Common Concerns
Every reason not to do this, and our honest answer.
We hear the same concerns in every sales conversation. Here they all are, with complete answers. If we've missed yours, ask us directly.
Last updated: April 2026
The obvious question first
Where's the catch? This sounds too good to be true.
There are two honest catches, and we think they're worth it, but they're real.
First: senders usually wait up to 7 days for a match. For low-volume SKUs this is unavoidable. For high-volume SKUs matches are instant, but not every category is high-volume. Some consumers pick conventional return over Forwarding because they prefer the immediate drop-off. That's a feature of the system, not a bug: consumer choice is always preserved.
Second: Forwarding needs volume to work. Below 50 returns per month, the economics are real but the absolute savings are too small to justify the setup time. We've had this conversation with small retailers and told them to come back when they grow. Our incentives are aligned here: we don't want pilots that won't pay back.
If neither of those is a dealbreaker for your situation, the rest of the claims on this site are as substantive as they appear. Kuyichi's live data (43% adoption, 4.8/5 rating, 98% good condition) is real. The methodology has been independently validated. We've staked our company on it.
One more thing worth noting: the company was founded by one of the underlying paper's co-authors, not by people who heard about peer-to-peer returns somewhere and tried to build a product around the idea. The research came first. The company came second. That's the most honest 'where's the catch' answer we have: the claims come from research we published before the product existed, not from product marketing we wrote after.
Quality & product condition
We can't physically inspect items before they reach the next buyer. How do we know what they're getting?
98% of items arrive in good condition (positive or neutral buyer rating): our live client data from 2025. The complaints we receive are about packaging, not product condition. The system is designed to make careful Forwarding the path of least resistance: the sender declares the item is like new, submits photos before receiving a label, and only receives their refund after the buyer confirms good condition. Someone who has a financial stake in a positive buyer rating behaves differently from someone dropping a return in a post box.
What if a consumer sends a used or damaged item?
Damaged items are excluded upfront: Forwarding is not offered if the return reason is 'damaged'. For the small share of items where condition is misrepresented: the buyer has the same right of return as any normal purchase and can return to the warehouse. The refund system means the sender bears the financial consequence of a poor rating. Repeat bad actors are filtered by our behavioural monitoring. In practice, this scenario is rare; the incentive structure works.
Consumers fold things carelessly or use the wrong packaging.
This is the real complaint, and it is a fair one. We address it through sender guidance in the return flow: instructions on folding, using the original packaging, and what 'like new' means in practice. It is an area we are actively improving. It does not affect the product itself, only presentation. For most categories, this is a minor issue that does not generate buyer complaints.
What about items that are slightly worn, 'tried on' but not actually like new?
The consumer self-declares condition. This is the same trust model as your current return process: consumers already self-report return reasons, and those are taken largely at face value. The difference is that in Forwarding, a buyer rating creates accountability after the fact. If a buyer receives an item that is not as described, they rate it accordingly and the seller's Forwarding access is affected. It is a better accountability mechanism than a warehouse checker who spends 10 seconds per item.
How do you handle repeat bad actors, consumers who systematically misrepresent condition?
We track sender behaviour across all Forwards they initiate. Senders with two or more negative buyer ratings in a 90-day window are automatically excluded from Forwarding for the next 6 months. They can still return to warehouse as normal, they just lose access to the discounted Forwarding option. We have seen fewer than a handful of cases across all live clients so far. In practice, the refund-on-rating mechanism is self-selecting: consumers with a history of careless handling either improve or stop using Forwarding because their refunds get delayed or reversed.
What if our category is higher-end? Won't buyers expect pristine condition?
Higher-end categories often work better than average. The financial incentive structure cuts both ways in their favour: senders of premium items have a larger refund at stake and present the item more carefully, and buyers self-select toward the Forwarding option because the discount on a higher-AOV item is more meaningful. That said, some categories genuinely do not fit: luxury goods where authentication matters, technical items requiring specialised inspection, intimate apparel and swimwear, and anything with a return rate above 60%. We tell you honestly if your category is a poor fit during scoping.
Full detail: where peer-to-peer returns work and where they do not
For a full technical explanation of every quality gate: Read the quality page →
Consumer experience
What if consumers don't want to Forward? Will they feel forced?
Forwarding is always opt-in. The consumer chooses between 'Forward to another customer' and 'Return to warehouse'; both options are shown clearly. No one is pushed toward Forwarding. Our live data shows 43% choose it voluntarily, which means 57% choose the conventional option. Both work exactly as expected.
What if the consumer holds the item and never ships it?
If the item is not shipped within 3 days of the label being issued, the system automatically redirects: conventional warehouse fulfillment is triggered for the buyer's order, and the consumer's return goes back to the standard warehouse process. No manual intervention is needed from your team. No buyer is left waiting indefinitely.
