Reverse manifesting by returns service provider

摘要

A method of calculating shipping costs due to a carrier in connection with customer returns of items shipped to the customer by merchant. A returns center receives shipping due packages containing returned items. Affixed to each package is a printed label, the label having machine readable manifesting data, representing at least a package identifier, the origin of the package, the a delivery location. The manifesting data is scanned and the package is weighed. Data collected from the scanning and weighing steps is delivered to a processing system, which calculates shipping costs and generates a manifest report.

主权项

1. A method, performed by a returns provider on behalf of a plurality of merchants, of calculating shipping costs due to a carrier in connection with customer returns of items, comprising the steps of:
receiving, from a carrier, a postage due package containing at least one returned item at a returns center, wherein the postage due package requires that shipping charges are to be calculated and paid after the item is received at the returns center and wherein the returns center is associated with a third party other than the plurality of merchants and the carrier; wherein affixed to each package is a printed label, the label having machine readable package attribute data comprising data representing at least a package identifier, the machine readable attribute data further comprising data representing manifesting data comprising at least the origin of the package and a delivery location; upon receiving the postage due package at the returns center, scanning the machine readable data to obtain the data representing the manifesting data on each package and to identify a selected one of the plurality of merchants; upon receiving the postage due package at the returns center, weighing the postage due package, thereby obtaining weight data; delivering the manifesting data and the weight data to a computer processing system; storing shipping rate data in the computer processing system; and using the computer processing system at the returns center to calculate a shipping cost for the postage due package, the shipping cost calculated based on the manifesting data obtained from the machine readable data on the printed label and the weight data obtained as a result of weighing the postage due package at the returns center.