Free returns disappearing from retailers | The era of free returns — an essential part of the rise of online shopping — is ending
Is this some sort of American thing I'm too European to understand?
Yes, it is. That's because companies like trying unpopular policies in America first before moving them to Europe.
You guys get free health care and you can return stuff? Also, don't you have a guaranteed warranty of 3 or 4 years?
In Australia our consumer protection laws have minimum warranty for most items (eg 3yrs or something for basic electronic products) but it scales with cost and quality.
It does not apply to everything as far as i know, but say you buy a $8,000 TV, you would likely get 5-6 years warranty because a TV of that cost should imply, to a reasonable consumer, it is of a quality that would be expected to last 5-6 years.
2 years by law everywhere in the EU.
Two, but I don't think it applies to medical procedures
War-ranty? What is this? A guarantee of war? Sounds like apple pie to me. 🇺🇸
So companies will stop lying in the sizing charts, right? Right?
If the sizing chart says size M fits a 28” waist and the size M is actually 32” in the waist, their lying ass should pay the return shipping.
Mankind will die out before vanity sizes do.
I'd argue that in those cases the product is straight-up defective. I mean it was falsely advertised. Expecting me to pay returns in that case is absurd.
if it's a cheap brand it's possible that their supplier made them incorrectly and they don't even know about it or they don't care enough to throw the product away
or they don't care
It's usually that.
Design ease and wearing ease are necessary for garments. That said, at least 1-1.5 " in the waistband is the average for wearing ease. Also that depends on where the waistband is designed to sit on the body. Low rise jeans have a larger waistband than high rise jeans just by nature of where the band sits. This has a lot to do with the fact ready-to-wear clothing sucks at fitting the diverse range of bodies out there.
I will continue to only deal with companies that offer free returns.
an understandable personal policy, but a lot of small businesses can't compete with these companies. my margins are thin and my products are expensive, so if I accept a return from a customer i am losing money. the cost of producing the item that got returned is not recuperated it's just gone.
To be clear, what’s under discussion is free shipping on returns. And fine, whatever. It will be annoying, but if the price of returning in the same packaging is known at purchase time, I’ll survive and adjust my shopping with that vendor as necessary.
The thing I'm most likely to stop buying online without free returns would be clothing. Online clothing retailers should 100% know that a purchase is never final until the person gets it and tries it on. It's too common to have to send items back for fit - I'd just start going to the store and trying it on there again instead of paying for each return.
I do buy some items without free returns but I will NEVER buy things like clothes or shoes without free returns or an option to take them to a physical store for free.
There is a reason that brick and mortar stores have changing rooms.
Likewise, there is a reason that, back in the day, mail-order clothing companies like L.L. Bean had ridiculously good return policies. They wouldn't have gotten any business without them.
Exactly. It would be more acceptable to have paid returns if 1)clothing photos and descriptions were more accurate and 2) if sizing was consistent within and across brands.
But I should not get punished because your company wants to make your size 6 in the measurements of a typical 10 so that you can inflate egos and sell more stuff.
I feel your initial points, but even so... Half an inch on seams can be the difference between comfort or "I need to only eat salads for breakfast" which ain't no way to live
Not in the EU it's not. It's law here.
Returns are really bad you guys. Independent research from this federation shows it's like.... 800 billions. That's a scary number, right?
Scooby Doo mask reveal.
Guess I just won't buy online then. Not worth the risk
63% of consumers said they order multiple sizes or versions of the same item, with the intention of returning what they don’t want, according to Narvar.
Holy fucking shit. The degree of waste is astonishing. I can't believe this number is so high. Fuck everyone who does this.
But that's what happens when you make your clothes to sizes that have no relation to the bodies that go in them. Especially for women. What the fuck is a 12?
When I go to a shop, I try on maybe ten pairs of shoes that are all my size before I find a pair that fit my feet and I can actually walk in.
There's no waste there, it's like one extra journey to your house when you buy something, no matter how many things you're sending back. The real waste is when the shop just throw it away because it's cheap shit not worth processing back into stock.
If it's such a hassle, maybe don't sell clothes online. Put it back in the high street where it belongs.
I'm a guy and bought various kinds of 32x32 jeans from Old Navy. None of them fit the same. Some were too tight, some needed a belt, some fit perfectly. If a company can't even have consistency there is no hope for it in an entire industry.
That sounds like more effort than just going to the fucking store.
Or better yet a thrift store. There is for a massive surplus of clothes and even Goodwill's have brand new brand name clothes for a few bucks, all over the place.
Maybe where you live. Every thrift store within a 20 mile radius of me rarely has anything in my size. And even more rare anything brand new brand name at all. Haha maybe cheaper, but our thrift stores haven't been as cheap as they used to be before Macklemore.
Usually I go to a store to try on sizes then order the size I need.
Okay. We need to get clarity here -- if a product is being returned because it just wasn't compatible with the purpose I had in mind? Like pants that don't fit? By all means, charge me for return.
But if the product is defective? No, you pay for that. You sent me garbage, you owe me 100% money back.
We don't have this issue in Cyprus. Here there is no such thing as a return. Once you've given them your money they aren't giving it back. Even if the item is faulty, they'll just send it for repair or blame you.
But you are definitely not getting your money back.
The end of everything for one dollar shops at the border haha
ITT too cool Europeans not reading the article, not realizing they have it worse than Americans lol.
Most returns go right to the dump. We try to refurbish ours but even that is a huge cost that isn't always advantageous to businesses. Adding a cost to it will reduce waste and unnecessary purchases which is good for everyone and the environment.
Free returns is great insulation against broken products.
In my experience having to pay 15% of the purchase price just to return something that arrived broken definitely prevented any unnecessary purchases from that company in the future.
That's why the warranty exists. If something arrives broken then the company hasn't actually fulfilled their obligation of sending you the product you ordered in the first place, but that doesn't mean a refund, but a replacement product. It also circumvents any "we'll give a refund but not for the shipping cost" or "we send the replacement but you have to cover the shipping" bullshit - they didn't send what you ordered, it's their responsibility to fix it until you have it working on your hands.
They used to, but not anymore. Amazon Warehouse exists as a seller for a reason.