Online retailers brace for flood of returns

NEW YORK (AP) – Many happy returns? For the nation’s online retailers, there will be many returns – but they won’t be happy about them.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many shoppers made their holiday purchases online. That was a boon to merchants that sell through the internet.

However, it’s estimated that shoppers will return twice as many items as they did during last year’s holiday period.

That will mean more sales will be reversed. It also means buyers will find that refunds will take longer to process because of slow shipping.