Online shopping is nothing new. But what about when the customer receives the package, opens the box, and realizes it isn’t what s/he was looking for? One option is to just bring it back to the brick-and-mortar store.

But some retailers are creating solutions which allow customers to return items from their home. Retailers like Target and Amazon (not coincidentally running on the same platform) have started offering free return shipping by allowing their customers to print shipping labels for returns from their website. Shoe retailing giant Zappos even advertises this on their homepage:

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Of course, there are still limitations to the returns. Zappos has a generous limit of 365 days while Buy.com has a more limited 14-day policy. Most store returns fall somewhere in between, with some products in the same store having a shorter return time than others. With shipping on returns, there is also usually a weight limit, for example, 70 pounds on Amazon.

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Amazon offers a simple four-step process for return shipping

Although not all businesses can afford to offer free return shipping, many can still offer to accept returns through the mail, just as they send their orders through mail. It might be a bit more of a hassle to deal with these returned shipments, not to mention the refunds involved, but it’s worth the work to have satisfied customers who know what they’re getting and will come back to shop with you.