9% of returns are fraud: film the pack-out before the box closes

NRF's 2025 returns report says 9% of all returns are fraudulent, and it lists empty boxes among the fraud practices retailers report. A seller cannot show an item left in good condition without a record, and a 10-second pack-out clip is a cheap one. On Sume, trimming each order's clip out of a longer packing recording costs $0.02 per job.

What NRF reports

The report lists fraud practices with a percentage for each. The release gives those percentages for retailers that track incidents, so they are shares of those retailers, not shares of all returns. It also says 85% of retailers use AI to detect fraud, so large retailers already score returns.

A pack-out clip that is useful

The goal is evidence, not production value. Mount a phone over the packing table and record one continuous take per shift. For each order, note the start second and the length in your order system.

Then cut one clip per order with video trim. It needs an imported file in this workspace, a start, and exactly one of end or duration. A source can be up to 1800 seconds, so a half-hour recording works.

• Show the item front and back next to the order slip.
• Show the item sealed in its bag or box.
• Show the box closed with the label visible.
• Keep the take under 10 seconds so the file stays easy to review.

Where the clip lives

Name each file with the order id and the packing date, and keep the trims in a folder per week. When a return arrives that does not match, open that order's clip first and compare the label, the item and the quantity. Because trim never changes the source, you can also cut a second, tighter range from the same recording later if the first one missed the angle you need.

Trim has two precision modes. The default exact re-encodes frame accurately. keyframe copies the stream and can start a little early, so it suits a case where speed matters more than the first frame. For evidence clips, exact is the safer choice because the first frame is the one you will be looking at.

Keep the order number readable

If you want the order number on screen, burn it with video captions using cues. A caption job reserves and captures $0.20 for videos up to 60 seconds. That is ten times the trim, so decide whether a clip needs a burned label or whether the filename carries the order id.

Limits to respect

Check your own rules before filming. Recording staff and customers' addresses raises privacy and retention questions that no tool settles for you. Keep the camera on the table, not on faces, and delete clips on a schedule you can state.

The clip shows what you packed. It does not stop a swapped item arriving back, and it does not replace a returns policy. It gives you something specific to point to when a claim does not match.