Early Black Friday returns up 12% over last year

If you’d thought this was the holiday season when retail’s returns’ headache would go away, you might want to keep the Advil close anyway. The volume of returns increased 12% YoY from Black Friday through the following Thursday (November 28–December 4), according to data from Loop, a returns management software company that works with retailers.

But the Loop data suggests retailers are not eating as much of the cost of those returns, with 6% more brands charging for returns than last year, marking the fourth consecutive year that companies charging for returns has increased.

Another mitigating factor: More consumers are exchanging their returns for subsequently bigger purchases, “upsells” in reverse-logistics nomenclature. The number of upsells rose 17% for the time period, according to Loop, which based its findings on a sample of 2,600 e-commerce brands on its platform.

Items returned in 2025 were valued at an estimated $849.9 billion, and return rate of 19.3% of all purchases, according to a report from the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns.

Seel, which provides post-purchase solutions to retail companies, recently reported that in 2025, when it comes to items valued at $50 or more, there was a 50% increase of shoppers who purchased a policy that enhances shipping protection, return flexibility, or warranties.

Seel also found that compared to new items, return rates for secondhand purchases were 140% higher.

Tempting as it might be, however, most major retailers have not made their returns policies more restrictive, according to Consumer World, a consumer advocacy website that issued its 22nd annual report on return policies in December.

“Surprisingly, despite the many economic pressures that retailers are facing, most have not further tightened their return policies this year,” Edgar Dworsky, Consumer World’s founder, wrote on the website. “Many still give customers more time to make holiday returns and haven’t added new return shipping fees.”