What is the return rate on OTTO and how is it calculated?
Last updated: 31 October 2026 · The MargenOptimierer app is in German. Button and menu names are shown exactly as you see them, with the English meaning in brackets.
Return rate tells you how many of every 100 units sold come back.
A return counts towards your return rate as soon as the goods have reached you and you've accepted the return at OTTO. Each return counts as one unit. If a customer sends back 2 of the 4 chairs they ordered, that's 2 returns.
Example: Return rate for the acacia chair
Say you sell 50 acacia chairs in the period and 6 of them come back. That's a return rate of 12%.
What else counts about the return rate
Accepted, but nothing came back
Above 100%
A return counts on the day you accept it, even if the sale was before the period. If many such returns come back, the return rate can go above 100%.
Return without a sale
If you didn't sell an item in the period but accepted a return of it, there's no rate. Instead of the number you'll see, for example, „1 Retoure, kein Verkauf im Zeitraum“ (1 return, no sale in the period). The item is then above its target return rate.
Next
- Which items come back too often?