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What is the economic impact of my returns?

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Numbers to enter
Model returns against the counterfactual that those orders were kept. Enter the stock recovery that actually applies rather than relying on a hidden full-recovery assumption.

Percentage of orders that come back in the same measurement definition.

Direct product/supplier cost. It can exceed sale value if the original order is loss-making.

Return postage, inspection, repacking or other incremental cost caused by the return.

Enter 100% only when the full recorded product cost genuinely returns to usable inventory; enter 0% when none is recoverable.

Optional offset actually retained from the customer.

Koala's Calculated Result
Economic change from returns compared with the same orders being kept.

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Koala's Professional Opinion

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Definition and method

What this calculator answers

Model the monthly economic impact of returned orders versus those same orders being kept, including product-cost recovery and return-specific costs.

Compare a return with the order being kept

For each returned order, compare the economics with the counterfactual that the customer kept it. The model includes lost gross profit, any unrecovered product cost, return-specific handling and any return fee retained.

Worked example: your figures

The interactive result above is the worked example. Change any input and the same deterministic engine recomputes the answer; this page does not insert a generic example business or silently treat example values as a benchmark.

  • No market benchmark or outcome is silently inserted by this page.

What should I check next?

Frequently asked questions

What is my return rate doing to profit?

Each returned sale eats the margin you would have made plus the reverse-logistics cost of getting it back — so a high return rate is a margin compressor even on the orders you do keep.

Returns & Refunds Cost

What counts as a return cost?

A return cost includes the lost revenue on a returned item, the reverse-logistics cost (shipping the item back and restocking it), and any inspection or refurbishment effort. It is offset by any restocking fee you successfully charge.

Returns & Refunds Cost

Is outbound shipping included?

Include outbound shipping to the extent it was actually incurred and not recovered or refunded in the kept-versus-returned comparison. Keep the treatment consistent with how shipping revenue and costs are entered in the model.

Returns & Refunds Cost

When is a return rate too high?

There is no universal numeric target for this decision. Compare the result with the business’s own economics, history, constraints and explicit target, or with a verified benchmark that matches the same metric definition and market context.

Returns & Refunds Cost

Educational use, not financial advice. Numbers are estimates for planning; consult a qualified professional before acting on them.