Last Updated: April 2025
Do you know, the cost of returning a product is 17% to 30% of the prime cost? Implementing a returnless refund in your business would enable you to save on this expense.
But what is a returnless refund? It is a process by which you refund the money to your customers while allowing them to keep or donate the item they want to return. This helps you reduce the costs and friction that come with a returned product.
To help you understand more about the returnless refund we have added some fresh information to this article.
Let’s dive in and have a look at the content in this article:
- Benefits Of Returnless Refund
- Risk That Comes With Returnless Refund
- Product Example With Which You Can Offer Returnless Refund
- Best Returnless Refund Practices
Benefits Of Returnless Refunds
Less Work For Customers
Initiating a returnless refund strategy in your business will ensure that your customers don’t have to do the extra work of re-packing and waiting for the agent that will pick up the object from them.
All they have to do is raise a refund request and decide if they want to keep the product or donate it, then you can refund them their amount, saving them time and energy.
Opportunity To Meet New Customers
If you have enabled the returnless refund policy for items that are not broken, will allow your customers to keep the item. Further, they can gift that product to their known, and there are chances that they might fall in love with your product and become your customer.
Reduces Pollution
The returnless refund process will allow you to save on natural minerals like petrol and diesel that are used by the agents to travel and collect the object. Moreover, you will also save on plastic that will be used in re-packaging.
Increases Customer Loyalty
If you offer a returnless refund to your customers it will give them a positive experience that you believe in them. Moreover, initiating a donation system for these products will also ensure that you deliver an optimistic brand message to your customers and they will stick longer to your brand.
Risk That Comes With Returnless Refund
Let’s look at two of the risks you might face with a returnless refund policy.
- Repeaters: Once a customer has discovered a returnless refund offer they might target it again to get more products without paying a single penny.
- Employee fraud: There are chances that your call center or store employees could indulge in this fraud and provide extra benefits to the people they know by easily allowing returnless refunds.
Product Examples With Which You Can Offer Returnless Refund
One-time Use Products
Products like lipsticks, nail cutters, facial creams, and more, once used can not be resold due to hygiene reasons. Thus, if you ask your customers to return them they would be discarded. Instead, you can let your customers keep them and process a refund.
If they keep it and use it, they might like your products and purchase more from your store again.
Low-cost Products
Let’s say a customer has ordered a big list of products from your store and it includes a low-cost product ($2, $5, $10, etc.) that they want to refund. If you initiate a return process for such products there are chances that the process would cost you more than the product’s price.
Thus, the right choice would be to offer a returnless refund to your customers.
Damaged Product
If your customer has received a damaged product that is of no use to you or the charges of repairing that product are high then you can proceed with a returnless refund. This will save your return process cost as well.
Worn Out Products
One of the best examples of this category is shoes. Let’s say that you deal in hiking shoes and a customer has recently ordered a pair from your store. Now to try the product they go hiking and on the way, they figured out that it’s not the perfect size and they initiate a refund.
However, the sole of the shoe is completely used and there is no point that the shoe would be any help to you. Thus, you can initiate a returnless refund to them on the product.
Best Returnless Refund Practices
Check Customers Order/Return History
Consider checking your customer’s purchase and return history before allowing a returnless refund. If the return request exceeds your expectation, it’s obviously a red flag.
You can either block the return request raised by that account or charge them for the return.
Ask For Damaged Product Images
If the customer has raised a return request as they have received a damaged product, you can ask for pictures of the product and ensure that the scenario is true. This practice will ensure that no scammers are requesting a refund.
Check For A Guest Account
If the return request is from a guest account then some changes might be of a scammer. You can either make it compulsory to create an account before checking out to reduce return abuse on your store.
Conclusion
Now, in the end, we hope that through this article you would be able to gain comprehensive knowledge on returnless return. Here we have shared some fresh information like the benefits, best practices, risks, and more that would assist you in creating a post-purchase strategy.
However, if you are looking for return management software, then you should try Saufter. It provides 24X7 return and order management in your store. You can even send notifications like a return agent out to take the order, refund processing, and more.
Moreover, Saufter is also a helpdesk that comes with a chatbot and allows you to automate your customer support. It attends to your customers in real time and solves their queries using knowledge base articles.
So, what are you waiting for?
