Everything You Need To Know about The RTO (Return To Origin) Shipping Charges

The world of eCommerce is also inclusive of the time taking and tedious process of package delivery. And in this process, we often come across a wide range of confusing terms that are related to the supply and delivery of the items. All of these unique terms have their own meaning and significance in the entire supply chain process.

One of the most common terms related to eCommerce package delivery is RTO (Return to Origin). If you’re wondering what that means, we’re here to help you! 

Read on to find out everything that you need to know about RTO. It will help you to have more insight into the whole concept of eCommerce package delivery and logistics. 

Return to Origin or RTO is a commonly heard term in the eCommerce world. In simple terms, it refers to the non-deliverability of a package and its return to the seller’s address. The courier agency in case of RTO, is not able to deliver the shipment due to non-availability of the recipient and hence sends it back to the warehouse of the shipper.

Therefore, owing to the obvious math, RTO can be an extra expenditure for you. Therefore, the lower the RTO rate, the better it is for your business.

Reasons For Non-Delivery Of Packages

There are various reasons why a package remains undelivered and is sent back to the seller. Some of them are as follows:

• The customer is not available to receive the package.
• The customer denies the delivery of the package.
• The address or other relevant information of the buyer is incorrect.
• The door/ premise/ office is closed.
• Failure in re-attempt for delivery

The next obvious question that arises in your mind – is how is this RTO process carried forward?

In most cases, the package isn’t immediately returned to the seller’s original address. Once the order has been given a non-delivered status from the courier, the following course of action take place:

• Most of the courier services re-attempt delivery of the order, at most 3 times.
• The courier/ seller calls the customer and asks for a favorable delivery time.
• Some of the couriers also send a text message or an IVR call to the customer, to know whether they would want to receive the parcel or decline it.
• If the customer is not reachable by either of the methods or declines the order, an RTO is generated.
• The order is then sent back to the seller’s registered address.

Return to Origin or RTO is classified into four categories depending on their nature.

• Reship immediately and expect a return.
• Reship immediately and don’t expect a return.
• Wait for return and reship.
• Wait for a return and cancel.

Usually, if the recipient is not available, the courier company will make some more attempts and try to call the recipient. If the recipient does not respond even, the courier company marks the shipment as RTO and returns it to the shipper’s warehouse.

The entire return process depends on the contract between the shipper and the courier partner. There is also a shipping charge levied on RTO orders, which in most cases is borne by the seller. However, if you are using a logistics partner such as Shiprocket, these charges are reduced to a minimum.

Alternatively, you can also price your products in such a way that these shipping margins are incorporated.  You can know more about reducing your shipping costs here. The key to delivering your package smartly is to ship your package via a reliable courier partner and monitor your buyer behavior closely.