Why does bracketing drive so many returns?

Bracketing is the habit of buying the same item in two or three sizes with the plan to keep one and send the rest back. For the shopper it is rational: sizing varies by brand, trying at home beats a fitting room, and free returns make it free to be unsure. For the brand it looks like strong demand right up until most of it comes back.

The cost is bigger than the return label. Every bracketed order ships two or three units to produce one kept sale, which means two or three picks, two or three outbound shipments, and then inspection, steaming, and repackaging on the way back. Returned units often cannot go back to full-price stock immediately, and some never do. A customer with a 30 percent keep rate can easily cost more in logistics than they contribute in margin.

Bracketing is not wardrobing, and the distinction matters for how you respond. Wardrobing is wearing and returning; it is abuse. Bracketing is uncertainty about fit; it is a sizing and information problem. Punishing bracketers the way you would punish abusers just loses customers who were trying to buy. The right response to bracketing is better fit guidance, clearer size charts, and honest customer reviews about fit, plus scoring that recognizes the pattern for what it is.

What scoring sees in bracketing is a signature: multi-size orders of the same SKU, short keep windows, high return rates concentrated in fit reasons, and keep-rate history that is stable rather than escalating. Honest bracketers keep buying. That stability is the tell. A scoring layer routes these customers toward fit help and targeted guidance instead of warnings, which cuts the return rate without cutting the customer.