Making Amazon Books Returnable

I am a little unsure of your question. POD books (Creatspace or KDP Print) aren't returnable because the system isn't set up to refund vendors for returned books. They don't have any way to receive, store, and liquidate returned stock or absorb the financial losses of a title with a high return rate.

If you want returnable copies, try Ingram Spark. Just be aware that it's difficult for self-published authors to have their books (returnable or not) stocked in stores, where shelf space is at a premium.

As has already been suggested, you could try Ingram Spark. That'll make it returnable. But then you have to get the bookshops to stock it, which is a whole other problem. Without a dedicated sales team selling your book into bookshops you're going to have to do all that work yourself, and it's very hard without a marketing budget to bolster the book. And if it's already been published you're not likely to have even a little bit of success, as most bookshops want new titles to be just published, rather than new to them.

I think some specific stores sell books on consignment (which to my understanding means they only pay for what they sell). But that usually comes from one-on-one relationships with managers of individual stores, and it has got to be one of the most inefficient ways of selling books. If you could arrange for your books to be in *all* stores, then sure. But negotiating each one individually? Bleaaaghh.

If you're a self publisher, you're more likely to have more success by focusing your efforts on selling ebooks, rather than physical books.

In addition to what others have said, if you were to use IngramSpark and make the book returnable, be aware that you're on the hook for the production and shipping costs of any returned books, which are then taken out of any revenues you've earned. For some publishers, this has resulted in them owing IS/LSI money if the returned book costs were higher than what they sold that month!

Note, also, that POD books don't withstand shelf life very well. They look shelfworn very quickly compared to offset books. So don't expect returned books to be resaleable.

I'm pretty sure that people have sold directly into B&N, in the past. They've put books into the shops on a sale or return basis, and have handled the sales themselves. If the local shop manager has told you this is impossible it might be his or her way of letting you down gently. But check the self publishing diaries, perhaps, to see if my memory on this is right. You could search for "on consignment".