If you buy your clothes online, how much of it do you send back?

[AtoB]

I just ordered four things from Next - a denim bag from Accessorise, a black jumper from Phase Eight, a Friends Like These skirt and a fluffy jacket from Joe Browns and I don’t like any of it!

The bag is huge, the jumper is not nice enough for £79, the skirt is too tight on the waist and the jacket is not my style. Add to that the too small boots I took back last week and the too big trousers, I am going to give up!

I can’t see me going round the shops and actually trying on clothes (not done that for years) so I’ll make do with what I’ve got until the spring I think.

How much of what you order do you actually keep?

I have a Fraser plus account, I order from house of Fraser, it’s 4.99 delivery but with the Fraser plus you don’t pay until after 3 months , last time I ordered about 400 quids worth, I kept about half sent the rest back 4.99 return cost for that, however they had sent one wrong item, so because of that they did me a free return!

I probably send 90% back.

I am not easy to fit and am very fussy about what I keep after having to declutter so many unworn clothes where I thought 'it'll do'.

Shopping IRL is awful, it's annoying to keep getting changed in unpleasant changing rooms when you're not being very successful.

I don't really buy that much though, I don't particularly wear fashion pieces and I but good quality so it lasts years.

I also but from vinted but only brands I know in styles I already have. If that doesn't fit it goes to charity.

The last 4 items I bought online were a dress at £300 , a dress at £160, a coat at £750 and a jacket at £580. The idea of buying multiple variations to get 1 of each seems bizarre. The jacket had to be exchanged for a size up -which I half expected.

Surely you don't think that's typical?

The vast majority of people will never spend £750 on a coat.

Ditto.

I'm just after buying a pair of trousers that I had planned on wearing over Christmas and they must have been incorrectly sized as they are more like a size 6 than my size (18) so that was completely outside of my control but back they go. I hope I'll be able to re-order them in my size (if they have them left on their website).

Anyway, I think in general, I have to return about 1/5th of what I order online. Sometimes have to return stuff that I buy off the rail too - because when I get it home it doesn't fit or is completely wrong on me.

I don't know. That's why I was asking about the sort of sums people were willing to spend upfront. One poster talked about ordering a selection of coats in different styles and sizes.

Try going shopping for a change

Sadly none of the shops I can afford to shop in carry their Petite ranges in their real-life shops so that's impossible.

Also who's queuing at the post office? Does no-one use Evri drop-off or InPost lockers? They are super convenient for returns

Yes that's the trouble but I actually managed to buy a pair of trousers in M&S in my size with shorter leg and try them on in my lunch hour

A little while ago I had a letter from next advising I am returning about 93% of what I order. Can't say it's got much better since.
They suggested I might be better in store and told me their helpful representatives are there to help.
I would love to shop in store... If they actually stocked anything in store I wanted.
It read so naughty girl letter.

I order most of my clothing through Next too and send more back than I keep. Sizes are so inconsistent I generally order a couple of different sizes to try and sometimes more than one style.

I've gradually stopped using other stores as returns are not as easy and no-one's sizing is consistent. Plus I can order several different brands through Next.

That's interesting though @Tarnishedbutton . I wonder if I'm due a letter from them soon!

It's not surprising that many people send back a lot. Women's clothes sizing is all over the place.

And think about fitting rooms rails in shops. They are always full with things people have tried on and rejected. Why would it be any different at home?

I find it quite frustrating. I don't have a lot of free time so returning things is a pain but the physical shops always seem to be out of stock of my size.

I hardly ever send things back. Too much faffing about (except my catalogue because they collect directly from my front door!).

I do alot of research though and either get things that have multiple reviews or I buy a test item from Vinted if I havent tried the brand before.

I do that too with Vinted!

Mostly though I stick to brands I know fit me so I don't send much back. I tend to size up if unsure - my style is generally not to wear very tailored/fitted stuff so I'm not bothered about things being slighly on the loose side.

I wouldn't be spending that much on each item normally. But if I was looking to spend £500 on a jacket, then yes I would definitely order a few different ones to compare. I wouldn't want to risk spending £500 without having some assurance that there wasn't another I liked best.

Sure, sometimes I might just be scrolling through the sales and see just one dress that catches my eye and buy that. It may or may not go back. But that's not normally how I shop for new items these days. I tend to have made a fairly considered decision that my wardrobe could really do with an item of X type (and that it is tricky to buy it second hand). I would then go online, look at my usual preferred sites, narrow it down to a shortlist of 3-5 different styles and order one of each to choose from before sending the rest back. In a way I don't think the price of the items is particularly relevant. I'd have thought that somebody who can afford to buy £10 items could probably find £50 temporarily to try five different items on, and somebody buying £1000 items could probably find £5000. Personally I'm somewhere inbetween!

Do people buy stuff from in person shops without trying on? Don't you normally try on a few items to decide which you prefer? It's obviously more hassle to do the return online, but it's still easier than going to the shops.

Each to their own, but no I wouldn't be laying out £5,000 to get one item at £1,000. I rarely have to return anything.

But if I was looking to spend £500 on a jacket, then yes I would definitely order a few different ones to compare. I wouldn't want to risk spending £500 without having some assurance that there wasn't another I liked best.

I wouldn't decide to spend £500 and look for a jacket- I'd have seen a jacket I liked which coincidentally costs £500. No need to randomly buy others on spec.

As someone who has literally never even once bought clothes online this is very interesting to read. I think I'll just keep doing in real shops though, it sounds like a steep learning curve to get good at online shopping. I'm too old now I think!

Absolutely as Castle says - if I see something I fall in love with there’s never any need to search for other similar items to compare. And it’s very rare indeed for me to prescribe what I need - I wait for things to call out to me.

Perhaps I should be more organised? Dunno …

Do you have absolutely every shop you could possibly desire within an easy distance, @Skepticgal? Or do you make a special trip, or buy on holidays in smart cities, or???

Most of my London living was pre-2000 - and I certainly made the most of those years in terms of shopping in person. Early 2000s, living in various other cities I still browsed the shops but increasingly turned to the internet and the joy and excitement of being able to shop my way across the UK / Ireland and Europe from under my duvet. I can’t imagine going back to only buying clothes from the local (perfectly civilised and nice) shopping mall.

I guess I'm lucky, live very centrally in a major city, walking distance to multiple shops.

95% I reckon. I prefer to shop in store as I want to try multiple sizes and choose the fit I like, so I buy multiples of the same item usually. It's either fit and/or fabric I send it back for, I'm always looking for something quite particular to fill a gap in my wardrobe.

If I'm buying replacements that I already know fit - because I bought the one I tried on in the shop