Returns handled in 3 working days, not 3 weeks
A fifth to a third of e-commerce orders come back. We inspect, grade, re-bag and restock them, and tell you exactly what came back and why. Flat £2.00 per unit, on the same published rate card as everything else.
Get my quoteWhat happens to every return
£2.00 per unit, fully accounted for
Inspect & grade
Opened within 3 working days of arrival. Graded A (resellable), B (repackage needed) or C (damaged/unsellable), with photos where it matters.
Restock or hold
Grade A goes straight back into sellable stock. Grade B is re-bagged or re-boxed (charged at prep rates). Grade C is held, returned to you or disposed of: your call, per your standing instructions.
Report
A monthly returns report: return rate by SKU, reasons, grades and recovered stock value. Most sellers find one product driving most returns, so the report pays for itself.
Why it matters
Returns are where small sellers bleed margin
Every ungraded return sitting in a box is dead cash. Restocked quickly, a £20 product recovered at grade A is £18 back in your pocket after our fee. Ignored, it's £0, and Amazon and Shopify both punish slow refund handling. We turn your returns pile into recovered stock and a monthly list of what to fix.
Grading, in plain terms
What each grade actually means
Grading is the whole job. Get it wrong in either direction and it costs you: too generous and a customer receives a used item, too harsh and you write off stock that was fine. Here is the line we draw, and you can move it in writing if your products need a different one.
Grade A: back on the shelf
Unopened, or opened and untouched, with the retail packaging intact and every component present. It goes back into your sellable stock the same day it is graded, and your channel stock counts update automatically. Nothing else happens to it and nothing else is charged for it.
Grade B: one step away from sellable
The product is fine but the packaging is not: a split polybag, a crushed outer, a missing seal, a label that has been peeled. We re-bag or re-box it and it rejoins your sellable stock. That repackaging is charged at the same prep rates published on the rate card, so a Grade B unit costs you the £2.00 return fee plus the prep line, and nothing hidden on top.
Grade C: your call, made in advance
Damaged, used, incomplete, or outside anything we can sensibly resell. We do not decide what happens to these. You give us a standing instruction once, and we follow it every time: hold for your inspection, consolidate and return to you, or dispose of it. If you pick “hold”, it is worth reviewing that instruction after a couple of months. Once you can see what is actually accumulating, a quarterly consolidated return is usually cheaper than shipping Grade C stock back one parcel at a time.
The report
What the monthly returns report tells you
Processing returns quietly is only half of it. The point of grading every unit is that at the end of the month you can see a pattern you could not see from a pile of parcels.
Every report shows your return rate by SKU rather than as one blended number, the stated reason against each return, the grade split, and the stock value recovered back into sellable inventory. That is four numbers, and between them they usually answer the question you actually have, which is: which product is quietly costing me money?
The patterns worth acting on are fairly consistent. One SKU returning at three times the rate of everything else is usually a sizing or expectation problem, and the fix is the listing rather than the product. A high Grade B share means your outer packaging is failing in transit, which is a packing change we can make at our end. A high Grade C share on a specific line usually means the item is too fragile for the box it ships in. None of that is visible when returns are handled as a chore.
The awkward ones
Returns nobody plans for
Parcels with nothing to identify them
Some returns arrive with no order reference, no note, and nothing recognisable about the SKU. We do not throw those away and we do not guess. They are held for 60 days, listed for you, and only then dealt with under the disposal clause in our terms. If you can identify one in that window it goes straight back into stock. This is written into the contract rather than left to whoever opens the parcel.
January
Our commitment is inspection, grading and restock within 3 working days, and that is the number in the contract in January as much as in June. January is the month worth interrogating, because every 3PL in the country absorbs a Christmas returns spike at once and capacity is what decides whether a service level holds or quietly slips. Before you commit to a returns window on your own storefront, ask us what our January capacity is and what happens if we miss the 3 days. Ask any provider you are comparing us with the same two questions. A straight answer to the second one tells you more than the first.
Refunds stay with you
We grade and restock. We do not issue refunds and we do not talk to your customers, because your refund policy is yours and your tone with your buyers is part of your brand. What we give you is the grading decision fast enough that you can refund on your own terms rather than waiting a fortnight to find out what came back.
Questions sellers ask about returns
Returns, answered straight
What does the £2.00 per unit actually cover?
Receiving the parcel, opening it, inspecting and grading the item, photographing it where the condition is arguable, restocking it if it is Grade A, and including it in your monthly report. The only thing charged on top is repackaging on Grade B units, at the prep rates published on the rate card.
Can I use you for returns without moving my fulfilment?
Yes. Returns work as a standalone service. Your stock stays where it is, returns come to our Rochdale warehouse, and Grade A units either go back to you or sit here as sellable stock, whichever suits. It is also a low-risk way to test us. Returns are the unglamorous end of the job, and how a 3PL handles them tells you more than how it handles a smooth outbound week.
How quickly does a return become sellable again?
Within 3 working days of arriving, for Grade A. Grade B depends on the repackaging queue but is usually the same week. The clock starts when the parcel reaches us, not when the customer posts it, because that leg is with the carrier and outside anyone's control.
What if a return arrives damaged in transit?
We photograph it and flag it on the report as arriving damaged rather than returned damaged, which is the distinction you need for a carrier claim. We do not file the claim for you, but you get the evidence in a form a carrier will accept.
Do you handle returns for Amazon FBA stock?
Amazon handles customer returns into its own network for FBA orders. Where we help is removal orders: when Amazon sends unsellable or aged stock back out, it can come to us instead of to your house, and we grade it exactly as above. That is often the moment a seller discovers what Amazon has been calling unsellable.
Stop losing money twice on every return
Add returns processing to any fulfilment or prep quote, or use us for returns alone.
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