Asos Introduces New Policy Targeting Excessive Returns With Permanent Account Closures

The platform is responding to complaints from customers whose accounts have been closed, which are already flooding social media. The ecommerce says it is a “small group” that has not made a “fair use” of the returns.

Asos permanently closes customer accounts with high return rate

Modaes

23 jun 2025 - 15:27

Asos closes accounts of customers who make too many returns and complaints from users are not long in coming. As advanced by the specialized media Drapers, the company insists that it is a “small group of customers” who would not have made a “fair use” of the platform.

The company has defended its decision, claiming that blocking certain customers allows it to continue offering free refunds to everyone else in the main markets.In September, the company already introduced an extra fee for UK customers who frequently return large quantities of products, unless they kept items worth at least £40 (over $53), or £15 for members ($20).

Users who have received notification of the closure of their accounts have not been slow to show their anger on social networks. Some insist that the number of returns is because they are unsure of their sizes, others claim to have been loyal customers for many years.

Asos angers its users, who use social networks to complain about the closure of their accounts

According to the latest data published, the British fashion ecommerce giant managed in the first half of the year to halve its red numbers, despite the insistent fall in its sales. Losses were reduced by £56.2 million ($75.5 million), while gross profit fell by 3.31% to £584.2 million ($785,2 million).

Asos sales totaled £1,291.6 million ($1,736 million), down 13.75% from £1,497.6 million ($2,012 million) in the first half of 2024.

Asos is not the first to get off the free returns boat, which are gradually disappearing from fashion ecommerce. More and more stringent conditions are being applied for free returns, as well as rising prices for home-to-store shipping. The crusade against these practices is aimed at reducing the cost of returns, one of the main cost items for online operators.

The first to end total free returns was Zara, in May 2022, when it announced that it would start charging a flat fee for online returns in thirty markets worldwide. H&M also switched to charging for each package returned by customers who do not belong to the membership program. Zalando began charging for the delivery of packages valued at less than $29 in 2019, in Italy, and then reduced the returns period from 100 days to 30 days in some markets.