>Publishing return rates on specific SKUs can build consumer confidence, but also has an industry it may reduce sales of that specific SKUs if your web store or site has enough authority (visibility, web traffic, etc). InternetRetailer discusses one web store implementing “return-o-meter“. We have been toying with the idea ourselves. We would just call it a bland “return rate”. Returns may be high on products with poor quality control (e.g. Made in China), but products are also often returned due to poor design, poorly written manual, or difficulty in using. Return rates need to include meta-data (why the product was returned) to make it a useful statistic.

Another good read related to the computer industry is the return rate computation from one of our competitors, Directron: http://www.directron.com/rates.html