​Returns are broken in e-commerce. What would actually fix them?

You know how when you order something online and it doesn’t fit, you send it back? Stores hate that. Not just because of postage, but because it’s a giant mess. Someone has to answer emails, check the package, figure out what to do with it. Half the time it just sits in a warehouse corner.

Here’s the crazy part: we already know which orders are likely to be returned. We could refund people just by looking at a couple of photos instead of mailing things back across borders. And instead of tossing stuff aside, we could send it straight to be fixed, resold, or recycled.

Basically, returns could be faster for customers and cheaper for stores if anyone bothered to rethink the system.