Yahoo Finance Shoppers: Are you guilty of making this $384 mistake?
It’s been a long day, you’re on the train home and scrolling through your favourite online brands.
Click, click, click and you get the shoppers’ high: “Your order has been confirmed. It will arrive within five business days.”
But when your purchases arrive you realise you’ve made a mistake – the quality isn’t what you expected, and other items seem to be the wrong size.
The obvious next step is to send the clothes back and score a refund.
But as Australia’s online shoppers know, that doesn’t always happen.
A survey of 1000 Australian adults by ME Bank found 70 per cent of Australians don’t always return unwanted online purchases.
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“It’s important to consider the online shopping experience as a whole, with returns making up a significant part of the process,” said ME money expert Matthew Read.
“It’s not over when you get your item; what you choose to do with the item at that point is a deciding factor between a healthy or hurt hip pocket.”
The research found the average Australian online shopper wants to return four online purchases a year, and with $96 the average spend per online purchase, the cost of not returning these items is $384.
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That could be the morning coffee costs for four months, rent covered for a while or a new household appliance.
“As with all expenses, it’s important to keep track of what you spend because little things can add up to a large amount that may be best spent, or saved elsewhere,” said Read.
The findings come as Australian shoppers descend on a massive online sale through Afterpay, dubbed Afteryay.
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