With the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce, the return problem in the US market has become an important link that most sellers have to face. Especially in categories with high return rates such as clothing, shoes, home furnishings, and 3C accessories, the secondary shelf processing after returns directly affects inventory turnover, profit margins, and operational efficiency.
1. The return rate of US e-commerce remains high, and cost pressure continues to increase
According to the "2023 Retail Return Report" jointly released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Appriss Retail, the overall return rate of US retail in 2023 is 14.5%, and the return rate in the e-commerce field is even higher, reaching 17.6%. This means that for every $100 of goods sold, nearly $18 needs to be processed for returns.
The data from Coresight Research is more intuitive: the return rate of clothing products can be as high as 25%, and the home furnishing category is also close to 20%. These returns not only bring transportation costs, but more importantly, the accumulated costs of various links such as return warehousing, unpacking quality inspection, refurbishment, labeling, repackaging, and re-shelfing have become a heavy hidden expense for sellers.
2. What are the cost components of returning goods for secondary listing?
The costs of processing returns and re-listing goods in the United States generally include the following parts:
Return receiving and warehousing fees: an average of 0.5-1 US dollars per item.
Unpacking, quality inspection, and taking photos: 2-3 US dollars per item, depending on the complexity of the category.
Cleaning, relabeling, and repackaging: 1.5-2 US dollars per item.
Listing or transferring to other platforms: 0.5-1 US dollars per item.
In summary, the processing fee for completing the secondary listing of an ordinary returned item is about 4-7 US dollars. For products with lower customer unit prices, the profit margin may be completely compressed.
3. How to reduce the cost of return processing? Localized return warehouses become the key solution
Compared with the high logistics costs, customs clearance risks, and extended cycles involved in returning returned goods directly to China, localized return warehouses have become a more cost-effective option for cross-border sellers. On the one hand, it can save return logistics costs, and on the other hand, it can achieve rapid secondary circulation of inventory and improve the overall capital turnover efficiency.
4. U-Speed US return warehouse: Professional Return Quality Inspection + Efficient Re-shelf Processing
U-Speed has set up three return processing centers in the United States:
Eastern US Return Warehouse: Located in New Jersey, the two warehouses have a total area of 212,000 square feet and a daily processing capacity of more than 20,000 pieces.
Western US Return Warehouse: Located in Los Angeles, the area has expanded to 80,000 square feet, with an average daily processing capacity of more than 10,000 pieces.
Miami Return Warehouse: With an area of 21,000 square feet, the average daily processing capacity is 2,500 pieces, suitable for the southern market.
All warehouses are equipped with forklifts, light and heavy shelves, fire monitoring, WMS systems, electronic scales and PDA scanning equipment to achieve full-link digital management of the return process.
U-Speed US return service supports:
Return receipt, classification quality inspection, photo archiving
Label replacement, cleaning and renovation, repackaging
Secondary listing or transfer of inventory to other sales platforms
Customized services such as destruction and return processing
In terms of processing time, quality inspection is completed within 2 working days, and the overall return process is controlled within 3-5 days, with efficiency leading the industry average.
5. One-stop service to create a closed-loop return processing system
U-Speed is not limited to return warehouse services, but also builds a closed-loop logistics system from first-stage warehouse distribution, one-piece delivery to return and replenishment. Its self-developed WMS system has been connected to mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Temu, TikTok, Amazon, and SHEIN. Order, inventory, and return data are synchronized and transparent, and management is smarter.
The overseas warehouse operation team is mainly Chinese, with smooth language communication. The domestic management team and customer service follow up throughout the process to ensure smooth and unimpeded cooperation between China and the United States, providing great convenience for cross-border sellers to process returns in the United States.
6. Returns are not scary, the key is whether the warehouse is used correctly
The return rate in the US market is high, and the cost problem caused by the secondary listing of returned goods cannot be ignored. If you want to control expenditures and improve the efficiency of collection, it is key to establish an efficient return processing system. U-Speed US return warehouse is becoming the first choice for returns for more and more cross-border sellers with its stable warehousing strength, professional service capabilities, and warehouse network layout covering the whole United States. If you are also facing the problem of returns, you may wish to learn about U-Speed, which may be the key to your next business breakthrough.
