Deciding on a Return Policy

Deciding on a returns policy has been a balance what it would look like in an ideal world, and what it has to look like for now with time and budget restrictions. Here are the factors I took into consideration:

1. Giving you a good shopping experience.

   I know the convenience of online shopping also comes with the compromise of not seeing the item in person first. The fit, fabric or how you feel might not be what you expected, and I don't want you to get stuck with something you won't wear. That sucks for you and defeats one of the principals of Never the Newest: rehoming items so they keep getting worn and removing barriers from shopping secondhand.

2. Being realistic about my expenses as a small business. 
   I would genuinely love to provide free return shipping. I'll be the first to agree that make for a better experience when shopping online. Unfortunately as a newly launched, small business, it's just not feasible to match the policies of bigger brands or billionaire giants like shmamazon. It is something I will continue to review, and hope to offer free returns in the future.

3. Being realistic about hours in the day as a one person operation. Just as I would like to offer free returns, I'd also rather not charge a restocking fee. It honestly feels a bit icky to do it.

   However, it does take time out of the day to process returns and it took time to process the original order. As it's just me doing everything, I do have to offset those lost hours somehow.

   This also ties back to expenses. All payment provides charge me transaction fees, so I'll also get hit with those as well as issuing a refund. A restocking fee helps to soften that blow.

   Again, this is something that I will keep reviewing, and aim to remove restocking fees when I can. 

4. Selling secondhand items. 

   Secondhand items simply have less margin in them than new items, unless they are particularly rare or desirable. To me, the ethical reasons for building a secondhand business outweigh the benefits of having a larger margin to play with.
   I try to be as strategic as possible with what I source for the site, to ensure I can add enough margin to cover expenses and pay myself a liveable wage, while maintaining a good price for you. Nevertheless, there's no getting around the fact that I have to take this into account when deciding what I can or cannot offer for free. 
   

My goal is to grow Never the Newest into a go-to resource for shopping secondhand, with a large, frequently updated range that caters to all sizes, ages and styles. The bigger it gets, the easier it will be to absorb costs like returns shipping. 

Until then, I hope that your reasons for shopping secondhand also mean you'll be happy to give me some grace in these early days. I can't wait to keep improving the experience as Never the Newest grows, and I'd love to have you join me on this journey!