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Return Rate Calculator

Enter units sold, units returned and average order value to see your return rate.

How it is calculated

The tool divides returned units by sold units and scales to a percentage: return rate = units_returned ÷ units_sold × 100. The keep rate is the complement, (units_sold − units_returned) ÷ units_sold × 100, and kept units are units_sold − units_returned. Refunded value is units_returned × average_order_value, so the average order value should be the amount refunded per returned unit, in the same currency as your reporting. All three fields must be filled in. Units sold and units returned must be whole numbers, units sold must be above zero, returns cannot be negative or exceed units sold, and the average value cannot be negative; otherwise no result is shown. Rates are rounded to two decimals, kept units to a whole number.

Worked example

A shop sold 1200 units in a month and received 186 back, with an average order value of 54.90. Return rate: 186 ÷ 1200 × 100 = 15.50%. Keep rate: 100 − 15.50 = 84.50%. Kept units: 1200 − 186 = 1,014. Refunded value: 186 × 54.90 = $10,211.40. So about one unit in every six or seven comes back, and roughly ten thousand in revenue is handed back to customers.

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Common mistakes

  • Counting orders on one side and items on the other: if units sold counts items but returns counts orders (or the reverse), the rate is wrong. Use the same unit for both.
  • Mixing periods: dividing this month's returns by this month's sales ignores that many returns arrive weeks later. Compare returns against the sales cohort they came from.
  • Entering more returns than sales, for example returns from earlier months. The tool then shows no result, so use only the returns that belong to the units sold you entered.
  • Entering the full order value when only part of an order was refunded; the refund figure then overstates what you actually paid back.
  • Reading the keep rate as profit. It only says how many units stayed with customers, not what shipping, restocking and lost resale value cost you.

About this calculator

Return rate is the share of sold units that customers send back: return rate = units returned ÷ units sold × 100. It's one of the core health metrics in e-commerce and retail, alongside its complement, the "keep rate" (100% − return rate), and it directly determines refunded revenue when multiplied by average order value.

E-commerce operators track return rate by category and by SKU because it varies enormously by product type — apparel commonly runs 20-30% due to sizing issues, while categories like consumables or electronics typically sit in the low single digits — and a spike in a specific product's return rate is often the first signal of a sizing chart error, a quality defect or a misleading product listing. Finance and operations teams also use it to model true net revenue, since gross sales figures overstate actual revenue whenever returns are significant.

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