they didn't donate the goods, just threw them away, they would pay exactly the same tax. So there is no tax benefit gained from donating.