How low can you go: Returns processors find a new way to unload less-than-perfect returns

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When retailers think about returns, they think about how to reduce their incidence rather than how to make them less costly to handle, Schatsky says. “One of the major inhibitions to online shopping has been consumers’ concerns about how difficult it might be to return a package,” he says. “So some retailers have put their investment in making the returns process easier to remove that objection.”

Nevertheless, online b2c liquidation does make sense, Schatsky adds. “A lot of the reverse logistics players offer relatively low-risk ways of getting into the game online, without requiring massive systems modifications to be able to liquidate on places like eBay,” he says. “It has some logic.” l

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