{"id":11679,"date":"2021-11-23T12:08:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T08:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cs-cart.com\/blog\/?p=11679"},"modified":"2025-06-25T16:14:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T12:14:44","slug":"how-to-handle-order-returns-on-an-ecommerce-marketplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cs-cart.com\/blog\/how-to-handle-order-returns-on-an-ecommerce-marketplace\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Handle Order Returns on an eCommerce Marketplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Product returns are a pain point for sellers on marketplaces. Marketplace returns can cut the seller\u2019s profit, badly influence conversions, and increase spendings on logistics. No one likes product returns\u2014neither the seller, nor the buyer. But the fact is that product returns are a normal part of selling online, especially on large eCommerce marketplaces<\/a>. And when returns happen, how do marketplaces handle refunds? The answer depends on their policies, refund methods, and seller agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According<\/a><\/a> to the National Retail Federation, in 2020 customers returned products worth $428 billion<\/b><\/span>\u2014more than 10% of total retail sales. NRF estimates the cost of returns to be $101 billion<\/b><\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting fact about eCommerce product returns is that a lot of customers order multiple items just to return all of them or a part of them right after they receive the order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This especially applies to online marketplaces selling apparel and shoes, where customers order multiple sizes, try them on, and return those that didn\u2019t fit. Imagine: a customer orders the same T-shirt in three sizes, keeps one size and returns others, which results in a 66% return rate for this order! 70% of returns<\/a> in fashion eCommerce stores and marketplaces are fit-related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest rate is in the women’s clothing industry\u201423%, then goes footwear with 20%, men’s clothing is in third place with 14%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Actually, product returns happen across all industries, making returnables for ecommerce a key area for sellers to manage effectively. 25% of buyers<\/strong><\/span> return between 5% and 15% of the products they buy online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this article, we\u2019re figuring out the reasons for product returns, the best practices to develop a return policy and handle returns on a marketplace, and how to reduce order returns on an eCommerce marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>Why do customers return orders?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Online marketplaces and stores receive significantly more returns compared to brick and mortar shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20%<\/b> returns in eCommerce<\/span>
VS
9%<\/b> returns in offline<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most popular reason for return on fashion marketplaces is of course wrong size or style. Size too small\u201430%, size too large\u201422%. But there is a number of reasons that apply for all the industries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The customer changes her mind<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is the reason for 12% of all returns. A customer can change his mind because of many factors: the product description was not precise enough, the product didn\u2019t meet the customer\u2019s expectations, and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you can do here is convince you marketplace sellers<\/a> to make product descriptions and images as precise and possible. Or you can create product listings for your sellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to mitigate:<\/b> Some marketplace platforms offer tools to keep the marketplace catalog nice, clean, and uniform. For example, our marketplace platform CS-Cart Multi-Vendor<\/a> has the \u201cCommon products for vendors\u201d feature. It allows the marketplace admin to create a product base with uniform product pages so that the sellers could only sell these products and use these listings.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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