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Business Insider
20-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Return fraud is running rampant
Bill Stewart, the owner of LI Toy and Game on Long Island, New York, estimates that he gets "screwed over" by return shenanigans twice a month. Customers falsely claim an item he shipped wasn't as described or doesn't work, or they send back something in much worse condition than how he released it. Recently, a customer returned a Scooby Doo Mystery Machine model kit after two weeks with the box open, the toy half assembled, and pieces missing. Given the condition, there was no way for him to resell it. "Went right into the trash," Stewart says. "The kid played with it, was probably too young for it." Adding up the price of the item itself, two-way shipping costs, and merchant fees charged by the third-party platform he used to sell the item — Walmart Marketplace, in this case — Stewart estimates the exchange resulted in a net loss of $55. For the big guys, he recognizes that's nothing, but for a small business like his, it's a hit, and one for which he has no recourse. "With Walmart, the customer's always right," he says. The ability to return an item you've purchased has become a core part of the shopping experience. Customers may buy a few more items than they would otherwise because it's a no-harm, no-foul situation on returns. Backsies are allowed. But retailers say consumers are engaging in too many backsies. Some are committing outright return fraud — shipping back empty boxes, swapping out different items, or claiming a package never arrived. Others are abusing generous return policies by attempting to send back items after days, weeks, and even months of use. And while it's tempting to blame organized criminals, retailers and return logistics operators say a lot of everyday consumers are the culprits, too. People are strapped for cash, they've been trained to expect super loose return policies, and they don't feel bad about pulling one over on a faceless company. "Consumers who would never go into a physical store and take an item off without paying and stealing are actually being trained socially that it's actually acceptable to take advantage of retailers in these small ways," says David Morin, the vice president of client strategy at Narvar, a retail logistics company. "They think it's OK, right? Stick it to the man." America is becoming a nation of small-time return fraudsters, one box of fibs at a time. A recent report from Appriss Retail and Deloitte found that the total value of merchandise returned in the US reached $685 billion in 2024. Fifteen percent of that — $103 billion — was fraudulent, the report said, meaning the product shouldn't have qualified for a refund under the retailer's policies. America is becoming a nation of small-time return fraudsters, one box of fibs at a time. Morin says it's hard to suss out who, specifically, is responsible for fraudulent behavior — organized criminals versus everyday consumers — but it's clear that a wider range of people are partaking than you may expect. In 2024, Narvar ran a survey of US consumers that found that more than half of consumers admitted to engaging in fraudulent returns at least once. In a separate 2023 survey of US online shoppers from Loop Returns, a returns management software company, nearly four in 10 people admitted to having engaged in returns policy abuse themselves or knowing of someone who had. "There seems to be this mentality that consumers feel entitled to do it," says Jessica Meher, the senior vice president of marketing at Loop. The spectrum of returns mischief is quite broad, and your mileage may vary on what's acceptable versus what's abuse. On the more benign end is " bracketing," when consumers buy the same item in different sizes or colors and send back whatever doesn't work. It's a logistical headache and bad for the environment, but it's generally above board. Inching into the fraud territory is the practice known as " wardrobing," which Thomas Borders, the vice president of operations for Inmar Supply Chain, a reverse logistics company recently acquired by DHL, says is when consumers treat return windows as "free rentals." The practice will sound familiar to a lot of shoppers: You buy a dress or a pair of shoes for a special occasion, you wear it to said special occasion, and then you return it and get your money back. "In an effort to avoid customer dissatisfaction, retailers will process the consumers' refund before items are properly assessed and any damage identified," Borders says. "This results in premature refunds, leaving retailers with very little recourse." E-commerce makes this sort of return abuse even easier to engage in than brick-and-mortar shopping — warehouse employees often don't closely scrutinize every single item to make sure it's in tip-top condition like employees at a retail counter might. In a digital world, the retailer will probably see the wine stains on the dress you wore to that wedding only when it's too late, if they ever notice at all. There seems to be this mentality that consumers feel entitled to do it. On the more nefarious side of the equation, consumers lie and say a package never arrived or was stolen, or they stick a different product back in the box. Morin says Narvar had a client during the pandemic who started to see a trend of consumers returning three empty CD cases to them. Someone online figured out the cases weighed the same as some of their core items, so when the return box initially got weighed in by the carrier, no red flags went up that it was the wrong item inside. Once the box was actually opened, the refund had already gone out. Another trick is when consumers tamper with return labels in order to send empty packages to the wrong destination, so they can just claim it got lost if the retailer tries to