Clothing company Boohoo has started to charge customers who want to return items. Shoppers now need to pay £1.99 to send anything back.
The firm is following in the footsteps of other retailers including Uniqlo, Next and Zara who already charge people for returning products. Boohoo - which has a stable of brands such as Karen Millen, Nasty Gal, PrettyLittleThing, Coast, Oasis, Burton, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins and Debenhams - said it had to introduce a charge as the "cost of shipping has increased".
Boohoo's website now states: "Please note a returns charge of £1.99 per parcel will be deducted from your refund amount. Returns are free for premier customers."
It adds: "Unfortunately we don't offer an exchange facility. Simply return your item(s) and reorder for a replacement. Your refund will be processed once we've received your unwanted items."
Customers are more likely to return items bought online than in store, leading to increased costs for businesses, the BBC reports. Boohoo's move was first reported by Retail Week and came into effect on July 4.
In May, Boohoo said its yearly profits had dropped partly because the number of returned purchases had risen. It said the rate of returns was higher than before the Covid pandemic hit.
A Boohoo spokesperson said: "As the cost of shipping has increased, we've had to look at where we can adapt without compromising what our customers love most, the convenience of shopping with us and the great value that our brands offer. This has meant that we will be applying a charge of £1.99 to returns so that we can continue to offer great prices and products and do this in a more sustainable way."
Catherine Shuttleworth, founder of Savvy Marketing, told the BBC that "shoppers have had an easy ride" up to now. "But that's changing now - they will increasingly find there's a price to pay for returns," she said.
