Product Return Rate Calculator

About this calculator

Return rate is one of the most-watched retail KPIs — the share of sold units that customers send back — calculated simply as returned units ÷ sold units × 100. E-commerce runs meaningfully higher than in-store retail because customers can't try items before buying; industry benchmarks put overall retail returns around 8–10% of sales, apparel and footwear categories often 20–30%, and this gap widens further for online-only apparel sellers.

Beyond the percentage itself, tracking net units retained (sold minus returned) feeds directly into revenue forecasting, inventory replenishment and return-fraud detection, and a rising return rate over time is often an early warning sign of a sizing chart, product description or quality problem worth investigating before it shows up in reviews.