If you run a clothing boutique, you know the pattern. An order comes in for the same dress in a size 6 and a size 8. A week later, the size 8 comes back with the tags still on. You paid to ship both dresses out, you pay to ship one back, someone has to inspect it, steam it, and restock it — and you made exactly one sale.
Shoppers call it "ordering to try at home." The industry calls it bracketing. Whatever name you give it, it is one of the most expensive habits in online fashion. And punishing your customers for it is not the answer. Understanding why they do it — and removing the reason — is.
Why your customers order two sizes
It is tempting to see bracketing as bad behavior. It is not. Put yourself in your shopper's shoes: she loves your dress, she has no idea whether the 6 or the 8 will fit, your size chart is a grid of numbers that could mean anything, and she needs it for an event next weekend. Ordering both is the rational move. She is not trying to cost you money — she is trying to avoid the worse outcome of ordering one, guessing wrong, and missing her event entirely.
The research backs this up. When shoppers are asked why they order multiple sizes, the answers are always the same: sizing is inconsistent between brands, they have been burned before, and there is no way to try the thing on before buying. Bracketing is a symptom. Fit doubt is the disease.
What bracketing actually costs you
Every bracketed order roughly doubles your fulfillment cost on that sale: two units picked, packed, and shipped, one unit shipped back, inspected, and restocked. Returned dresses often can't go straight back on the shelf — they need checking, steaming, sometimes re-bagging. And every return carries the quiet risk that the dress comes back worn, or doesn't come back at all.
None of that shows up as a single line item, which is why most boutique owners underestimate it. But if even a fifth of your orders are bracketed, it is one of the biggest leaks in your business.
What doesn't work
Banning serial returners. Some big retailers have tried threatening to close the accounts of heavy returners. For a boutique, this is poison. Your best customers are often your most frequent returners — they buy more, so they return more. Banning them means banning your revenue.
Surprise restocking fees. A fee that appears at checkout feels like a punishment and kills the sale before it happens. If you ever use fees, they have to be clearly signposted and modest — but know that fees treat the symptom, not the cause.
Five things that actually reduce bracketing
1. Write fit notes like a salesperson, not a spreadsheet
Your size chart tells her the size 8 has a 36-inch bust. That means nothing to most shoppers. A fit note tells her what she actually wants to know: "Fits true to size — if you're between sizes, take the 8, the bodice runs slightly snug." One honest sentence per product does more work than a whole chart. Write them the way your best in-store associate would describe the fit.
2. Show the dress on a real body, from the front
Flat product photos hide everything a shopper needs: where the waist hits, how the fabric pulls, how long it really is. At minimum, show every dress on a person, front view, in good light. If you can, add your model's height and the size she's wearing. Shoppers mentally compare themselves to the model — give them the data to do it.
3. Let her see it on herself before she orders
This is the closest thing to a cure. When a shopper can upload a photo and see your dress on her own body, the whole reason for bracketing disappears — she already knows which size looks right. Virtual try-on tools built for Shopify drop a "Try It On" button right under your add to cart, and the shopper gets her answer in seconds instead of ordering two dresses. No more guessing, no more double shipping.
4. Make exchanges easier than returns
A lot of bracketing is really "I want the right size with minimum hassle." If your exchange process is instant — new size ships immediately, no waiting for the return to arrive — shoppers stop hedging with two sizes because one size plus a painless exchange is just as safe.
5. Publish real garment measurements
Not generic size-chart numbers — the actual measured dimensions of that specific dress: pit to pit, waist, length. Measured from the sample in your hands. Shoppers who sew or who know their own measurements live by these numbers, and they are far more accurate than any chart.
The bottom line
Your customers don't bracket because they're difficult. They bracket because buying clothes online still feels like gambling, and ordering two sizes is how they hedge the bet. Every step that removes the gamble — honest fit notes, real photos, garment measurements, and letting her see the dress on herself — takes away a reason to order two. Fix the doubt and the bracketing fixes itself.
Frequently asked questions
Is it better to order two sizes at once, or order one size and risk having to order again?
For the shopper, ordering two sizes at once is usually less hassle — one delivery, one decision, one return parcel. For the boutique, it's roughly double the fulfillment cost. The best outcome for both sides is neither: it's the shopper feeling sure enough about one size to order just that one, which is exactly what good fit information and try-on tools are for.
Should stores ban customers who keep ordering multiple sizes and returning most of it?
For a small boutique, no. Your heaviest returners are very often your best customers — they buy the most, so they return the most. Banning them cuts revenue faster than it cuts costs. Big retailers can afford to play hardball; boutiques win by converting the doubt into confidence instead.
Is ordering two sizes to try at home actually wrong, or is it just normal shopping now?
It's normal shopping now. Shoppers don't see it as abuse — they see it as the online version of taking two sizes into a fitting room. Retailers who treat it as a moral failing miss the point: the fitting room is missing, so the customer built her own out of your shipping budget. Give her a better fitting room and the behavior changes on its own.
How do I tell normal bracketing apart from the kind that is costing me real money?
Healthy bracketing looks like this: a customer brackets once or twice, finds her size, and her later orders come in single sizes with fewer returns. Costly bracketing is the customer who brackets every single order and never settles — or whose returns keep climbing. Watch your repeat-bracket rate per customer, not just your overall return rate.
Should I charge a restocking fee or offer store credit instead of refunds to slow bracketing down?
Store credit keeps the money in your business and genuinely reduces return volume — many boutiques find customers accept it happily when the exchange process is smooth. Restocking fees are riskier: sprung by surprise they kill conversions, and they punish the uncertain shopper you most want to reassure. If you use a fee, signpost it clearly before checkout and keep it modest.
Why do shoppers order two sizes in the first place — is it just bad size charts?
Bad size charts are part of it, but the deeper causes are inconsistent sizing across brands and the simple fact that shoppers can't try before they buy. A shopper can be a perfect size 8 in three stores and a 6 in yours. Until she can see the garment on herself, ordering two sizes is the only rational insurance policy she has.
RealityTry lets your shoppers see your dresses on themselves before they order — a "Try It On" button right on your product pages, no code needed. See it on the Shopify App Store.