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"   Yes, what you are about to read is worse than Forever 21&amp;#039;s return policy. I know: Shocking.   If you&amp;#039;re one of the many girls out there who suffers from buyer&amp;#039;s remorse, otherwise known as Post-Brunch Drunk Shopping (&amp;quot;YEEEAH, I do need this sequined micro-minidress that barely covers my a*s!! Wooo, 2013!!&amp;quot;), I have some bad news for you. Specifically: Consumer advocates have uncovered certain companies&amp;#039; practices of making &amp;quot;return profiles&amp;quot; on the shoppers who frequently return items. Yes, they&amp;#039;re eyeing those &amp;quot;serial returners&amp;quot; who spend $1,000 at J.Crew after a breakup, then, in a shame spiral, return everything but the hair ties a few days later.  And when you consider all the ladies (and men) out there who Be Shopping, it adds up to a pretty hefty chunk of change in returns, specifically about $264 billion worth of merchandise, a.k.a. 9 percent of total sales, according to NBC News. Then again, I have a friend who bought four wedding dresses and returned three this year, so she might make up the majority of that percentage.   As of now, this creepy Big Brother practice is, unsurprisingly, only instituted at major department stores or chain outlets like Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Victoria&amp;#039;s Secret (I KNEW it wasn&amp;#039;t a secret, dammit) Home Depot and Nike. The retail industry maintains that this isn&amp;#039;t meant as an invasion of privacy, but a safeguard against organized groups of swindlers who swap the UPC codes on items in order to bring in a profit. (Because, you know, Ocean&amp;#039;s Eleven mainly operates out of the Freehold Mall.)   But what it&amp;#039;ll actually do, of course, is keep a record of every pair of jeans you return because you were a little too optimistic about the size. Awesome. As if filling out the checkbox for why you&amp;#039;re returning it is awkward enough, e.g.: [ ] Didn&amp;#039;t fit. [ ] Changed mind.  [ ] Best friend said that my head looks like a penis in hats. [ ] Decided I am not a 13-year-old Taiwanese webcam girl.  Follow Anna on Twitter.   Image via Touchstone "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/news/a15085/serial-returners-record/>