Returning holiday gifts? Look out for return fees
DALLAS - If you opened your gifts on Christmas day, and didn't like some of them, you are not alone. The National Retail Federation says shoppers sent back more than $800 billion of gifts in 2022. But shoppers need to be on the lookout for return fees.
At the Dallas Galleria, the mall was packed, and shoppers were not slowing down, despite Christmas being over.
"It took me 30 minutes to get into a fitting room. It took me another 30 minutes to check out," says shopper, Arsema Yohannes.
"It's been very fun. It's just a lot of people in the shops and I just want to exchange their gift cards," shopper, Carolina Magana, adds.
Britany Guerca and her father thought they could avoid the crowds, by doing their shopping after Christmas.
"There's a lot of people returning stuff and buying stuff and there's a lot of people from out of town," Guerca told CBS News Texas, "But, we decided to wait it out because we need the stores. We were hoping it wasn't going to be crazy, but the stores are still crazy right now! We were longer in line than we were inside shopping, but it is worth it because the stores just started their sale today."
Shoppers were also at the mall to return gifts as well. According to logistics company, Narvar, 40% of companies are adding a fee for return shipping, which is up 31% percent from 2022. Stores include Zara, J. Crew, and H&M. Even Amazon is reported to charge a $1 fee for items taken to UPS.
Narvar officials say transportation and resell expenses are the big reason to charge the extra fees.
"It arrives in the warehouse. It's got to be scanned and put back in and made available to sell. And there's labor involved with all of that," says Anisa Kumar, Chief Customer Office for Narvar.
The return fees do not appear to apply to in-store returns. Shopper, Israel Vango, took some clothes back to the store directly and was relieved to not see any extra fees on his receipt.
"Never really thought about [the fees] until I was asked. I checked my receipt, and I didn't see any return fee, thank God," says Vango.
Stores advise shoppers to make sure to check receipts and return policies in order to return items properly.
