Don’t Waste Your Money: Online Return Fees

John Matarese, WCCB Staff,

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Are you a serial returner, someone who does a lot of online shopping, then makes a lot of returns?

Those days may be over.

A growing number of retailers have quietly started charging money for returns, as a result of the high price of shipping.

For years, online shoppers have become used to the words “free shipping” and “free returns.”

But as shipping costs soar, many stores this year are dropping that second offer, and and now charging a fee to return merchandise.

According to Go Banking Rates, you’ll now find return fees at:

  • Abercrombie: $7
  • Dillard’s: $9
  • DSW shoes: $8
  • JC Penney: $8
  • J Crew: $ 7

H&M is testing return fees, the report says.

One way to avoid them: Bring your returns to a local store where you won’t have to pay any fee.

Stores love that, because you usually buy something else while you are in the store.

But from the doesn’t that stink file: how much returns are costing retailers .and the rest of us.

Business Insider says a return can cost a $20, as much as the cost of the returned item.

Returns are costing stores hundreds of millions of dollars a year, costs that are often passed along to shoppers through higher prices.

So if you are someone who orders things in multiple sizes, planning to return several of them, check for return fees, so you don’t waste your money.