If you’re thinking of sending back a disappointing gift you just received over the holidays, the return may bring even more disappointment.
Americans have grown accustomed to free returns, but a growing number of retailers are charging fees as returns squeeze retailers’ bottom lines.
Macy’s, Abercrombie, J. Crew, H&M and other companies have all added shipping fees for mail-in returns.
And it’s not just the big mall brands, either. Eighty-one precent of merchants are now charging a fee for at least some methods of returns, according to Happy Returns, a logistics company that specializes in returns.
How often are returns defective vs just didn’t want/didn’t fit? If the item is defective you can’t restock it. If the item isn’t defective that’s where more cost might come in to get the item back in circulation to be sold.
We’re talking about clothes here. I have never been able to find any clothing items that were consistently and accurately sized. Often even across the same brands, sizing is consistently inconsistent. If I can’t return for the proper size once I get an example of a product’s fit and sizing without paying for it, then the convenience of online shopping has evaporated and I might as well just go into a store and try things on. As if they don’t already charge enough of a markup to cover restocking.