What is RTO in e-commerce?
Short answer
RTO stands for return to origin: an order that is shipped but not delivered and comes back to the seller, often because a cash-on-delivery customer refuses or can’t be reached. It costs you shipping both ways and ties up stock.
RTO is one of the biggest hidden costs in Indian e-commerce, especially for COD-heavy brands.
It is different from a customer return, which happens after successful delivery.
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Answered by ScaleInbox · Reviewed by Shubham Vishwakarma, founder