Our customers expect fast delivery. Does Forwarding slow things down for the buyer?
For the buyer, delivery is typically 1–3 days longer than warehouse fulfilment because the sender has up to 3 days to drop off the package. Buyers see the extended delivery window at checkout and consciously choose the Forward option anyway, typically because of the discount. Our data shows buyers who choose Forward have 4.8/5 satisfaction, so the speed trade-off is acceptable to them. If speed is critical for your category (premium or time-sensitive categories), you can configure Forwarding off for those SKUs entirely; the buyer never sees the option, and your normal fast-delivery pipeline runs unchanged.
What if a Forwarded buyer has a bad experience and blames our brand?
The buyer knows they bought a Forwarded item: it's disclosed clearly at checkout ("Sent directly from another customer"). In 0 recorded cases to date has a Forwarded buyer raised a complaint that mistook their experience for a standard warehouse purchase. The buyer rating system also gives them a direct outlet for dissatisfaction that doesn't route through your customer service. If they rate negatively, the refund to the sender is held, which signals to us and to you that something went wrong, and gives us the data to filter out that specific sender for future Forwards. Brand exposure is bounded because the buyer opted in with eyes open, and because the rating mechanism catches issues before they escalate to your support team.
Operations & IT
Our IT team is already stretched. How complex is the integration?
Most clients are live within a week. For supported platforms (Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud) the integration is a plugin install and configuration, not a custom development project; if you use Returnless or Bleckmann, the integration is native. For ERP integration specifically, three patterns work cleanly across major systems (Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP, NetSuite, Acumatica) and none require custom development. Most retailers start with the lightest pattern during a pilot and migrate to deeper integration once volume justifies it.
Full detail: ERP integration patterns for peer-to-peer return forwarding
What happens to our ERP and OMS? Do we need to change our systems?
No. We send webhook notifications at each stage (listing created, match made, label issued, buyer rating, refund triggered) which your ERP or OMS receives and processes like any other event. Most enterprise deployments use the virtual warehouse pattern: items in transit between consumers live in a logical inventory location with zero balance, the same accounting approach that handles drop-shipping cleanly. Your inventory ledger stays reconciled and standard ERP reports work without modification. Two lighter patterns also exist (non-inventory item with monthly correction, or ignore-in-ERP with end-of-month reconciliation) and we pick the right one with your controller during onboarding. We do not require changes to your core commerce systems.
Full detail: ERP integration patterns for peer-to-peer return forwarding
What if the Forward doesn't work for a particular order: does it break our fulfilment?
No. If a match is not made within the matching period, or if the consumer doesn't ship in time, conventional warehouse fulfilment is triggered automatically. Forwarding is always additive: it sits on top of your existing fulfilment flow and only activates when all conditions are met. Your warehouse remains the fallback for everything.
We use a return portal (Returnless, Narvar, etc.). Does this conflict?
No; it integrates. We have a native integration with Returnless. For other return portals, Forwarding appears as an option inside the portal's existing consumer flow. We do not replace your return portal; we add a Forward option to it.
What does ongoing maintenance look like on our side?
Very little. Once live, Forwarding runs automatically: no manual matching, no manual label issuance, no manual refund processing. Your team sees the results in your dashboard and receives webhook events in your systems; catalogue, pricing, and SKU changes sync via the API. Most retailers see returns as an evolving operational area (changing volumes, regulatory updates, automation maturity) and peer-to-peer routing fits into that picture without requiring a dedicated team.
Full detail: how operations teams handle the changing returns landscape
We're mid-transformation already. We can't add another initiative right now.
Forwarding is explicitly designed to not be a transformation initiative. It's an additive layer: your existing return portal, carriers, ERP, and customer service pipelines all continue to operate. Integration is 1–5 days for supported platforms (plugin install + configuration). There's no new tool for your customer service team to learn; they see the same return records in your existing systems, just with additional metadata. If you genuinely don't have IT bandwidth right now, tell us; we can pilot with a reduced scope (one SKU category, one market) that needs minimal setup. Or we can schedule the conversation for a quarter when capacity opens up. We're not trying to add to your transformation backlog.
What about SAP, Exact, or other ERPs that aren't Microsoft Dynamics 365?
We integrate with any ERP supporting webhooks, effectively all modern systems. Documented patterns exist for Microsoft Dynamics 365 (BC and F&O), SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business One, NetSuite, Acumatica, and Infor CloudSuite Retail; for fashion-specific stacks, K3 Pebblestone and TRIMIT Fashion are also covered. Implementation typically takes 2 to 5 days for a senior ERP developer; the integration pattern is the same, only the mapping is client-specific.
