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The average subscription business lost 3.60% of its subscribers a month in July 2026, according to Recurly's cross-industry billing benchmark data, split into 2.34% voluntary and 1.25% involuntary churn. Here is why subscribers cancel, how hard cancellation flows still are, and where the law stands.
Refund policy and return policy get used interchangeably, but they describe two different steps in a transaction. Here is what the law actually regulates, and what your document needs to cover either way.
First-party fraud now puts $132 billion of e-commerce revenue at risk, according to Sift's Q4 2025 Digital Trust Index, based on an October 2025 survey of 1,075 US adults. Here is the 2025-2026 data on who commits it, where they learn it, and what it costs afterward.
56% of apparel and footwear brands report a return rate of 30% or higher, according to Radial and Two Boxes' State of Retail Returns 2025 survey of 200 US retailers. See what drives clothing returns, fraud, and refund policy design in 2026.
Ecommerce fraud pressure rose 33% year over year in early 2026, per Signifyd's 2026 State of Fraud Report, while global losses head toward $107 billion by 2029 (Juniper Research). See the 2026 data on losses, attack types, and refund abuse.
The average Shopify store converts visitors into buyers at 1.4%, while the platform's top 10% of stores convert above 4.7%, according to Littledata's benchmark of 2,800 Shopify sites. See 2026 conversion benchmarks by device, funnel stage, and store tier.
US holiday retail sales are forecast to reach $1.01 trillion to $1.02 trillion for the November-December 2025 season, the first time the season has been projected to cross $1 trillion, according to the National Retail Federation. See the online sales, single-day, payment, and return forecasts feeding into 2026 planning.
Subscription boxes ship curated physical goods on a recurring schedule, which raises refund questions a digital subscription policy never faces: skip vs cancel deadlines and damaged-shipment handling.
Cash's share of US consumer payments fell to 14% in 2024, down from 31% in 2016, according to the Federal Reserve's 2025 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice. See how cash stacks up against credit, debit, and euro area trends in 2026.
81% of shoppers say they review a store's return policy before completing a purchase, according to the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns' 2025 survey of 2,006 consumers. See what shoppers check for, and why unclear terms cost sales.
51% of Gen Z shoppers now bracket their online orders, buying multiple sizes or colors with a plan to return most of it, according to NRF and Happy Returns' 2024 Consumer Returns report (n=2,007). See how UK data, retailer costs, and return-fee policy compare going into 2026.
US retailers send an estimated 9.5 billion pounds of returned merchandise to landfills each year, producing 24 million metric tons of CO2, per Optoro's 2022 environmental impact study. Here is how that number has moved since 2017.
11.4% of 2026 return value was flagged high risk for fraud, per Loop Returns' Global Ecommerce Report (23.4M returns, 4,000+ merchants). See how that compares to Appriss Retail and Deloitte's 15.14% and NRF's 9% fraud-rate estimates.
Returns and refunds consume 20% to 25% of revenue once reverse logistics, processing, and restocking are counted, according to Seel's 2025 State of Returns and Refunds Report (10M+ transactions). See the full 2026 cost breakdown for retailers.
Mobile shopping carts are abandoned at a 77.06% rate, versus 66.39% on desktop, per Dynamic Yield's eCommerce Benchmarks dashboard (July 2024 snapshot). See the device gap, its history since 2015, and why the smallest screen carries the highest abandonment rate.
Amazon lists roughly 600 million products for sale as of 2026, per AMZScout's Product Database, with third-party sellers supplying 588 million (97.9%) of that total. See the seller split, category breakdown, and growth since 2015.
Governor Phil Scott signed Vermont's H.512 (Act 109) on May 26, 2026, effective July 1, 2026, capping ticket resale at 110% of face value at qualifying independent venues and banning speculative listings and deceptive reseller URLs.
The FTC announced on April 9, 2026 that StubHub will pay $10 million and adopt all-in pricing after being charged with drip pricing under the FTC Act and the agency's Junk Fees Rule. Here is what the order requires and what it means for how you disclose fees.
Apparel and footwear return at 24.4% online, well above the 19.3% blended ecommerce average, according to Coresight Research (2023) and the National Retail Federation (2025). See return rate benchmarks by industry, channel, and category for 2026.
17% of holiday sales were expected to be returned in the 2025 season, according to NRF and Happy Returns' 2025 Retail Returns Landscape report (2,006 consumers, 358 retailers). See post-Christmas return rates, fraud data, and what shoppers want from a return policy.
PayPal had 439 million active accounts worldwide at the end of 2025, per its Q4/full-year 2025 earnings release, and 57% of US adults say they have used it. See the account growth history, country breakdown, and how PayPal's user count compares to Venmo.
