Ecommerce Returns Statistics 2026: Rates, Costs and Fraud

The average ecommerce return rate is 19.3% of online sales, against 15.8% of all retail sales, according to the 2025 retail returns report published by the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns on October 15, 2025. Total US retail returns were projected at $849.9 billion for 2025. These are the most recent full-year industry figures available going into 2026.

For a store owner, the practical reading is simple: plan for roughly one dollar in five of online revenue to come back. The rest of this page lays out the trend since 2019, what returns cost, how much is fraud, what return fees do to loyalty, and which shoppers return the most, with the source and date for every figure.

Toolradar data: ReturnGO's entry price ranks 9th of the 12 shipping and fulfillment tools on Toolradar with a verified entry price, against a category median of $24.5 a month, as of October 2026 (ReturnGO on Toolradar). Returns software sits at the expensive end of the fulfillment stack, which is why the cost scenario below matters.

Five findings

1. Online return rates are higher than store rates. Retailers expect 19.3% of online sales to be returned, against 15.8% of total sales. In a separate NRF study from October 2024, retailers reported online return rates 21% higher than their overall rates.
2. The total return rate has held near 16% since 2021. It was 16.6% in 2021 and 16.9% in 2024, then eased slightly in 2025, after 8.1% in 2019.
3. About one return in eleven is fraud. Merchants that track it estimate 9% of returns are fraudulent, excluding bracketing and wardrobing.
4. Return fees are spreading and costing customers. 72% of merchants now charge for at least one return option, up from 66%, and 57% of shoppers say they stopped buying from a retailer that started charging, up from 40%.
5. Gen Z returns the most. Shoppers aged 18 to 30 made 7.7 returns of online purchases in the last 12 months on average, more than any other generation.

What is the average ecommerce return rate in 2026?

The benchmark is 19.3% of online sales, from merchants' own estimates for 2025 in the NRF and Happy Returns survey. NRF has not published a newer full-year figure as of October 19, 2026, so this is the number to plan against until its next report. The figure is an average across large US merchants in a mix of verticals; NRF does not break the rate down by product category.

The table shows the total retail return rate and the value of returns since 2019, as printed in the report. NRF's 2023 study used a different method, so it is left out of the series.

The jump came with the pandemic shift to online buying: the rate roughly doubled between 2019 and 2021 and has stayed in a narrow band since. Return volume is now a structural cost of selling online, not a passing spike, so it belongs in the margin model rather than in a one-off cleanup budget.

The holidays run hotter. Merchants expected 17% of holiday 2025 sales to come back, and 82% of shoppers said they return an unwanted gift within a month, so January is when the reverse-logistics bill lands.

Which shoppers return the most?

The report gives no category rates, but it does show who returns. Using its consumer survey averages for the last 12 months, we divided each generation's returns by its online purchases. The result is a count of returns per 100 online purchases, our arithmetic on NRF's figures, not a value-weighted return rate.

Gen Z buys a little less often than older shoppers but spends the most per order and sends back about one purchase in four. A store whose customers skew young should therefore budget above the online average, while a store selling mostly to boomers can plan below it.

Apparel and footwear carry the most bracketing, the one category signal in the report. Merchants say 23% of purchases in the last year included a bracketed item, meaning several sizes or colors bought with the plan to keep one, and that share rises to 26% in apparel and footwear. Clothing sellers live with more returns by design, which is why sizing tools come up again in the tactics below.

How much of returns is fraud?

Merchants that track fraud put it at 9% of all returns in 2025, excluding bracketing and wardrobing. Most of them saw increases in overstated return quantities (71%), empty-box or "box of rocks" returns (65%) and decoy returns such as counterfeit items (64%).

Shoppers' own answers explain the scale. In the consumer survey, 45% said it is acceptable to bend the rules when returning, and 66% of Gen Z said so. Self-reported behavior in the past year:

Retailers are answering with software, with mixed results. 85% of merchants use AI or machine learning in their returns process to spot fraud, but only 45% call it effective and 40% describe the results as mixed. Fraud tools help, and they still need policy and manual checks behind them.

What do return fees do to sales?

72% of merchants surveyed now charge for at least one return option, up from 66% in 2024. Among those charging, the top reasons are higher processing costs (40%), higher carrier shipping costs (40%) and economic uncertainty including tariffs (33%).

The fees work on returns and hurt on loyalty. Merchants that introduced them report fewer returns (53%) and more exchanges (52%), but also more customer complaints (47%), lost customers (37%), smaller average orders (34%) and lower sales (24%). On the shopper side, 57% say they stopped buying from a retailer after being charged for a return, and 82% call free returns an important factor when shopping online.