How does this work with our specific ERP setup at month-end close?
Three integration patterns handle month-end close cleanly. The simplest is a single journal entry per period covering all peer-to-peer activity, sourced from a structured monthly export. The most accurate uses a virtual warehouse with zero balance, where each Forward shows as a same-day receive-and-ship transaction; the middle option books each Forward against a non-inventory item with a monthly correction journal entry. The right choice depends on your existing month-end process and your controller's preferences.
Full detail: ERP integration patterns and month-end handling
We ship across multiple EU countries. Does Forwarding work across borders?
Yes, and arguably better than for single-market retailers. The matching algorithm preferentially routes Forwards within the destination country: an item returned in Germany is matched to a German buyer when possible, saving cross-border shipping and duty costs. Multi-language consumer interface (EN, NL, DE) is included by default. Additional languages can be added. If you ship to markets we don't yet operate carriers in, we can either scope that carrier integration or exclude those markets from Forwarding while your warehouse continues to serve them normally.
Legal & liability
Who is liable if a consumer receives a poor-quality item?
Your standard consumer protection obligations apply, as they do for any purchase on your webshop. The buyer purchased from you; you remain the seller of record. If the buyer is unhappy, they have the same right of return as any normal purchase. The financial consequence of a quality failure falls on the sender (their refund is withheld or reversed if the rating is poor), not on you. Your liability exposure is not materially different from a conventional return that gets re-listed.
Is this GDPR compliant? Consumer addresses are being shared.
Addresses are never shared between consumers. The sender never sees the buyer's address and the buyer never sees the sender's address. Shipping labels are generated by It Goes Forward and passed directly to the carrier. We are GDPR Article 28 compliant data processors. A Data Processing Agreement (verwerkersovereenkomst) is available for all clients.
Our legal team wants to see a Data Processing Agreement.
We have one. A GDPR Article 28 compliant DPA is available before contract signature. It covers sub-processors, breach notification, data retention, deletion, and audit rights. Contact us and we will send it within 24 hours of request.
Who owns the customer data during a Forward?
The retailer (you) is the data controller throughout the Forward lifecycle. It Goes Forward processes data on your behalf as a GDPR Article 28 data processor, under the DPA signed before contract. No data is transferred to IGF ownership, no data is used for purposes beyond operating Forwarding for your webshop, and all data can be exported or deleted on contract termination within 30 days. Sub-processor data handling (GCP, Mollie, Postmark) is bound by the same terms.
What about our brand IP on the Forwarded items: packaging, labels, returns slips?
The item is returned in its original packaging (yours) and ships to the next buyer in that same packaging. The shipping label is a standard carrier label generated against your carrier contract; it carries your return address format and the carrier's information. The sender does not receive any IGF branding. The buyer does not see any IGF branding. Your brand IP on the packaging and return materials is preserved because we don't touch the physical item; we only route it.
Does the consumer's right of return still apply to a Forwarded item?
Yes, fully. A buyer who receives a Forwarded item has the same right of return as any normal purchase: they can return it to the warehouse or, if condition still qualifies, Forward it again. Your standard return policy is completely preserved.
What about consumer protection law: are we selling a 'second-hand' item without disclosing it?
Buyers are explicitly informed they are purchasing a returned item, similar to 'open box' or 'consumer return' categories common in e-commerce. The opt-in nature of the buyer purchase, combined with the explicit disclosure and the right of return, is legally equivalent to any clearly disclosed non-new product sale. This is the same legal basis used by Vinted, Back Market, and retailers' own pre-loved sections.
Commercial & pricing
We only pay when a Forward is sold, but what is the monthly fee for?
The monthly fee covers access to the platform, the matching algorithm, the return portal integration, consumer notifications, CO₂ reporting, and ongoing support. The per-Forward fee is the performance component: you only pay it when Forwarding actually saves you money.
Recovery depends on volume and the platform fee tier. For a typical mid-sized retailer, the monthly platform fee is usually covered within the first 20 to 30 Forwards of the month. At higher volume, recovery is proportionally faster. After recovery, every Forward is net benefit.
What if adoption is low and we Forward very few items?
Low adoption costs you very little: you pay per Forward, so low volume means low fees. But low adoption is worth investigating: our live data shows 43% adoption at Kuyichi. If your rate is significantly lower, it usually points to how the option is presented in the return flow rather than fundamental consumer reluctance. We work with clients to improve adoption as part of onboarding.
Is this financially worth it for small volumes?
