Globally, consumers have made returns for 12.2% of online orders between Jan. 1 and Jan. 14, according to data from Salesforce.

That’s a 3% year-over-year increase, the company shared. In addition, consumers have made returns for more than $181 billion in online purchases they made between Nov. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31. That accounts for 14% of all purchases as well as a 10% increase compared to the year before, the ecommerce software provider said.

Salesforce noted that because it does not see initial purchase dates when looking at returns data, it cannot be certain when consumers made those now-returned purchases. However, it said the returns consumers made in the first two weeks of January are “highly likely” to be purchases they made in the last 90 days, given most retailers’ return policies.

“Right now, the biggest [year-over-year] increase in return rates was in December, which is consistent with what we saw in 2024,” said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce. “It appears that many consumers were looking to get unwanted purchases off their credit card statements before the end of the month. However, January is still the month that sees the largest number of returns overall.”

Salesforce data from the holiday season indicated that globally, consumers had spent $1.29 trillion online in the last two months of 2025. In addition to increasing 7% year over year, that set a new record, according to Salesforce’s data.

Overall retail returns in 2025

Data from fraud-prevention technology provider Signifyd found that overall, the amount of retail returns in 2025 increased 17% year over year.

January returns through Jan. 26, 2026, declined 13% year over year, Signifyd analysts found. The company also assessed that fraudulent and abusive returns accounted for 12% of all returns in January, month-to-date.

An example of a fraudulent return is when a customer keeps the items they claimed to have returned. They might do so by returning an empty box or something other than the product they purchased. Abusive returns, on the other hand, involve violating return policies. That could be through “bracketing” or “wardrobing,” which refers to intentionally buying multiples — typically apparel and accessories in different sizes or colors — to try on at home. Consumers then return the styles that didn’t work for them.

Signifyd data shows that in 2025 overall, returns that Signifyd identified as abusive with the reason “damaged items” increased 158% from a year earlier.

“Signifyd’s latest return data really underscores that merchants’ growing attention to returns and their negative effect on margins is justified,” Mike Cassidy, head of storytelling at Signifyd, told Digital Commerce 360.

Still, the top reason for all returns — whether legitimate, fraudulent or abusive — was that consumers considered the products they received to be “significantly not as described” (SNAD). SNAD returns accounted for nearly half (48%) of all returns in 2025, according to Signifyd. That category includes damaged items as well as other merchandise that did not live up to a customer’s expectations, Signifyd said.

In January, month to date, SNAD returns increased 9% year over year. That included both legitimate and illegitimate SNAD returns, Signifyd said. Moreover, SNAD claims accounted for 63% of all returns in January, month to date.

“Understanding the reasons behind returns and the risk involved with individual returns will be a real focus in 2026 as retailers look for ways to maximize revenue from successful conversions,” Cassidy told Digital Commerce 360.

More than 200 online retailers in the Top 2000 use Signifyd for payment security and fraud prevention. The Top 2000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database tracking North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.

2025-2026 holiday-season returns

In the U.S., returns decreased 1.2% from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, according to post-holiday data from Adobe Analytics, which Digital Commerce 360 previously reported.

About one in every seven returns this holiday season happened in the last six days of December, according to Adobe. In that time frame — the days after Christmas — returns increased 4.7% year over year, Adobe found.

“While shoppers have embraced smaller screens to transact, they are relying on desktop devices to make returns,” Adobe said in a statement at the time.

Despite 56.4% of overall spending coming from mobile during the 2025 holiday season, consumers facilitated just 38.8% of returns on those devices, Adobe had said.

Data from retail platform provider Leap indicates that although same-store net sales increased 17% year-over-year in December and 33% month-to-date in January, returns among clients using its platform have been about the same as the prior year.

It said the retailers using its technology increased their average order value (AOV) 5% year over year, which they attributed to a 9% increase in the number of units sold.

Ecommerce fraud prevention company NoFraud found fewer returns in January than in December on a comparable month-to-date basis. It also found that January returns show a higher share that its system flagged as potentially fraudulent. That means fraud represents a larger portion of the returns issue for retailers, even when volume drops, according to NoFraud.

The share of potentially fraudulent returns rose to 18.3% month-to-date in January, according to NoFraud data. That’s up from 15.8% during the comparable period in December. NoFraud shared its data with Digital Commerce 360 on Jan. 26.

Overall, it said, “Returns volume and return rates are lower so far in January compared with December on a comparable MTD basis, which is typical early in the month as post-holiday returns are still being initiated.”

It added that December 2025 returns were “essentially flat” year over year.

Returns trends leading into the 2025 holiday season

60% of shoppers made at least one return in 2025, according to data Rithum reported in the first half of that year. And 47% of consumers have stopped shopping with a brand or retailer because of a return policy, it found. Meanwhile, 88% expect free returns, “but many will accept environmentally responsible limits.”

Rithum, formerly known as CommerceHub and ChannelAdvisor, is a cloud-based and AI-powered ecommerce platform. Its 2025 Global Returns & Profit Impact Report included insights from 6,000 consumer respondents across:

• Canada
• France
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• United States

Among Rithum’s key findings were that 68% of consumers returned clothing or footwear in 2025. Relatedly, 36% said they took advantage of bracketing.

It also found that 41% of shoppers consider return policies to be a key factor when deciding where to buy. 61% of consumer respondents indicated that they primarily returned items due to poor fits. One-third (33%) said they returned a product because it didn’t match its online photos or description.

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