More than four in five merchants now charge customers a fee to ship back or return an item that they don’t want, according to a report from logistics firm Happy Returns.
According to CNN, the following retailers have increased shipping costs for mail-in returns: Zara, Macy’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Crew, H&M, and others.
While American Eagle Outfitters deducts a US $ 5 cost from mail-in returns that do not qualify for free returns, Abercrombie charges customers a US $ 7 price to return merchandise.H&M requires buyers to pay a US $ 5.99 return shipping fee, while Dillard’s charges US $ 9.95 for mail-in returns. J.Crew charges US $ 7.50 for mail-in returns, whereas J.C. Penney charges US $ 8. The primary driving force behind the shift was the rising cost of the item’s original sale as well as the costs associated with handling returns.
As to the National Retail Federation, consumers returned over 17 per cent of the products they bought last year, amounting to approximately US $ 816 billion. Compared to 2019, the 17 per cent figure was more than twice as high. Retailers’ profit margins are negatively impacted by the return handling process. The retail services company Inmar Intelligence claims that shops must spend US $ 27 handling a return for an online purchase of US $ 100.
According to The Wall Street Journal, analysts calculate that, after deducting the cost of both selling the item and handling the return, businesses lose about 50 per cent of their profit margin on returns.
