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E-commerce vocabulary · Returns and Customer Service

Return

Meaning in e-commerce, with examples

/rɪˈtɜːrn/nounCore term

In e-commerce, return means: A customer sending a purchased product back to the seller, for example because it does not fit, is faulty or is not what they expected.

In Turkish: iade, ürün iadesi

How it is used

Used both as a noun (a return, the returns team) and as a verb (return an item). Stores accept, process and approve returns, and track the return rate. Fashion has some of the highest return rates in e-commerce.

Example sentences

  1. We received 40 returns this week, mostly shoes that were too small.

  2. Customers can start a return from the 'My Orders' page.

Common collocations

  • process a return
  • return rate
  • start a return
  • free returns
  • return request
  • refundMoney paid back to a customer, usually to the original payment method, after a return, a cancelled order or a problem with an item.
  • return policyA store's published rules on how, when and under which conditions customers can send items back, and how they get their money or a replacement.
  • exchangeSending back a product and getting a different size, colour or a new item in its place, instead of receiving the money back.
  • restocking feeA charge some sellers take from a refund when an item is returned, to cover the cost of checking, repacking and putting it back into stock.
  • defectiveDescribes a product that does not work properly or has a fault from manufacturing, so that it cannot be used as intended.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Returns and Customer Service

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