Free are advertised as a service to the customer.
They are also a large and rising cost for the seller.
A returned item must be collected, checked, and listed again.
Each of those steps costs more than the on many products.
Clothing is the extreme case, with rates above one in three.
Buyers order two sizes on purpose and send one back.
have tried to reduce the rate rather than the service.
Better and photographs on real bodies both help.
So does showing what other buyers of that size decided to keep.
Charging for cuts the rate immediately and cuts orders too.
Most sellers judge that trade to be a bad one.
The items that come back are not always .
A share of them goes to because checking costs more than the item.