Return methods are moving toward less friction. Year over year, the share of merchants offering buy online, return in store rose from 33% to 43%, QR-code mail returns from 32% to 41%, and box-free, label-free carrier returns from 17% to 25%. A store weighing a fee should test a cheaper drop-off option first, since that is what shoppers say they want; our shipping software ranking covers the label tools behind QR-code returns.

What do returns cost a small online store?

Here is the arithmetic for a store with $40,000 a month in online sales at the NRF average rate. Returns would total $7,720 a month, or $92,640 a year, in merchandise coming back. If 9% of that is fraud, as merchants estimate, $694.80 a month goes out the door with no product to resell. These are our calculations on NRF's averages, not a measured result for any store.

Software is a smaller line than the losses. On Loop Returns' pricing page, read October 19, 2026, Checkout+ is free and includes US and Canada domestic return labels, Essential is $155 a month and Advanced, which adds fraud prevention and instant exchanges, is $340 a month. ReturnGO's pricing page lists plans starting at $147 and $297 a month the same day. At $40,000 in monthly sales, Loop's Essential plan equals 2% of the merchandise returned each month, so a tool that converts a few refunds into exchanges can cover itself.

Speed matters too, and it is where a 3PL for small business or an order management system earns its fee. About half of merchants take 6 to 10 days to restock a returned item, and 40% have had to delay processing returns to get outbound orders shipped. Every day an item waits is a day it cannot be sold again, which hurts most on seasonal stock.

How retailers are cutting return rates

The tactics merchants with bracketing use most are customer-experience fixes rather than penalties: more customer reviews (42%, see our Shopify review apps ranking), more sizing information (41%), highlighting low-return items (38%), model sizing and fit notes (37%), recommended-size tools (36%), return-policy reminders at checkout (36%) and exchange incentives (36%), which loyalty program software can fund with store credit. Charging for return shipping comes last, at 33%.

For a small store, the cheapest of these are free: richer size charts, fit notes on every product page and a visible exchange option. For tools that automate returns and exchanges, see our best returns management software ranking, and for the wider sales picture our ecommerce statistics. Returns are the back half of conversion work; our guide to reducing cart abandonment covers the front half, the ecommerce analytics tools ranking lists software that tracks both, and AI customer service tools can answer the where-is-my-refund tickets that returns create.

Sources and method

Every rate, value and survey share on this page comes from the 2025 retail returns report by NRF and Happy Returns, a UPS company, and its press release, both dated October 15, 2025 and read on October 19, 2026. The report combines two summer 2025 surveys: 2,006 US consumers who had returned at least one online purchase in the past 12 months, and 358 ecommerce professionals at US merchants with more than $500 million in revenue. Rates are merchant estimates, not audited sales data. Returns per 100 purchases and the store scenario are our arithmetic on those published averages. Software prices were read on each vendor's pricing page on October 19, 2026. We will update this page when NRF publishes its next returns report.

Cite this: Retailpresso, "Ecommerce Returns Statistics 2026: Rates, Costs and Fraud", November 2026.

FAQ

What is the average ecommerce return rate in 2026?

The latest benchmark is 19.3% of online sales, from the NRF and Happy Returns 2025 retail returns report published on October 15, 2025. The total retail return rate across all channels was 15.8%. NRF had not published a newer full-year figure as of October 19, 2026.

What percentage of returns are fraudulent?

Merchants that track fraud estimate that 9% of returns are fraudulent, excluding bracketing and wardrobing, per the same NRF report. The most common increases were overstated quantities, empty-box returns and decoy items.

What is the return rate for clothing?

NRF does not publish a return rate by product category. Its report does show that bracketing, buying several sizes or colors to return most of them, appears in 26% of apparel and footwear purchases, against 23% across all categories, so clothing sellers should plan above the online average.

How much merchandise do US shoppers return each year?

Retailers projected $849.9 billion in returns for 2025, down from $890 billion in 2024, according to NRF and Happy Returns.

Do return fees reduce returns?

Partly. Among merchants that introduced return fees, 53% saw fewer returns and 52% saw more exchanges, but 37% say they lost customers over the fees. On the shopper side, 57% say they stopped buying from a retailer after being charged for a return.

Which age group returns the most online purchases?

Gen Z. Shoppers aged 18 to 30 made 7.7 returns of online purchases in the last 12 months on average, the most of any generation. By our arithmetic on NRF's survey averages, that is about 25 returns per 100 online purchases, against about 15 for baby boomers.

Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.