Customers don't want to pay for mail returns, but more retailers are charging for them. From TJ Maxx to Kohl's, here are some of the biggest companies where sending items back will cost you.

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• Most retailers let customers return items for free. But some charge for returns by mail.
• Generally the return fee is taken off the refund and customers can return items in-store for free.
• Urban Outfitters, TJ Maxx, Kohl's, Levi's, DSW, and Anthropologie charge for some mail returns.

Customers really don't want to pay to return items

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If a company doesn't offer free returns, chances are customers will be put off.

A recent report by shipping software management companies Metapack, ShipStation, and consultancy firm Retail Economics found that only 24% of shoppers are willing to pay for returns, based on a survey of more than 8,000 people across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. The proportion is down from 27% in 2022, suggesting that inflation may be impacting how much people can afford to splash out on purchases.

The report says that shoppers' willingness to pay for online returns is falling, as retailers begin to pass on the cost. Companies including TJ Maxx, Best Buy, Kohl's, and Urban Outfitters now charge for some mail returns in the US. 

However, the survey showed that younger generations, who are not necessarily conditioned to free returns, are more accepting of these charges. 

 

TJ Maxx charges customers a $10.99 return shipping and handling fee.

TJ Maxx store logo.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Source: TJ Maxx

Abercrombie & Fitch charges customers $7 if they return items by mail, though it says exchanges are offered for free.

An Abercrombie & Fitch store in 2008.

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Source: Abercrombie & Fitch

Urban Outfitters provides shoppers with prepaid labels to return items by mail, but deducts a $5 restocking fee "for most mailed returns."

Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Source: Urban Outfitters

Customers at J. Crew pay a flat fee of $7.50 to return items by mail.

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Source: J. Crew

Levi's charges customers a $7.50 "return processing fee" for mailed returns. If you sign up to Red Tab, its free membership program, you don't have to pay.

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Source: Levi's

Kohl's customers have to pay for return shipping costs themselves. For larger items, originally delivered by freight, customers also have to pay a 15% restocking fee unless the items were damaged.

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Source: Kohl's

When customers return JCPenney items by mail, they have to pay a flat $8 fee to UPS. "This has been significantly discounted and will cover your entire return from a single order," the retailer says.

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Source: JCPenney

At Best Buy, customers may have to pay a restocking fee depending on the item and on the state, but this applies to both mail and in-store returns.

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Source: Best Buy

Anthropologie charges a $5.95 fee "for most mailed returns."

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Source: Anthropologie

Uniqlo charges a $7 shipping fee for returns.

A pedestrian walks past the Japanese clothing brand store Uniqlo store in Hong Kong.

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Source: Uniqlo

At American Eagle, some orders qualify for free returns – but others don't, and instead incur a $5 shipping charge.

Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Source: American Eagle

Neiman Marcus charges customers a $9.95 return fee for clearance items, items returned more than 15 days after they were delivered, and items marked with "Return Fees Apply." Other items can be returned by mail for free.

Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Source: Neiman Marcus

While Coach's main retail store offer free mail returns, Coach Outlet doesn't. The company says customers can either mail their own returns by paying a service like UPS, USPS, or FedEx, or they can use a pre-paid shipping label, which incurs a $7 charge.

Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

Source: Coach Outlet

Saks Fifth Avenue told Insider that customers can return items by mail for a full refund for free within 14 days of their ship date. If they return an item between 14 and 30 days of shipping, it incurs a $9.95 return charge.

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Furs, watches, and jewelry have to be returned within 30 days of shipping; other non-discounted items can be returned within a year of shipping but the customer will be credited at the current selling price, which is not necessarily a full refund.

Source: Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Off 5th charges a $9.95 return fee which it says covers shipping and insurance.

Jeff Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Source: Saks Off 5th

Shoe retailer DSW charges customers $8.50 to return items using its pre-paid return labels.

Robert Alexander/Getty Images

Members of the company's higher-tier VIP rewards programs, which require an annual spend of at least $200, get free returns.

Source: DSW

Fabletics provides prepaid shipping labels, but using these in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico incurs a $9 fee. Customers can also drop items off via Happy Returns for free in the contiguous US.

Ari Perilstein/Getty Images for Fabletics

Source: Fabletics

Zara customers who return items via a third-party drop-off point, rather than in-store, have to pay $3.95.

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Source: Zara

Many other companies don't charge fees for items returned by mail, but don't offer free returns, either.

Hobby Lobby is facing a federal lawsuit after officials say a Kansas employee was wrongfully terminated.

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Instead, customers have to pay a shipper of their choice, like UPS, USPS, or FedEx, to return them. These companies include Hobby Lobby, Bloomingdales, Barnes and Noble, Wayfair, and Bath & Body Works.

Sources: Hobby Lobby, Bloomingdales, Barnes and Noble

Why are companies charging for returns?

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Returns are more expensive and more complex to process than outbound packages, Metapack, ShipStation, and Retail Economics wrote. Handling an online return costs retailers around a fifth of the original order value, they said. 

Free returns and flexible policies are also driving serial returners to view purchases as "risk-free discoveries," the report found.

For example, a shopper may buy two different style dresses or one dress in two sizes with the intention of only keeping one – a practice known as bracketing. The retailer will only get revenue from the items the customer keeps, but will have to pay for the costs associated with return postage, cleaning the products, and delivering them to the shops or warehouses where they need to be.

Plus, pushing customers to return items in-store rather than by mail can actually boost sales, as they have to walk past displays of items when they visit.

But adding fees for online returns could risk alienating customers, the report says. A survey of more than 2,000 US consumers by Happy Returns, a company that helps retailers process their returns, found that 87% of respondents check a retailer's return policy before making a purchase online, with many looking for free returns.

Correction: December 21, 2022 — An earlier version of this story used an image of a Coach retail store which suggested that Coach charged for mail returns company-wide. It is only Coach Outlet that charges for mail returns.

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Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/6rvTyN5

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