check. They keep the product, and they get an automatic refund when the package gets put in the mail. Hilary Koziol, who runs the Cellar Sellers, an online consignment business, has dealt with her fair share of dishonest customers. She recently sold a sealed box of trading cards to someone on eBay for hundreds of dollars, and the buyer claimed Koziol actually sent a box with a pair of jeans inside, returned those, and demanded a refund for the trading cards. She wound up opening a case with the US Postal Service over it. On another occasion, a customer bought a $50 dress from her on Depop and, in return, sent back an old, makeup-stained version of the same style. "You find that happens a lot with clothing," she says. When she encounters these problems, she disputes them with the Postal Service and the platforms she's selling on, and it's "kind of a crapshoot" whether she wins or loses, though as she sells more stuff and accumulates more reviews, the platforms tend to side with her more. "Especially if it's a larger-value item," she says, "it's impacting my business a ton." A lot of people get ideas online and on social media for different return tricks they can pull. It took me about five minutes of searching on TikTok to come across videos with tips and advice for getting free refunds from Amazon. There's tons of content about Target's Cat & Jack kids line's generous one-year return policy that leads many parents to try their hand at returning well-worn clothes. On Reddit, there's a forum where people compare notes on Costco returns, including users asking about the chances the company might accept a furniture return five years after it was purchased or exchange a Christmas wreath after the leaves start to brown. There are also hot debates about which REI returns may count as abuse. "It's almost like coupon sites where consumers have been trained to look for coupons and discounts," Meher says. "That's starting to happen with what companies offer loose return policies." I don't think my social circle is the most crime-prone group in the world, but the more I chat with people in my life about return fraud and abuse, especially in online shopping, the more I realize how prevalent it is. A coworker told me about a friend of theirs who'd returned a box of rocks to a retailer instead of a television. A friend told me they'd never steal — only to acknowledge they'd once returned a big-ticket item they broke to Amazon and claimed it arrived broken, while their partner regularly sends back items they've worn. Another friend said that whenever they send back used items to replace new ones and get the refund, they make sure the seller is a big corporation, not a small mom-and-pop shop. I tried to do the bracketing thing with two sets of curtains last summer but failed. I was too lazy to return the set I didn't want within the return window, so it's accumulating dust under my bed. To many people, low-level return fraud feels like a victimless crime — they're not exactly losing sleep over a giant corporation losing a few dollars here and there. People assume retailers don't really care that much, since they'll often send a refund before getting the item back, if they bother to recollect an item at all. Companies have also given people such a long leash on accepting returns that consumers may not blink at hauling grass shears smeared with clippings back to the Target counter after six months of use. Megan Wyatt, the owner of Wit & Whimsy Toys, a brick-and-mortar retailer in California, says the lax return policies the big guys offer customers have been a headache for her. "They'll just take pretty much any return, it feels like, these days. And so customers feel like they can do that at small businesses as well," she says. Her store has to essentially "train customers that you can't expect to return things at a small business the way that you would at Target, Walmart, Amazon, places like that." Retailers big and small aren't having a good time with return fraud and are cracking down. Many are axing free returns, tightening return windows, or otherwise implementing stricter returns policies. Companies such as REI and ASOS have started to ban certain customers over return abuse. Some retailers are using aggregated data to try to identify bad actors, whether they're a previous customer or not. If a consumer is continually taking advantage of return policies at X retailer, Y retailer may know even before they click to buy. Meher, from Loop, says personalized return policies are starting to become more common, too. "So, being able to incentivize good customers and giving them good return policies and disincentivize bad consumers and people who return a lot and giving them different return windows or different return policies," she says. "That is also starting to become more important as retailers look into, 'How do I make sure that I don't piss off my good customers?'" Across the consumer economy, there's a pervasive us-versus-them sentiment between companies and their customers. Many consumers feel like businesses — especially the big ones — are swindling them and squeezing them for every penny, so when they have a chance to strike back, why not? Maybe that means putting a brick in a return box and hoping nobody notices it's not an iPad. Or maybe it's just seeing that package you'd already declared stolen arrived three days late and not trying too hard to give back that refund that already came through.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Narvar's Anisa Kumar on Tariffs, Trade and the Post-purchase Consumer Experience