Forwarding requires a minimum of roughly 50 returns per month to generate enough volume for matching to work consistently. Below that threshold, peer-to-peer routing struggles to find matches reliably and conventional warehouse routing is more efficient. Above that threshold, the per-Forward economics work: you save €5 to €12 per return after our fee of €1.50 to €4.50 per Forward by volume tier. Below the threshold, we will tell you so honestly and ask you to come back when volume grows.
What is the contract term? Are we locked in?
We offer monthly contracts. We do not believe in locking clients into long terms before they have seen the results. A 90-day pilot is the most common starting point: it is enough to see real adoption data and a real financial impact. See what a pilot looks like → /pilot. After that, continuing is an easy decision or an easy exit.
What if we already work with a returns management provider?
We are not a returns management provider; we are a Forwarding layer that sits on top of your existing return infrastructure. We integrate with return portals (Returnless, Bleckmann) rather than replacing them. There is almost never a conflict: we coexist with every return management provider we've encountered. The only exception is if your provider explicitly contracts exclusivity on return flow routing, which is rare. Tell us who you work with and we'll confirm compatibility in under a day.
See how Forwarding compares to return portals and other approaches → /compare
How do we calculate the actual financial impact of Forwarding for our specific volume?
The per-Forward economics are straightforward: €5 to €12 saved per Forward against the cost of a conventional warehouse return, minus the per-Forward fee (€1.50 to €4.50 by volume tier). What is harder is calculating the conventional cost properly: most retailers undercount it because the visible line items (shipping, processing) miss depreciation, opportunity cost, write-off probability, and customer-service overhead. Our calculator uses defensible assumptions; for retailers building their own models, the true-cost methodology in our article walks through the components in detail.
How does Forwarding fit alongside other return reduction strategies (charging for returns, better sizing, etc.)?
Forwarding is complementary, not competing. The most efficient return is the one that does not happen: better sizing data, photography, and return-policy design reduce return volume in the first place. When returns do happen, Forwarding addresses how they are routed. Many clients pursue both approaches simultaneously: reduction lowers the volume, Forwarding makes the remaining volume more efficient.
Strategic & regulatory
How does Forwarding intersect with the 2026 EU sustainability regulations?
The 2026 wave (CSRD reporting, PPWR August 2026, Empowering Consumers Directive enforcement September 2026, ESPR textile destruction phasing) all touch returns directly. Forwarding's per-transaction CO₂ measurement supports defensible CSRD Scope 3 reporting; the elimination of the warehouse round-trip reduces packaging exposure under PPWR; ISO-standard methodology aligns with ECD's prohibition on offset-based claims; and the reduced write-off rate supports ESPR compliance. Compliance teams typically appreciate that the methodology is reproducible and audit-defensible from day one.
Full detail: EU sustainability regulations for fashion retailers
What's our EPR exposure if we sell across multiple EU countries?
Each EU country with active textile EPR (France since 2007, Netherlands since 2023, Sweden 2024 to 2025, others phasing in) has its own scheme operator, registration process, fee structure, and reporting requirement. Cross-border retailers face cumulative exposure across all markets where they place products. Forwarded items that resell to a new buyer typically do not generate new EPR liability, since items in their second buyer cycle have not entered new disposal flow.
How does this affect our CO₂ reporting?
Per-Forward CO₂ savings are calculated to ISO 14064 standards from real shipping data: no offsets, no estimates. Each Forward typically saves 250 to 400g of CO₂ depending on geography. The methodology is auditable and supports CSRD Scope 3 reporting and ECD-compliant sustainability claims, which prohibit offset-based 'carbon neutral' framings.
Full detail: how to reduce CO₂ emissions from e-commerce returns
We're concerned about CSRD compliance complexity. Does Forwarding help or complicate this?
Forwarding generally simplifies CSRD reporting on the returns dimension. Per-transaction CO₂ data is already in the format CSRD and ESRS E1 require: measured emissions reduction with documented methodology, no offsets. The data exports directly into Scope 3 disclosures. Compliance teams typically find peer-to-peer routing easier to defend than offset-based 'carbon neutral returns' framings, which face increasing audit scrutiny.
Full detail: EU sustainability regulations for fashion retailers
Is Forwarding a 'fast fashion fix' or does it work for premium brands?
Premium brands often see better adoption and unit economics than fast fashion. Higher-AOV items mean larger absolute savings per Forward, and premium customer demographics are typically more comfortable with peer-to-peer transactions (Vinted, Depop, eBay). Brand control concerns are manageable through configuration: premium brands often disable Forwarding for their highest-end SKUs while running it for the broader catalogue.
Your concern isn't listed here?
Send it to us. If it's a concern others are likely to have, we'll add the answer here within two business days. If it's specific to your situation, we'll answer directly.
We update this page regularly as new concerns come up in sales conversations. Last updated: April 2026. If you're reading an older version, the concerns that mattered still matter.