Online purchases are more popular than ever and return fees are headed up.
David Morin, Vice President of NARVAR says that some online retailers are increasing the return fees that they charge to customers for two reasons - to attempt to modify customer behavior and to attempt to recoup at least some of the costs of handling returns.
Morin says that most return fees run from $4.99 to $9.99 per item, but actual costs of handling those returns can be dramatically more expensive than this.
One way that retailers are developing strategies around these return fees is to waive them for members of their loyalty programs. So customers may be able to avoid some return fees if they choose to be members of certain loyalty programs.