How to write a refund policy for SaaS, digital downloads, and subscriptions, covering mid-cycle proration, trial-to-paid conversion windows, and app store rules that override your own terms.
Smartphones drove 56.4% of US online holiday transactions in 2025, up from 54.5% in 2024, according to Adobe Analytics' review of more than 1 trillion visits to US ecommerce sites. See the 2026 mobile ecommerce share data by season and category.
The average U.S. adult has 3.4 active paid subscriptions in 2026, down from 4.4 in 2023, according to Self Financial's survey of 1,272 U.S. adults. See streaming, spending, and forgotten-subscription data for 2026.
Virginia's amended automatic-renewal law took effect July 1, 2026, requiring a cancellation mechanism at least as easy to use as sign-up through every enrollment channel, per HB1022/SB493 amending the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
Merchants estimate 43.8% of their chargebacks are friendly fraud, per Chargebacks911's 2026 Chargeback Field Report (n=250+ merchants). Card networks and industry reports put the real share anywhere from 13% to 30%, and here is why the numbers disagree so sharply.
42% of cart abandoners say they were just browsing and not ready to buy, the single most-cited reason ahead of extra costs at 40%, per Baymard Institute's checkout abandonment survey. See all 12 reasons ranked for 2026.
There are 2,898,351 live Shopify stores worldwide as of Q3 2026, according to StoreLeads' store-tracking data, while BuiltWith's broader technology-detection scan counts closer to 6.9 million Shopify installations. Here is why the two numbers differ.
An estimated 19.3% of online purchases were returned in 2025, according to the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns. See the 2026 return-rate breakdown by category, region, and season.
On July 10, 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and DCWP Commissioner Samuel Levine adopted New York City's Click-to-Cancel rule, the first municipal cancellation law in the country, taking effect October 1, 2026.
About 15.14% of US retail returns were fraudulent or abusive in 2024, costing retailers $103 billion, according to Appriss Retail and Deloitte's Consumer Returns report. See 2026 return fraud rates, costs, and detection methods.
About 2.25% of purchases were refunded between January and October 2025, per ACI Worldwide's transaction data, rising to 2.89% in December. See how often shoppers actually get their money back in 2026.
PayPal closed 2025 with 439 million active accounts and $1.79 trillion in total payment volume, according to its Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings release. See PayPal's user, volume, and market share data for 2026.
Mobile devices drove an estimated 59% of global ecommerce sales in 2025, but mobile shoppers abandon carts at 80.02% versus 66.41% on desktop, per Baymard Institute's meta-analysis of 50 studies. See the 2026 mobile commerce data.
The global subscription economy will reach $738.82 billion in 2026, up from $623.61 billion in 2025, according to Research and Markets. See subscriber growth, churn, and spending data for 2026.
70.22% of online shopping carts are abandoned before checkout, per Baymard Institute's compilation of 50 studies through 2025. See abandonment rates by industry, top reasons, and how return policy clarity affects the number.
Chargeback fraud and misuse cost US merchants more than $170 billion a year, according to Chargebacks911's 2025 Cardholder Dispute Index. See the 2026 data on rates, costs, and friendly fraud by industry.
Only 165,000 new sellers launched on Amazon in 2025, a decade low, even as third-party sellers pushed past 61% of units sold. See the 2026 data on Amazon sellers, sales, and market share.
Shopify merchants sold $378.4 billion in goods in 2025, up 29% year over year, according to Shopify's FY2025 SEC filing. See the full 2026 breakdown of store counts, merchant numbers, countries, and revenue.
An estimated 19.3% of online sales were returned in 2025, according to the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns. See return rate benchmarks by category, cost, and fraud for 2026.
A Refund and Return Policy is essential for any online store. Learn what it must cover, why customers expect it, and how to generate one.
![Shopify Conversion Rate 2026 [Benchmarks]](/_astro/shopify-conversion-rate-2026.LU6tWJJJ_1Kpf4P.webp)
![77% of Mobile Shopping Carts Are Abandoned [2026]](/_astro/what-percentage-of-mobile-carts-are-abandoned.CaBzu4Vv_w4hqv.webp)
![56.4% of US Ecommerce Sales Are Now Mobile [2026 Data]](/_astro/what-percentage-of-ecommerce-is-mobile.MRk4fgTK_ZTAVfc.webp)
![$738.82B Subscription Economy 2026 [Market Data]](/_astro/subscription-economy-statistics-2026.DlJyP-Sz_1lQ00z.webp)
![19.3% of Online Orders Are Returned: 2026 [Benchmarks]](/_astro/ecommerce-return-rate-statistics-2026.CZg1x-y__1IyODE.webp)
