Zalando blocks customer accounts - returns kings are kicked out!

No more free returns - Zalando pulls the ripcord

What was once celebrated as a customer-friendly service is now causing frustration and disappointment: Zalando, one of Europe's largest online fashion retailers, has started to block - sorry, "pause" - customers' accounts. The reason? Too many returns.

What used to be known as "selection shopping" - simply ordering five sizes and returning four - is now apparently a no-go. If you overdo it, you have to stay out. For a whole twelve months. According to Zalando, there is "only a very small group" of affected customers - around 0.02% of the total customer base - but it is precisely this group that is now making a lot of noise.

Selection shopping? Zalando says: Not with us anymore!

Some customers appear to have used the generous returns policy as a personal dressing room for years. One victim is quoted as saying: "I clearly used it as 'choice shopping'." She ordered different styles and sizes, sent most of it back - and was then locked out for a year. Without warning. Without any reference to the new regulation. For her, an "outrage".

The mood on Trustpilot is also tense. From "Plus customers" with special status to family men - many report that they can no longer use their account without warning. Some feel downright punished, even though they are long-standing and paying customers.

Zalando counters: the measure only affects a very small proportion of customers. The company also wants to improve its service - among other things by providing more realistic product photos to avoid bad purchases. Returns yes - but not in XXL style, please.

Change in e-commerce: what is really behind the new course?

Zalando is not an isolated case. More and more retailers are tightening their returns rules because returns are expensive, time-consuming and anything but sustainable. Even if Zalando cautiously calls it a "break" - the effect remains: Customers can no longer order anything.

The background is clear: every returned parcel costs money, ties up resources and pollutes the environment. The pandemic and the shopping boom of recent years have exacerbated the problem. Now there is a backlash - at the expense of frequent shoppers.

Plain text instead of small print!

Zalando can of course change its rules. But then please give notice - and make it clear. Simply blocking (sorry: pausing) accounts without first providing transparent information about new conditions? That's not possible.

Anyone who has been ordering faithfully for years, spends a lot of money and is suddenly excluded rightly feels unfairly treated. And just because it "only" affects 0.02% of customers doesn't mean they should be silenced.

Our tip to Zalando: fairness is always better than silence. A personal conversation with the customers concerned would probably have been more stylish than the silent expulsion.