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When you're setting a return policy for a fashion brand, one of the biggest questions is how generous you should be. Should customers have 14 days or 30 days to return an order? Should you offer a refund, store credit or an exchange? And who should pay for the return shipping? The questions can feel never ending.
Looking at what other fashion brands offer can be a useful starting point. We've compared the return policy examples from several well-known Australian fashion retailers to see how they handle return timeframes, refunds, exchanges, sale items and return shipping.
What Australian Consumer Law says about refunds
Before looking at what other fashion brands offer, it's important to understand where the law sets the baseline. Under Australian Consumer Law, retailers must provide a solution when a product doesn't meet the consumer guarantees. This can include situations where a product is faulty, unsafe, doesn't match its description or isn't fit for its intended purpose.
Change of mind is different. If a customer simply decides they don't like the colour, ordered the wrong size or no longer wants the item, Australian Consumer Law doesn't generally require a retailer to provide a refund, as long as the product meets its consumer guarantees.
That doesn't mean retailers can simply put up a "no refunds" sign and refuse every return. A business can't use its return and refund policy to take away a customer's rights under Australian Consumer Law. And if you choose to offer change-of-mind returns, the conditions you advertise become part of your policy and need to be followed.
For fashion retailers, this means your return policy should clearly separate change-of-mind returns from returns involving faulty or misdescribed products. Once you've established that legal baseline, you can decide how generous you want your own policy to be.
Return policy examples
Princess Polly
Princess Polly offers a relatively generous return policy, with customers able to return eligible online purchases within 30 days of delivery. Customers can choose a refund, exchange or gift card, with exchanges and gift card returns available for free, while refunds have a $6.95 return fee deducted from the refund.
The brand also offers instant exchanges and instant refunds through Refundid. Customers can receive an instant refund in as little as 60 seconds, while instant exchanges can be shipped before the original item has been received, giving shoppers a faster way to resolve a return. For standard returns, Australian customers receive a prepaid return label and can drop their parcel at Australia Post.
DISSH
DISSH’s return policy gives customers 30 days to return online orders, with four options available: an instant refund through Refundid, a standard refund, an instant exchange through Refundid, or a DISSH gift card. Sale items have slightly different conditions and can only be exchanged or returned for a gift card.
Return shipping is paid by the customer, with return labels available through DISSH's online returns portal. Australian online orders can also be returned to a DISSH store within 30 days for an exchange or gift card, giving customers some flexibility in how they return their order.
Peppermayo
Peppermayo’s return policy offers a 14-day window for full-priced items to be returned for a refund, while customers have 21 days to request an exchange or store credit. Refunds incur a $15.95 return shipping fee, while store credit and exchanges are free. Customers can also use Refundid to arrange an exchange, with the replacement order sent immediately with free standard shipping.
Sale items are excluded from returns and exchanges, and returned items must be unworn, unwashed and have their original tags attached. Peppermayo also limits customers to two exchanges per order, after which they can receive credit towards a new purchase.
