'Serial returners' are on the rise - and it's causing headaches for retailers like Walmart and Target
- "Serial returners" are on the rise and causing major problems for retailers.
- As a result, a few retailers have opted to overhaul their return policies - or even issue lifetime bans against serial returners.
- Business Insider has spoken with retail workers who said they have witnessed customers making outrageous - and even downright fraudulent - returns.
"Serial returners" pose a massive headache for retailers.
And some retailers are taking action to stop customers who make frequent returns in their tracks. Amazon, for example, announced in May that it would ban "customers that habitually return merchandise."
Retail management firm Brightpearl released a report that found that 61% of US-based retailers were mulling instituting similar lifetime bans. According to Retail Dive, the same study found that 42% of US-based retailers "say that they're seeing more serial returners in the last 12 months, especially among customers aged 18 to 34."
Amazon isn't the only retailer to take action.
L.L. Bean kicked its longstanding lenient returns policy to the curb in February, citing abuse of the policy as a major reason behind the decision.
Best Buy, Home Depot, Victoria's Secret, and other retailers are discreetly tracking how often shoppers make returns and, in some cases, punishing people who they suspect are abusing stores' return policies.
Even Costco, which has a famously generous return policy, reportedly reserves the right to cancel the memberships of customers who make frequent or expensive returns.
The stakes are high for retailers, especially as the holiday season rolls around. The National Retail Federation estimated that Americans returned $351 billion worth of goods in 2017 - or 10% of all sales. Of those returns, it estimated that $22.8 billion worth of goods qualified as fraudulent returns - 6.5% of total returns. The report also found that during last year's holiday season, retailers collectively stood to lose over $3.4 billion to return fraud.
A few businesses, like startup Optoro, have cropped up to assist clients like Walmart's Jet.com, Target, and Home Depot recoup some of the money lost through returns by re-selling goods online on Amazon and eBay, according to CNBC's report. Walmart also plans to restructure its returns policy to aid its third-party sellers and make it easier for sellers to manage their returns.
Business Insider previously spoke to employees at Walmart, Target, Costco, and Home Depot about the return policies at their stores. Many expressed dismay at some of the outlandish returns they said they'd witnessed.
"We can't say 'no' to any members, so don't bring anything back that's 10 years old - such as a fake Christmas tree we got back that was sold in 2007," a California-based Costco employee previously told Business Insider. "We want to help, but that sets a bad example for everyone to bring anything back."
One Target team member from Michigan told Business Insider that they had seen "multiple returns of thousands of dollars worth of home merchandise made after the guests have staged their homes. It is so unethical."
Another Target team member of five years told Business Insider about a shopper who took advantage of the store's 90-day return policy by "returning roughly $400 worth of Christmas decorations in late February."
Other shoppers have come up with outright fraudulent ways of ripping off retailers.
A Walmart associate from Tennessee described witnessing a customer return a product from Kmart.
"It was accepted with the Kmart sticker on it," the associate told Business Insider.
A Home Depot employee told Business Insider about one customer who attempted to return a power tool in its case.
"They re-taped the box, kept the tool, and returned the tool case filled with cans of spaghetti and ravioli to weigh it down," the employee said. "It was neatly packed and re-zipped to make us think it was the original purchase."
Are you a retail worker who's had to deal with ridiculous returns? Email acain@businessinsider.com.