Point of No Return: Consumer Experiences Returning Online Purchases

Author

Janet Lo, Laman Meshadiyeva

Organization

Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

Published

2011

Summary

This report examines consumers’ experiences with returns for online purchases and their right to return.

PIAC engaged a survey firm to conduct an online survey with Canadian consumers regarding online purchases and returns. One notable finding was that 89% of respondents stated that when deciding whether or not to purchase a product online, the right to return was very important or somewhat important. Popular reasons why consumers return products purchased online include: the product did not match expectations; the product contained a defect; the consumer did not like the product; the product sent was wrong. Respondents who were not successful in returning their product named three main reasons for their frustration: the cost of shipping was not worth returning the product; they could not contact the company; or the retailer had a policy of not accepting returns.

In addition, PIAC purchased and returned products from 15 North American retailers – 12 Canadian and 3 American – to test the online return process. PIAC’s experience revealed very divergent retailer policies and practices for returns. Retailers did not always follow their own return policy, though where practice diverged from policy; PIAC found that the practice was beneficial to consumers. Retailers had varying return periods and retailers used very inconsistent ways to calculate the period for returns, such as calculations beginning on the date of purchase, date of invoice, date when the order was shipped, date of delivery, or date of receipt of the order. On average, it took retailers an average of 15 days to provide the refund to PIAC after the return arrived.

PIAC concludes the report by recommending several consumer-friendly business practices that should be implemented by online businesses for online returns.

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OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database