Thank you, I’d love to understand a bit more

All of the above! I am much less likely to make a purchase with a business selling clothing/footwear if I have to pay the cost of returns postage (especially footwear, I have been BURNED sending back heavy goth boots that don’t fit!). Sizing is so variable between brands (or even inconsistent within the same brand!), that I will often need to order multiple sizes of the same item to find the right fit. I’d rather do this in one go than guess which size will be right, get it wrong and go through the hassle of constantly having to send back individual items and place new orders for alternative sizes. Also, sometimes things just don’t suit/fit your body type or turn up and don’t look like the stock photo. In other words, whilst shopping online can have many benefits over shopping instore, it still comes with a lot of risk and potential stress/time consumption for the customer. Free returns helps to alleviate a lot of the stress around purchases not working out as hoped, for whatever reason. Also, sometimes the cost of postage and/or returns, particularly for sale items, ends up costly enough that returning the item takes a significant chunk of what you would have had refunded. In that instance, I won’t take the risk of losing the money should the item not fit/suit. I have gambled on a few occasions and ended up with an item that I can’t wear, but would be too costly to send back. I haven’t managed to sell them on ebay to get my money back, so it’s just money down the drain for me. It’s a big deal for a chronically ill/disabled person living in poverty who can only shop for items when on sale!

For me it’s more a reassurance I can return for free if things don’t fit as sizing per goth brand can be widely different. (Not your fault, brands like punk rave can run smaller than expected and other times the type of material might not be as stretchy in dark in love items as expected)

Buying online means taking a chance with sizing, so free returns is a an appealing option. I’m also aware of the fact that returns, can have an impact on the business as well, particularly small businesses, so maybe a returns option, like some companies where they will pay up to a certain amount, then the customer can choose to pay any additional returns costs, such as signed for etc. it would be great if companies made things in actual standard sizes, but goth clothing is awful for falling short on sizing, so a returns option that helps customers would be great, it’s just sad that it’s the small who are the ones that absorb the costs when customers have to return, or customers who end up paying for things that don’t fit (but I’m terrible at returns, and tend to just give things away, haha, so at least my friends benefit) x

I prefer the option of free returns because then I can be confident that it will be free and (usually easy) to send it back. I’m less likely to order from a store if the returns cost money and appear to be more of a faff.