Primary Audience: West Midlands DTC founder
Summary: Paid returns are becoming normal in UK ecommerce; if you don’t design reverse logistics properly, it silently eats margin and damages service.
Suggested Posting Day: Monday
If you’re still promising "free returns" forever, you’re not being customer-first.
You’re just hiding a cost you haven’t measured.
I’m seeing more UK retailers move to paid returns, and I don’t think it’s a scandal.
I think it’s the market finally admitting what warehouse teams have known for years.
A return isn’t "reverse delivery".
It’s a whole second fulfilment journey.
You’ve got the inbound scan.
The inspection.
The re-bag / re-box.
The restock decision.
The refund timing.
And the stock that comes back unsellable.
Here’s the bit founders miss: if you don’t design that journey on purpose, your margin gets eaten quietly.
Usually right when you’re trying to scale.
Mini-example.
A West Midlands brand I’ve worked with was proud of next-day dispatch, but returns were handled ad hoc.
Refunds took 10+ days because stock sat in a corner waiting to be checked.
Customer service got hammered, and "free returns" turned into the most expensive marketing line on the site.
The data’s moving the same way.
Ingrid’s 2026 benchmark shows 35% of the UK’s top 100 fashion retailers now charge for returns (up from 23% in 2023).
That’s not greed. That’s maths.
Practical takeaway: before you argue about whether returns should be free, map your returns cost per order.
Then decide what you’re subsidising: loyalty, conversion, or chaos.
How are you handling returns right now — and do you actually know what each one costs you?
Source Notes:
- Ingrid benchmark (Return Economics 2026): UK top 100 fashion retailers charging for returns 23% (2023) → 35% (2026): https://www.ingrid.com/blog/paid-e-commerce-returns-strategy