You order the jeans in two sizes, "just to be safe," plus a jacket you're not sure about. Delivery is free over €50, so you add a T-shirt to reach it. Returns are free too, so what's the risk? A week later, half of it is still in the bag by the door, waiting to go back. "Free" returns feel like a safety net. But who really pays for them?
Why "free" makes us buy more
Free delivery and free returns take away the two things that used to slow us down: the cost of getting it, and the fear of being stuck with it. That's exactly why shops offer them.
A long-term study with two large online retailers followed customers for four years. When customers got a free return, they went on to buy more from that shop over the next two years. When they had to pay for the return, their later spending dropped sharply, in some cases to almost nothing. A review that combined 21 studies reached a similar conclusion: the easier and cheaper a return policy is, the more people buy, and the effect on purchases is bigger than the effect on returns.
For shops, then, free returns are not a gift. They're a way to get you to say yes more easily.
Order three, keep one
Many people now order several sizes or colours of the same item, try them at home and send the rest back. It's sometimes called "bracketing." In fashion, surveys suggest that roughly 1 in 3 items bought online gets returned, often because it doesn't fit.
The free-delivery threshold works on us too. "Add €8 more for free delivery" is designed to make you buy something you hadn't planned on, to avoid a delivery fee that's usually smaller than the extra item.
The quiet way regret becomes clutter
Returns rely on a plan: "If I don't like it, I'll send it back." In real life, many returns never happen. Once something is in your home, it starts to feel like yours, and sending it back means printing labels, finding a box and queueing at a locker. The return window closes, and the item joins the wardrobe of things you never wear.
Some people also use returns as an emotional reset: buying lifts the mood, returning cancels the guilt, and the loop starts again. If that sounds familiar, our guide Buy now, feel later looks at shopping as a way to manage feelings.
The costs nobody sees
Every return is another trip by van, often across borders, plus repackaging, checking and storing. Not every returned item can be sold again as new, especially cheap clothing. For years, a share of returned and unsold goods was simply destroyed, because that was cheaper than handling them.
The EU has started to act. Since 19 July 2026, large companies in the EU are no longer allowed to destroy unsold clothing, accessories and shoes, with only narrow exceptions. Medium-sized companies follow from 2030. From 2027, companies also have to report what they throw away. It's a sign of how big the problem had become.
Key numbers
- 4 years of data from two online shops: free returns led customers to buy more later, paid returns led them to buy much less. Bower & Maxham, 2012
- 19 July 2026: large companies in the EU may no longer destroy unsold clothes and shoes. European Commission, 2026
The bottom line
Free returns and free delivery are useful when you genuinely can't try something on. But they're also designed to lower the bar for buying, and the costs don't disappear: they show up in clutter, in missed return windows, in vans on the road and in the price of everything else. A few habits help:
Buy as if returns didn't exist. Before you pay, ask: "Would I still buy this if I couldn't send it back?"
Know your size. Measure once and check each shop's size chart, so you can order one size instead of three.
Ignore the threshold. Paying a small delivery fee is usually cheaper than an extra item you don't need.
Set a return date. If you do order to try, put a reminder in your calendar two days before the deadline, and return everything that isn't a clear yes.
Quick self-check
- Do you often order several sizes or colours, planning to return most of them?
- Do you add items just to reach free delivery?
- Do you have things at home that you meant to return but never did?
- Does "free returns" make you more likely to buy something you're unsure about?
- Do you sometimes buy to feel better, then return things to feel less guilty?
- Do parcels and returns take up a noticeable part of your week?
This is not a diagnosis. It's a way to notice your own patterns.
If shopping and returning have become a cycle you can't control, or spending is causing debt or secrecy, a psychologist can help, and a debt advice service can help you get the numbers back under control.
References
- Bower, A. B., & Maxham, J. G. (2012). Return shipping policies of online retailers: Normative assumptions and the long-term consequences of fee and free returns. Journal of Marketing, 76(5), 110–124. doi:10.1509/jm.10.0419
- European Commission (2026, February 9). New EU rules to stop the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes. environment.ec.europa.eu
- Janakiraman, N., Syrdal, H. A., & Freling, R. (2016). The effect of return policy leniency on consumer purchase and return decisions: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Retailing, 92(2), 226–235. doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2015.11.002
- Just Style (2024). UK online fashion returns hit 30% with "poor fit" as top reason (survey of 1,002 UK shoppers). just-style.com
About these sources
These 4 sources were published between 2012 and 2026. Reliability: 3 high, 1 medium. High means a review of many studies, a large experiment or long-term study, or official data checked in the original. Medium means useful evidence with real limits, such as a small sample, a single point in time, or no peer review. How we choose and check sources.
Educational guidance, not diagnosis or medical care.