What really happens when you return?

Whether you’re buying a gift for your child or buying a dress for a work holiday party, you’ve probably purchased items only to return them shortly after you get them.

While many assume your purchases are then restocked, some returned items end up in landfills or are resold at discount stores. This is because returns are expensive and time-consuming for retailers, whose workers must reopen the package, inspect it and then decide what to do with it. The fate of the returned product also depends on the condition of the product.

People are returning more items now than in the past

Simon Pinkover, assistant professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, estimates that returns cost retailers on average about 60% of the cost of the item.

“About 90.6 billion pounds of waste is generated through product returns. So, unfortunately, a lot of it ends up in a landfill, but it can also be regenerated or recycled,” Benkofer said. “or [if] We look at secondary markets, [retailers] “You liquidate it, then you sell it to someone who takes the returned product and resells it on a secondary market.”

The estimated online return rate for all retailers is 15.8% in 2025, at a cost of about $849.9 billion, according to a study by the National Retail Federation — a trade group representing retailers — and Happy Returns, a UPS company. This is nearly double the 2019 rate of 8.1%.

Unsurprisingly, the expected return rate for online sales is even higher: nearly one in five online purchases in 2025 is expected to be returned.

Why are there more returns?

One reason returns are higher is that companies have been offering more generous return policies since the COVID-19 pandemic.

With many people stuck at home during lockdowns, online retailers have offered more flexible policies — such as free returns with extended return periods — to stay competitive. More than a third (37%) of merchants surveyed by NRF reported losing customers due to charging restocking fees, and 45% reported that this practice led to an increase in customer complaints.

The time of year also affects return policies, Pinkover said. With the holiday season coming, retailers typically offer more lenient policies, but they may not last for long.

“You’ll see a lot of retailers now offering a 60-day service [return periods] “Because people actually bought Christmas presents in October,” Pinkover said. [retailers] We are [going to] Provide more lenient return policies now during the holiday season, but mid to end of January [policies] “It will become more restrictive.”