E-commerce refund rates benchmark: 8 sectors, 412 shops, 18 months.
The median European e-commerce shop refunds 7,8% of orders. Apparel sits highest at 14,3%, supplements lowest at 2,1%. The sector matters more than the platform — and shops that track the refund line daily lose 3,4 points less than shops that don't, based on 412 e-commerce shops on nouz.
Across 412 European e-commerce shops on nouz between September 2024 and March 2026, the median refund rate sits at 7,8% of gross order value. Apparel runs highest at 14,3%; supplements run lowest at 2,1%. The within-sector spread between top and bottom quartile is roughly 5 points — meaning a typical apparel shop can plausibly run anywhere from 9% to 19%, with very different P&L implications.
Methodology
Anonymised daily P&L and revenue-adjustment data from 412 e-commerce shops on nouz between September 2024 and March 2026. Eleven countries, predominantly Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden. Refund rate = refunded revenue / gross revenue, on a 30-day rolling window. Eight sectors: apparel, homeware, jewellery, supplements, food, beauty, kids, accessories. Excluded: shops with fewer than 60 trading days in the sample and shops with zero refunds recorded (likely tracking gap, not a 0% true rate).
By sector: 2% to 14%
| Sector | Median refund rate | Top quartile | Bottom quartile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apparel | 14,3% | 9,1% | 19,6% |
| Jewellery | 9,7% | 5,8% | 13,4% |
| Beauty | 8,4% | 4,9% | 12,8% |
| Homeware | 6,7% | 3,8% | 10,9% |
| Accessories | 5,9% | 3,2% | 9,7% |
| Kids | 4,8% | 2,7% | 7,8% |
| Food | 3,1% | 1,8% | 5,4% |
| Supplements | 2,1% | 1,1% | 3,9% |
Apparel sits 7× the refund rate of supplements. This is not a function of operator skill — it is fit, sizing, photography vs. reality. The right benchmark for an apparel shop is not the cross-sector median (7,8%) but the apparel median (14,3%).
The within-sector spread
The more useful number is not the cross-sector median but the within-sector quartile gap. An apparel shop refunding 19% is bleeding 5-6 percentage points relative to its sector peers. On €400.000 of gross revenue, that is roughly €22.000 of margin a year — most of it recoverable.
For the homeware sector specifically, Olijfboom in Antwerp sits in the second quartile at 7,2%, having moved from a bottom-quartile 11,4% over 14 months largely by reworking product photography and dimension callouts.
The three drivers that move it
The data clusters cleanly around three operational levers that separate within-sector quartiles.
Photography and dimension clarity. Shops that show product worn or in-context (homeware, apparel) refund 30-40% less than catalog-style shots only. The investment pays back inside one season.
Size guide depth. Apparel shops with a model-measurement size guide refund 4,2 points less than shops with a chart-only guide. The cost is one afternoon of work.
Delivery speed. Refund rates rise +1,8 points for every 3 days of delivery lead time beyond the sector norm. The buyer's memory of why they ordered fades; the box arrives feeling redundant.
Why the daily line matters
Shops that record refunds daily (rather than monthly) sit a measured 3,4 points lower on refund rate, after controlling for sector. The likely mechanism: weekly aggregation hides the size-curve problem until it has compounded for a month. Daily entry surfaces it when a single SKU starts producing 3 refunds in a week — a signal you can act on inside 7 days.
See how to log refunds on the revenue tab for the mechanic. The 60-second move is to enter refunds as negative revenue entries on the day they are issued, not when the bookkeeper reconciles at month-end.
For more on the operational impact of daily vs. weekly entry, see why daily, not weekly.
What to do this week
- Compute your 90-day refund rate. Place it against your sector median in the table above.
- If you sit in the bottom quartile of your sector: pick the highest-refund SKU and rebuild its product page (photography + dimension callouts + size guide).
- If you sit at sector median: focus on delivery lead time. Every 3 days you cut is worth roughly 1,8 points.
- If you sit in the top quartile: hold the line. The biggest risk is silent drift — re-check quarterly.
If you are running e-commerce without a daily refund line in your P&L, get started with nouz. The refund column is one of the highest-impact lines on the entire profit and loss statement, and tracking it daily is the only way to keep it honest.
FAQ
What is a good refund rate for an online apparel shop?
European median for apparel is 14,3%. Top quartile sits at 9,1%. Anything above 18% suggests a structural problem in sizing, photography or product copy.
Why are supplement refund rates so low?
Supplements are consumable, opened and used quickly, and rarely have a sizing or fit dimension. The refund rate floor for consumables is naturally 1-3%.
Should I count chargebacks in my refund rate?
Methodologically yes — chargebacks are economically identical to refunds. Most shops on nouz log them as negative revenue on the day the chargeback resolves, which is how this benchmark treats them.
Does the platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.) affect refund rates?
In our data, no — sector explains roughly 70% of the variance, with operational levers (photography, sizing, delivery) explaining most of the rest. The platform is a rounding error.
How does nouz track refund rate?
Refunds are logged as negative entries on the revenue tab and net out against gross revenue in your daily P&L. The 30-day rolling refund rate appears on the Statistics tab.