Why returns are unavoidable in e-commerce

Between 20% and 40% of online orders come back to the sender, either as voluntary returns or delivery refusals. The exact percentage depends on the product category, the market, and the business model, but the number is stable enough to say with confidence: if you run an online store, you will get returns. The question is not whether, but how you handle them.

The problem is not the existence of returns, it is their cumulative impact. Each badly handled return means blocked stock, tied-up cash, confused reporting, and, at the end of the chain, a customer who hesitates to order again. Reversing that spiral starts with a clean process.

What proper returns handling looks like

A proper returns process is not a checklist. It is a logical sequence where every step prepares the next one and every piece of information is recorded so it can be audited later.

  • Receiving the returned parcel, with an immediate product condition check
  • The call on whether it goes back into stock, needs reprocessing, or is written off
  • Automatic stock and order status updates in the dashboard
  • Customer notification and, where applicable, issuing the refund
  • Logging the event in the financial and logistics report for later analysis

Without a clear flow, returns turn into hidden losses. Products stuck in receiving areas, unhappy customers waiting on answers, stock figures that no longer match reality. All of this erodes trust and raises operational costs.

How to prevent unnecessary returns

The best returns are the ones that never happen. That does not mean refusing returns, it means reducing the reasons customers ask for them in the first place. A few things that move the needle:

  • Accurate, complete product descriptions, with no marketing exaggeration
  • Quality photos that show the product exactly as it is
  • Clear size charts specific to each category, not generic ones
  • Protective packaging that reduces the risk of in-transit damage
  • Phone confirmation for high-value cash-on-delivery orders, which cuts refusals

Each item on the list reduces the return rate by a small percentage, but the cumulative effect is significant. A store that invests in these details sees a clear drop in return volume within a few months.

The specific challenge of cash on delivery

In markets where cash on delivery is popular, such as Romania and much of Central and Eastern Europe, COD adds extra complexity. Couriers collect the money, centralise it, and transfer it to the merchant after a certain period. Several days can pass between the moment an order is placed and the moment the money actually reaches the store’s account.

Without a system that centralises this information, confusion sets in fast. Which order was paid, which was refused, which amounts are in transit. A merchant without visibility ends up having to answer questions they should never even have to ask: "did customer X actually pay?" The answer should be obvious, not a subject for investigation.

How a fulfilment partner helps

A serious fulfilment partner takes all this mess and turns it into a dashboard. The money collected from each courier is centralised, reconciled against the orders in the site, and reported daily to the merchant. There is no more "cash in transit you cannot see". Everything is visible, verifiable, and exportable for accounting.

For returns, the effect is similar. Every returned parcel goes through a standardised flow. Product condition, operator decision, reintegration into stock, customer notification. It is all documented in the system. The merchant sees a single dashboard and makes decisions based on data, not on emails and phone calls from couriers.

Metrics worth tracking

Once you have a clean process, you can measure it. A few indicators that say the most about operational health:

  • Return rate per product category, not just the overall number
  • Average time from return receipt to stock reintegration
  • Percentage of products reintegrated versus written off
  • Average time for cash-on-delivery money to reach the merchant
  • Correlation between return rate and customers who come back for a second purchase

These are not academic metrics. They are the tools you use to turn returns from a vague problem into a set of numbers you can actually optimise.

Takeaway

Returns and cash on delivery do not have to be chaos. With documented processes, technology that automates the repetitive steps, and a partner who runs the execution, they simply become another part of the business. A controlled, measurable, and over time even optimisable part. The difference between a store that constantly complains about returns and one that handles them quietly almost always comes down to the system behind it, not the product category.