Over half of the biggest online fashion retailers do not offer free postal returns, Which? has revealed.
The consumer choice firm looked at the returns policies of the 20 biggest online fashion retailers, including Asos, Boohoo and Amazon and found that 12 do not offer free postal returns.
The returns fees range from £1.99 to £3.99, with some fashion retailers having specific fees and processes for returning items, while others state it’s up to you to arrange and pay for postage.
Which? found that Zara, River Island and New Look outline their fees on product listing pages, but other retailers don’t explicitly state that you have to pay for returns anywhere during the checkout process.
Apart from Sports Direct, which only accepts online returns by post, all the retailers in the group’s research that have shops offer free in-store returns.
However, such policies could discriminate against disabled consumers who might not easily be able to get to these shops.
Some retailers, including JD Sports, New Look, Next and Zara told Which? they would offer free collections or returns labels for disabled customers who cannot make in-store returns.
Matalan said it will find a solution on a case-by-case basis for customers who can’t return items in-store.
Fashion retailers across the spectrum have been stepping up efforts to reduce returns.
Back in May, online retailer Oh Polly introduced a new returns policy in a bid to clamp down on “repeat refunders”.
The brand informed customers that the new policy will calculate the cost of returns based on their return rates, with some being charged as much as £8.99 to send back the entire order.
In June, fast fashion giant PrettyLittleThing deactivated some customers’ accounts due to their ‘unusual high returns activity’.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
