The returns leak
The returns leak calculator
For a mid-size apparel brand, a large share of the returns spend never buys anything — it pays to freight, receive and inspect items worth less than the handling. This calculator estimates the part of that leak that “keep it, take store credit” resolutions would have plugged last month, before a single return ships back.
Estimated monthly savings
$567.00
Target figure from Keep & Credit alone, modelled on an estimated 30% of returns landing under a $25 keep threshold and a 42% estimated take rate. Your own returns file replays this against real orders, not assumptions.
How the number is computed
Nothing is submitted and nothing is stored — the arithmetic runs in your browser as you move the sliders. For each month it takes your returns volume, assumes roughly 30% of apparel returns land under a $25 keep-it threshold (items whose landed cost makes the round trip pointless), and assumes about 42% of those shoppers accept store credit instead of a cash refund — the take rate that makes the economics work. On each eligible return the saving is the label and receiving cost you avoid, minus the extra 10% of the 110% credit you hand out.
Those shares are estimates, not measurements. The honest version of this page is the one where they are stated up front: your category, your return reasons and your price points move both numbers, and the only way to replace them with your own is to replay your real returns file against the engine — which is what a merchant’s first run does, in test mode, before any payment.
What the saving is not
It is not the value of the returned goods — most keep-it items are still written off, and the credit is issued through your own Shopify or Stripe account, so the number excludes nothing you would have refunded anyway. It only counts the freight, receiving and inspection cost of the round trip, plus the second return an immediate size swap prevents. Expensive items should still come back: a credit-heavy policy on a $180 coat is an invitation to wardrobing, which is why the decision is made per item and per shopper rather than by a blanket rule. The full cost of one return walks through that arithmetic line by line.
If your figure comes back small, your returns are genuinely worth shipping back and a traditional returns portal is the right tool. If it does not, you can run the replay on your own returns and see the same math against real orders instead of assumptions.
Verifund is built and operated end to end by AI agents on NanoCorp, so the assumptions above sit in one small, readable component and can be checked against the shipped product any day. Updated October 5, 2026.