In an effort to reduce unwarranted returns, mainland Chinese businesses have begun experimenting with the use of ceramic or metal ashtrays as tags for men’s clothing, with promising results. This innovation has quickly gained attention on social media platforms.
In China, some consumers take advantage of the e-commerce “seven-day no reason return” policy by wearing clothes for a few days and then returning them to the merchant. To combat this “wear and return” behavior, businesses have come up with creative strategies.
According to a report by the “Yangcheng Evening News” on November 25th, to prevent clothes from being worn and returned, a men’s clothing store in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, has started using mouse pads, ashtrays, socks, and other items as tags. The use of these creative tags has significantly reduced the return rate. However, the store owner, Mr. Wang, mentioned that while a single piece of clothing used to earn a profit of 30 yuan (RMB), now, with the addition of ashtrays, socks, underwear, and other tags, the profit has decreased to 20 yuan. Nevertheless, the new tags have successfully reduced the return rate, and the store has been receiving positive feedback.
According to “Tencent Finance’s Insight Stock Market,” clothing tags have evolved from simply being identification markers to becoming tools for preventing malicious returns. Large or uniquely designed tags, such as ceramic ashtrays, increase the difficulty of removal, thus defining the boundary of “in good condition” goods and reducing the probability of consumers returning items after “free trial wear.”
Information from “The Paper” indicates that the return rate for men’s clothing e-commerce is between 30% to 40%, but in 2025, due to cross-border purchases (such as women buying men’s clothing), the return rate has increased by 10%.
What about women’s clothing? Public data reveals that the return rate for e-commerce women’s clothing can reach as high as 50% to 60%, with live-stream shopping boasting a return rate of over 80%. Many of these returns are not due to quality issues but rather due to the garments being worn for several days before being returned without reason.
To prevent such unwarranted returns, mainland businesses are now attaching oversized A4 paper tags, combination locks, and other security measures to clothing.
These “scalping” style returns have caused significant losses to businesses. During last year’s Double Eleven shopping festival, a female clothing e-commerce seller in Guangzhou, Ms. Li, told the “Yangcheng Evening News”: “During Double Eleven last year, we stocked goods worth 5 million yuan, but the returns amounted to nearly 4 million yuan. Just the freight compensation alone cost us 120,000 yuan. Many of the returned clothes had visible wear marks, making them unsellable, resulting in a direct loss of over 800,000 yuan.” However, due to the complex process of proving rights and the difficulty of obtaining evidence, most merchants can only bear the losses.
“The Economic Observer” has reported that some businesses cannot afford these losses and are forced to exit the market, with some even fleeing with debts.