Why shipping and return costs

For orders above EUR 125 no shipping costs are charged and for orders below EUR 125 we charge EUR 7,50 shipping costs (*). If a customer wants to return, this can be done via our own return label and these costs EUR 7,50 (*). We have deliberately chosen to charge these costs for purchases under EUR 125 and for returns. We would receive more orders if we would always ship and return for free. Below we would like to explain why we deliberately do not do this.
(*: applicable for Belgium)

Sustainability
We are very grateful for the customers who come to us, and we also think it is important that they make their purchases from us in a conscious way. Charging shipping and return costs prevents the mindset of “let's just order it all, because we can return it for free anyway”. All these 'more unconscious' orders and returns lead to an increase in (unnecessary) transport and use of packaging, which do not contribute to environmental sustainability.

In addition to the impact on the environment, there is also an impact on social sustainability. The increase in deliveries contributes to an increase in the workload for transporters, especially the subcontractors who often carry out the deliveries for them. Several abuses have recently been in the news in this context!

'For free' does not exist
The entire logistical process to get a package from A to B is human work and costs time and therefore also money. This service - apart from the additional packaging costs - simply cannot be provided for free because all the human work in this logistics process has to be paid for. The costs we charge to customers for a shipment and a return do not fully cover the actual costs. By charging some of these transportation costs to customers, we would also like to make them aware that a shipping and return is a paid service that we offer; the convenience of delivering your order to an address of your choice as quickly as possible and possibly returning it.

This service must be paid for as it is also an actual cost for our company to use the logistics services of Bpost, PostNL and DPD. It is impossible for the economic viability of our company to always offer this service free of charge (even for orders under EUR 125).

Many large webshops that have created free shipping and returns now revoke this service. They also realize that this 'marketing tool', to get more orders and customers, has major economic consequences and is no longer feasible. There is no free delivery and returns. No company really brings things to your home for free, or returns them for free! Someone has to bear these costs eventually. Either these costs are included in the final price of your product or these costs must be charged separately and transparently. We consciously choose the latter.

We are trying to cater to our customers as much as possible!
We always want to offer the best possible service for our customers!

• --> Due to the volumes we ship, we have already been able to agree better prices with our logistics partners. We do not charge 100% of all transport costs. The shipping costs - incl. insurance and track & trace - of EUR 7,50 (for Belgium) only cover part of the actual costs.
   
• --> For orders above EUR 125, no shipping costs will be charged (for Belgium).
   
• --> The paid shipping costs will be refunded if the entire order is returned. This is also required by law.

Resume
With this explanation we want to make our customers aware of why we cannot (and do not want to) offer our shipping and returns service for free in our webshop. The people work, and the time and materials needed to get an online package from A to B, and possibly from B back to A, are in stark contrast to the costs that are charged. Also from the sustainability principle we do not want to encourage 'unconscious' purchases with free shipping and returns.

And, important, the costs are ultimately not real costs because you do get something in return: convenience. As a customer you save time, petrol and parking fees - or public transport costs - and you can try on your ordered item(s) at home in your own time. Surely this is of value, isn't it?