Web stores are tired of some customers using clothes and other items to return. In cooperation with the sector organization Thuiswinkel.org, they have started an experiment using the labels attached to the products. Only if the label is still attached to the product, it may be returned within 14 days.

According to online stores, it is quite normal for some customers, for example, to put on an outfit in the evening and then return it. “It’s really awful what you’re going through,” says Belinda Kalkman of the online store Onlinemerkkleding.nl. She’s been using so-called replay vignettes for a few months now. “The clothes are worn with stains and perfume on the clothes, and sometimes there is still an earring on a piece of clothing or a key in a trouser pocket. In summer after festivals there is still mud on the legs sometimes.”

Consumers have the right to return the products, but then the item must be in its original condition. Online retailers find it difficult to prove product usage. “We say we won’t accept the returned item, but then you’ll be told it hasn’t really been worn,” Calcmann says. “Then you get such a discussion. You can have sleepless nights as an entrepreneur.”