ASOS recently made a major change to its returns policy, and shoppers who send back cheaper orders could be left out of pocket.
, which is designed to tackle “serial returners” – shoppers who order huge hauls only to send almost everything back.
The savvy shopper has now started purchasing her beauty and skincare in an attempt to keep the “returns percentage at bay”Credit: TIKTOK/@miss_shelliec
Her latest parcel, which cost her £20, also came with a promotion of 25% off face and beauty if you buy three itemsCredit: TIKTOK/@miss_shelliec
The golden rule, which has been in effect since January 6th, is a return rate of less than 70% to avoid the charge.
ASOS had previously offered UK shoppers free returns of unused items within 14 days, but wrote to some shoppers saying it had updated its “fair use” policy to clamp down on .
A £3.95 fee was introduced for people who had high return rates and kept less than £40 worth of their order.
If your return rate stays below this threshold over the last 12 months, you will continue to enjoy exactly as you do now.
However, if your return rate hits 70% or higher across three or more orders, you fall into a new category where you will face an existing £3.95 deduction from your refund if you don’t keep at least £40 worth of items from your order.
Your return rate is the value of items you return compared with what you spend overall. For example, if you order £100 worth of items and return £50 worth, your return rate will be 50%.
The new change has sparked fury amongst shoppers, with some – however, one woman has now revealed an easy way to keep the return rate low.
The customer, only known as @ miss_shelliec , took to TikTok to share the savvy trick – and according to her, you can even this way.
According to the ASOS shopper, up until the new change she had only used the fast fashion giant to shop for clothing – but has now started purchasing her in an attempt to keep the “returns percentage at bay”.
The online shopper, from Newcastle, explained: “If you make three or four, five small cheap purchases throughout the month for your beauty items, which are obviously not returnable, that will keep my return rate down.”
She continued in the video : “Shopping online on ASOS for skincare, beauty is just the same price as if you were shopping at or Superdrug.”
Her latest parcel, which cost her £20, also came with a promotion of 25% off face and beauty if you buy three items.
“So I’ve actually probably getting them cheaper.
What is ASOS Premier?
ASOS Premier is a yearly subscription service costing £9.95.
It provides unlimited next-day and nominated-day delivery on orders over £15 (post-discount).
Premier members also receive free standard delivery on all other orders and gain access to exclusive discounts and promotions, such as Premier Party, with up to 50% off selected styles.
Given the standard cost of next-day delivery, the subscription can pay for itself in as little as two uses.
“You get unlimited delivery, it comes the next day, I haven’t got to leave my house.
“If I want clothes and beauty, what I do is place separate orders […] – I make my beauty purchases separately.
“Anything beauty that I want, I’m just making smaller purchases throughout the month for anything that I’ve run out of.”
Posted five days ago, the informative clip has taken the internet by storm, racking up more than 67k views.
One furious shopper said: “They don’t even deserve me doing this. Their new policy sucks and they’re definitely on their downfall!! But it’s a good tip.”
Another agreed, writing: “I thought this but I’m not missing my boots/ Sephora /space nk points for them. I feel like it’s time to shop elsewhere asos don’t value customers.”
Someone else chimed in: “I always buy my beauty stuff from asos & my return rate was only 24% especially when they have 20% off works out a lot better!”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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