Free returns rise to 60.6% of DACH retailers in summer 2026
In summer 2026, 60.6 percent of online retailers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland offered free returns, up from 49.2 percent the previous year. The share of sellers passing return shipping costs entirely to customers fell to 10.6 percent, down from 18 percent in 2025.
The survey covered 108 well-known online retailers across the DACH region. Fashion remained the highest‑return category, with 67.5 percent of its sellers reporting return rates above 20 percent, while consumer electronics saw improvement as 94.5 percent of its sellers kept rates at 10 percent or less. Return shipping accounted for 70.6 percent of returns processing costs, and the proportion of sellers citing customer satisfaction as a reason for free returns rose to 76.2 percent.
“The focus of returns management is shifting from a general cost issue to targeted root cause analysis and differentiated control,” Niklas Stanislawski, Logistics Project Manager at EHI said.
In 2025, 49.2 percent of sellers offered free returns and 25 percent had return rates over 20 percent. The proportion of sellers reporting rising return rates increased from 14.7 percent to 18.7 percent this year.
What we know
66.7 percent of retailers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland said they have a maximum item-related return rate of 10 percent in summer 2026.
23.6 percent of retailers have return rates over 20 percent, down from 25 percent in 2025.
108 well-known online retailers in the DACH region completed the survey.
60.6 percent of sellers covered return shipping costs completely in 2026.
67.5 percent of fashion sellers had return rates higher than 20 percent in 2026.