Returns
What is a good ecommerce return rate?
A healthy ecommerce return rate is 8-10% overall, 5% or lower for beauty and electronics, and 20-30% for apparel and footwear. Fashion brands above 30% should treat returns as a growth lever, not just a cost.
By Saara Editorial Team · Updated
Direct answer
Across all ecommerce categories, the average online return rate is 8-10%. The benchmark varies sharply by vertical: beauty and electronics sit at 4-6%, home goods at 8-12%, and apparel and footwear at 20-30%. Anything above 30% is a red flag that sizing, product photography, or policy abuse needs intervention.
Benchmarks by category
Based on Saara's aggregated 2025-2026 returns data across 1,000+ D2C brands on Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce:
- Beauty & cosmetics: 4-6%
- Electronics & gadgets: 5-8%
- Home & lifestyle: 8-12%
- Footwear: 18-25%
- Apparel & fashion: 20-30%
- Luxury & premium apparel: 30-40%
How to lower your return rate
The fastest levers are exchange-first return policies (convert 20-30% of refund requests into swaps), AI-powered size recommendations, blocking serial returners, and surfacing return-reason analytics so product teams can fix the SKUs driving most returns. EcoReturns customers typically cut net return rate by 20-30% within 90 days.
Frequently asked questions
What is considered a high return rate for ecommerce?
Anything above 30% net return rate is high for most categories. Apparel often runs 20-30% which is normal, but above 30% indicates a problem with sizing, fit, or fraud.
What is the average return rate on Shopify?
Across Shopify stores tracked by Saara, the average return rate is around 10-12% blended, with fashion stores skewing 20-25%.
How do you calculate ecommerce return rate?
Divide the number of items returned in a period by the number of items sold in the same period, then multiply by 100. Most analytics tools report this as 'net return rate' once refunds are issued.