How Atom Scales cut Amazon returns from 17% to 8% and lifted conversion to 7%
Atom Scales, one of India’s largest weighing scale brands, halved its return rate after EcomBuddha found the hidden cause of most returns and fixed it on the listing itself.
Why were 1 in 6 scales coming back?
Across the products behind 99% of its sales, 17% of Atom’s orders were returned. The top reasons were “incorrect reading”, “product not working” and “wrong product received”.
The listings didn’t help buyers choose. Key features sat at the end of titles, brand names didn’t match across ASINs, and some listings had no bullet points. Buyers kept asking the same questions: Can I weigh protein powder? Jewelry? How accurate is it?
Price was a second problem. Atom sold high volumes of low-priced scales, but its higher-priced models barely moved.
What did EcomBuddha do?
- 1Analyzed 100+ Amazon and Google reviews to find what buyers actually complained about.
- 2Found the hidden cause behind “not working”: scales are imported, and by the time one reached a buyer, about 180 days later, its batteries had often drained.
- 3Added an infographic that explains this and asks buyers to contact customer care instead of returning the scale. Atom refunds the battery cost.
- 4Rebuilt all 80 listings around real uses, with accurate capacity, accuracy, limits and usage guidelines, so buyers could pick the right scale.
- 5Brought every listing into one consistent format, finished before Prime Day.
Results
The battery fix paid for itself many times over. From July to September 2026, 1,500 buyers contacted customer care instead of returning their scale. Battery refunds cost about 1/12th of what those returns would have cost in shipping alone, before counting damaged or lost units.
Source: Seller Central Business Reports, return reports and customer care records, May–June 2026 project.
“We were struggling with high return rates, upwards of 15%. EcomBuddha helped us identify the major reasons for returns, which included a battery issue, a packaging issue and incorrect readings. We were able to correct these immediately... Our conversion rate, reviews and ratings went up while steadily improving our ROAS.”
FAQ
Why do kitchen scales get returned on Amazon?
For Atom, most “not working” returns came from batteries that had drained in transit, not faulty scales.
Can a listing reduce “product not working” returns?
Yes, when the cause is something the buyer can fix. Telling buyers what to do, and offering a cheaper fix than a return, cut Atom’s returns by more than half.
Can this be done before Prime Day?
Atom’s 80 listings were rebuilt in 34 days, ahead of Prime Day.
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