Peak season returns are coming! "Refund without return" will cause sellers to lose $4.4 billion

It is learned that according to AlixPartners research, the huge growth in e-commerce sales during the epidemic has led to a significant increase in the number of refunds. During this year's peak season, returns generated under the "refund but no return" policy will cause online sellers to lose up to US$4.4 billion.

The "refund without return" policy includes provision for defective or non-conforming products in addition to for goods of lower value.

Amid strained global supply chains, e-commerce giants including Walmart, Target and Amazon have stepped up efforts to offer the service to eliminate the hassle of processing returns during the global supply chain crisis.

According to auction service B-Stock, holiday e-commerce returns are expected to rise to more than 10% to $114 billion over the past 12 months, and UPS estimates that returns will cost sellers a record 60 million packages during this peak season.

The value of all refunds that will not or have not been returned to retailers would be $4.4 billion across the retail industry, according to AlixPartners research.

Typically, Amazon orders only require one shipping label to get them from a fulfillment center to a consumer's doorstep, but if an item is returned, it often takes three separate shipments to get the item back to the fulfillment center.

As part of a return, items must be shipped at a store or warehouse, where employees must inspect the items to determine if they can be resold. Once the costs of shipping, storage, and inspection are factored in, it's relatively cost-effective for sellers to offer a non-return refund.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

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