Asos customers banned for being ‘serial returners’ say it is ‘deeply concerning’

Shoppers using the online retailer Asos have complained about having their accounts closed and being accused of breaching a “fair use” policy on returns.

Asos updated its terms and conditions last September, introducing charges for shoppers who frequently returned large numbers of goods in attempts to crack down on “serial returners”.

In the past few days some customers have reported receiving emails saying their accounts would be deactivated.

One shopper, Tskenya-Sarah Frazer, said she had been contacted to say her account had been closed because she had made too many returns.

“As a tall, plus-sized, neurodivergent customer I find Asos’s decision to deactivate accounts without warning deeply concerning,” she said.

“For people like me, online shopping isn’t just a preference, it’s a necessity. The high street often doesn’t cater to our body types or sensory needs, and the physical act of shopping can be overwhelming … We rely on online retailers to try clothes in the safety and comfort of our own homes.”

Frazer, whose video sharing her experience has had 150,000 views on TikTok, said one of the reasons for the returns was inconsistent sizing.

“To now be penalised for returning items that don’t fit after being forced to order multiple sizes due to inconsistent sizing is not only unfair, it’s discriminatory,” she said. “There was no explanation, no transparency, and no chance to appeal.”

On X (formerly Twitter) another user posted a picture of two bodysuits which were both labelled as medium but appeared to be different sizes.

They said: “I’m a size eight to 10. I mostly wear a size small. The bodysuit on the left is a medium (too small). The body suit on the right is also medium (too big). But Asos are closing my account because I return things.”

Asos said: “We recently closed the accounts of a small group of customers whose shopping activity has consistently fallen outside our fair use policy. This helps us maintain our commitment to offering free returns to all customers across all core markets.”

Gary Rycroft, a consumer lawyer at Joseph A Jones & Co solicitors, said it was lawful for a business to decide it did not wish to conduct business with a certain group of customers, as long as the decision was based on commercial data and not discriminatory.

“Asos have imposed a threshold on returns and that’s fine for them to change their terms and conditions and as long as other statutory protections for consumers are not breached,” he said.

Such a change in terms and conditions should not affect the right of consumers to return goods that are faulty or not as described, he added.Not matching a retailer’s published measurements for particular sizes could be said to be “not as described”.