Returns handled properly, not just received
A return is not finished when the parcel arrives. It is finished when the item is inspected, graded, restocked or written off, and you know which.
A return is not finished when the parcel arrives. It is finished when the item has been inspected, graded, and either put back into sellable stock or written off, and you know which of those happened.
Returns handled badly are twice as expensive as they look: you pay to process them and you lose the stock value anyway.
How a return is processed
Returns turnaround we commit to
Received
The return is booked in against the original order where possible.
Inspected
Condition is assessed against your standard, not a generic one.
Graded
Sellable, needs repacking, or write-off.
Actioned
Sellable stock goes back into inventory; the rest is set aside and reported rather than quietly absorbed.
What a return actually costs you
The per-item processing fee is the part providers quote and the smallest part of your total. Three other costs sit behind it and only one of them appears on an invoice.
- Processing, at published Australian ranges of roughly A$3.00 to A$8.00 per item
- Return postage, if your policy covers it, which is usually the largest of the four
- The replacement dispatch on an exchange, charged as a new order
- The unit that comes back unsellable, which costs you the whole margin rather than a fee
Exchanges should not wait for the return
If a replacement only goes out once the original has come back and been inspected, your customer waits two transit legs plus processing time. For a size exchange, that is a customer who already wants to buy being made to wait for your warehouse admin.
Picking the replacement from live stock straight away removes the delay entirely. The returned unit is then processed on its own timetable rather than holding up a sale. It is a small operational choice with a disproportionate effect on whether the customer orders again.
The January wave
Returns are not spread evenly across the year. Everything sold in the Black Friday and Christmas run comes back, if it is coming back, in the first three weeks of January.
A brand processing fifty returns a month through the year can see three or four times that in a fortnight. It is entirely predictable and almost never planned for, which is why the returns forecast belongs in the same conversation as the peak stock order rather than in January.
Why the grading standard matters
The line between sellable and not sellable is a commercial decision, not a warehouse one. On apparel and accessories in particular, that line moves depending on your brand.
You set the standard. We apply it consistently and tell you what we found.
Common questions
- How quickly is a returned item back in sellable stock?
- Returns are inspected, graded and actioned within three business days of receipt, and you are told per item what happened to it. A return sitting unprocessed is stock you own and cannot sell, so the turnaround matters more than it looks.
- Can you send a replacement before the return arrives?
- Yes, and for size exchanges it is usually the right call. The replacement is picked from live stock immediately and the returned unit is processed on its own timetable, so your customer is not waiting two transit legs plus inspection time for something they have already decided to buy.
- What happens to items that come back unsellable?
- They are graded, set aside and reported to you rather than quietly returned to shelf. Whether they are held, sent back to you or disposed of is your decision, agreed before it happens rather than after. An unsellable garment put back into stock produces a second return and a worse review.
- How are returns charged?
- Per returned item, because the work is per item. The calculator shows the typical Australian range.
- Do I find out what condition items came back in?
- Yes. Returns that cannot go back into stock are reported, not absorbed silently.
Further reading
What Fashion Returns Cost to Process
In apparel, returns can cost more than the picking and packing they undo. What a returned garment actually costs, where the money goes, and what to measure.
5 min read
Free returns are disappearing in Australia
In 2018 roughly half of Australian retailers offered free returns. By 2025, closer to one in seven. What changed, and how to set a policy you can afford.
4 min read
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