Anisa Kumar, chief executive officer of Narvar, the post-purchase intelligence platform provider, is looking at the full picture, tackling every step in the consumer journey as retailers strategize on how to maintain customer loyalty. With consumer stress already high and tariffs expected to raise prices on already stretched-thin budgets, retailers are under pressure to consider every part of their operations. Timely, clear post-purchase communication is key to maintaining consumer loyalty and ultimately beating the competition. It's important, said Kumar, to build trust and increase conversion all at once. More from WWD How Leaders Tackle Tariffs, Supply Chain Costs and Geopolitical Uncertainty Why Michelle Peluso Believes in Revlon's Comeback Why Saudi Arabia and Qatar Are Primed for New Design Events as Contract Business Drives Demand Here, Kumar shares her insights on optimizing operations, post-purchase communication and how retailers should be investing to protect their margins without sacrificing customer loyalty. WWD: How are tariffs affecting retail right now, beyond just product pricing? Anisa Kumar: Tariffs are doing far more than raising prices — they're exposing pressure points across the entire retail operating model. Inventory isn't moving as planned, sourcing strategies are shifting, and fulfillment windows are harder to control. Supply chains are still in flux, and in that uncertainty, P&Ls are being scrutinized for every possible opportunity to protect margin. In recent conversations I've had with retail leaders, there's been a clear shift: more operators are treating post-purchase as a strategic lever. When returns are rerouted efficiently or converted into exchanges, they help reduce the need for additional buys and free up working capital at a time when inventory dollars need to stretch further. Post-purchase can no longer be an operational afterthought. It's a critical lever for margin protection. In a market where predictability is limited, it's one of the most dependable ways to regain control over cost and inventory flow. WWD: Narvar works with many leading retailers — what operational adjustments are you seeing retailers make in response to tariffs and trade volatility? A.K.: With tariffs taking a bigger bite out of P&Ls, retailers are under pressure to optimize every part of their operations. Every dollar counts. That's making precision — not just speed — the new north star across retail supply chains. From how quickly you ship, to how you handle returns, to how effectively you shut down fraud, every decision now has to be data-informed and margin-conscious. It's no longer about rushing every package out the door — it's about making smart trade-offs that protect profit while meeting customer expectations. That's where we come in. Our platform uses machine learning to power personalized, location-aware delivery estimates that align fulfillment speed with actual needs. This not only builds trust with shoppers but also helps retailers trim transportation costs and reduce the risk of unnecessary returns. In a time when even a few percentage points can make or break a quarter, that kind of precision is a true competitive advantage. At Narvar, we're helping retailers move away from over-promise and overspend toward accurate, confidence-building delivery windows. That shift from blanket urgency to strategic optimization is one of the most meaningful operational unlocks I'm seeing right now. WWD: How are shifting sourcing and customs delays impacting fulfillment strategies? What should retailers be doing now to prepare? A.K.: Sourcing and customs delays are extending lead times and making fulfillment timelines harder to predict, especially for cross-border inventory. In response, more brands are investing in real-time visibility and regionalizing fulfillment to stay closer to demand. But beyond rerouting goods, what matters most is optimizing estimated delivery dates — not every item needs to be shipped at the same time to every customer. By surfacing accurate, personalized delivery windows early and often, brands can protect the P&L, build trust and increase conversion all at once. Consumers don't expect perfection, but they do expect transparency. And right now, the retailers best positioned to protect loyalty are the ones treating delivery communication as a core part of their fulfillment strategy. WWD: What role does post-purchase communication play in retaining customer trust during this kind of economic uncertainty? A.K.: In today's environment, clear and timely post-purchase communication is non-negotiable. With so much variability in fulfillment and delivery, keeping consumers informed is one of the most powerful ways to build trust and loyalty. We're seeing that proactive updates throughout the journey reduce support calls, but more importantly, they reinforce confidence. When consumers know what to expect, they stay engaged. And when conditions change, that transparency helps maintain the relationship. It's not just a service touch point; it's a brand promise delivered in real-time. And in a climate of constant change, it's one of the most effective tools retailers have to protect loyalty and performance. WWD: Where should retailers be investing right now to protect their margins without sacrificing customer loyalty? A.K.: Post-purchase has become one of the most overlooked drivers of margin pressure and one of the most immediate opportunities for impact. As consumers grow more price-sensitive, brands will see a rise in both return volume and fraudulent activity. Return rates continue to climb, with our data showing that 39 percent of consumers now return items monthly. And more concerning, 52 percent of consumers have admitted to engaging in return fraud at least once, ranging from wardrobing to false claims about delivery. These behaviors can quietly erode profitability if not addressed with the right mix of policy and precision. This is a moment for retailers to take a more nuanced approach: identifying patterns, rewarding high-trust consumers and designing workflows that protect revenue without compromising the customer experience. 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