Return path bench
What each path costs from where you are standing now.
Return decisions are made by comparing the item price against the return postage, which ignores that the handling window is closing and that a local resale may beat both.
Basis. Three paths are priced on the money that will not come back: send back with or without the seller covering postage, exchange costing both legs, and keep with a local recovery share. Postage already paid to receive the parcel is treated as sunk on every path. Parameters last confirmed 2026-04-14.
Return path bench
- Window left
- 9
- days
- Cheapest path
- Send it back
- 19 sunk
- Paths still open
- 3
- of three
| # | Path | Money lost | Days | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Send it back for a refundReturn postage comes out of your pocket and is normally not refunded. | 19 | 24 | open |
| 02 | Exchange for the same item in another sizeCosts both legs of postage. Only worth it when the item itself is right and the size is wrong. | 41 | 32 | open |
| 03 | Keep it and move it on locallyAssumes you recover 55% of the purchase price locally. | 43.2 | 7 | open |
Day counts are planning figures for the round trip, not promises from any carrier.
Send it back for a refund is the cheapest path from here at about 19. The window closes in 9 day(s), so a decision has to be made before then for the send-back paths to stay open.
Costs are the money you will not get back on each path. Postage you already paid to receive the parcel is sunk on every path, so it is excluded.
Why the window is the first line, not the last
Two of the three paths exist only while the handling window is open. Once it closes, the cheapest path on paper is no longer available, so the bench prints the days remaining above the cost comparison.
Sunk postage is excluded on purpose
The postage you already paid to get the parcel is gone on every path, so including it would make all three look equally bad and hide the difference between them. What the bench compares is the money still in front of you.
| # | Path | Costs | Recovers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Send back for a refund | Return postage unless the seller covers it | The goods price |
| 02 | Exchange | Return postage plus re-ship postage | A correctly sized item |
| 03 | Keep and move on locally | The unsold remainder of the price | Whatever the local market pays |
When keeping is not a compromise
If the local recovery share is high and the return postage is a large fraction of the price, keeping is simply the cheaper path, and the bench will say so without treating it as giving up.
- Enter the recovery share honestly; overestimating it makes keeping look better than it is.
- Check the window length from the platform policy rather than from memory.
- For a defect rather than a size problem, say so in writing before the window closes.
Questions this gauge gets asked
| # | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Does the bench know my seller’s policy? | No. Whether the seller covers return postage is an input, because it varies per seller and per case. |
| 02 | Why are the day counts so long? | They are round-trip planning figures, not carrier promises. A return is two journeys and an inspection. |
| 03 | What if the window has already closed? | The bench keeps the two send-back paths visible but marks them unavailable and says how many days ago they closed, so the closed options are not silently removed. |
These are written as ordinary headings and paragraphs rather than as marked-up questions, because marked-up questions no longer produce a richer result in search.
Entries this gauge pairs with
- What does parcel insurance cover, and what does it exclude?
Cover addresses loss and damage in transit, against a declared value you state yourself. It generally does not address border outcomes, restricted contents, wear that predates shipping, or a claim filed after the reporting window closes.
- How do you handle an order where only part of it arrived?
Split the question into two: which items have not arrived, and where each one actually is. Waiting is only worth it for items that are confirmed moving; anything else becomes a refund or replacement decision before the window closes.
- What happens when QC rejects an item?
A rejection means the warehouse will not store or ship the item as received, so the order pauses inside the handling window. You can ask for a re-check, a return to the seller, an exchange, or a refund through the platform, and the window — not the rejection itself — decides what stays available.
Other gauges on the bench
- Landed-cost ladder
Three ways to move the same parcel, priced side by side.
- Border cost bench
Duty and tax assessed on the landed value, as a band.
- Parcel weight bench
Which of volume and mass is actually paying for the flight.
- Slip cross-check bench
Compare what the slip claims against what you measured.