£3.9bn of online Christmas orders will be returned. Which stores have the best returns policies?

£3.9bn of online orders will be returned after Christmas. ParcelHero reveals which stores have the best returns policies and which have the worst

Online returns are expected to top £3.9bn in a January avalanche, says ParcelHero. It is cautioning shoppers to be aware of retailers’ final Christmas return deadlines; the spirit of goodwill runs out quickly for some retailers.

Brits are expected to return £3.9bn-worth of unwanted gifts purchased online after Christmas, for a refund or an exchange. The home delivery expert ParcelHero says over 10% of all gifts will wing their way back to the retailer after the holidays, but people will have to act swiftly, as the Christmas spirit runs out fast for some retailers after the 25th.

ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘Shoppers are aware by now that they can return any online purchase up to 14 days after delivery with no quibbles, and any faulty store-bought or online item up to 30 days after purchase. Note that the no-quibble guarantee doesn’t cover non-faulty shop-bought items. Nonetheless, many of our favourite retailers do let us return any items, faulty or non-faulty, purchased online or in-store, for a lengthy period after Christmas. Others are more grudging.

‘Typically, the most generous stores, such as Amazon, ASOS, Debenhams, Gap, The White Company and Warehouse, give until the end of January to return unwanted items for refund or exchange. In most cases, this covers almost all items bought from the beginning of November through to 24 December, though double-check the small print to be sure of the start date. For example, ASOS only includes items purchased from 8 November onwards.

‘We think Watchshop is the shop to watch. Its Christmas returns period runs from 1 October through to 31 January. That’s a returns window of up to 122 days, which we think is particularly generous.

‘In contrast, shoppers are going to have to be a lot quicker returning Christmas items to the likes of Game, House of Fraser, Littlewoods, Net-a-Porter, Next and Very, whose Christmas deadlines window ends on 9 January.

‘Two of our favourite stores that seem to run out of the holiday spirit a little early are Harvey Nicks and Selfridges. The hols need putting back in Harvey Nichols, whose deadline for returns is 5 January, and only on items purchased between 11 November and 22 December.

‘But the least generous of the stores we checked was Selfridges, whose grace period ends on 4 January and who only accept return of items bought between 14 November and 7 December. It told us: “For anything purchased after 7 December, the normal 28-day returns policy applies.”

‘Before we all start madly returning items, we have to get them first. The window for Christmas final online order dates is getting tighter. Given the current strain on delivery services because of Omicron and Brexit, we won’t be surprised if retailers change to earlier final order dates as Christmas nears. That’s why our continually updated Christmas deadlines tool is so useful for keeping shoppers in the know with all their favourite retailers’ final order dates.

‘To check the easy-to-use retailers’ final order and final mailing dates tool, see: https://www.parcelhero.com/events/christmas-gifts-delivery