Under EU consumer law, it’s a requirement for the seller to refund you the shipping cost as well, unless you paid for extras like faster delivery. I understand that’s not a thing in the States, though.

Yep it’s the return shipping that gets you. I order from REI but the closest store is 2 hours so I go 1-2x a year. Often my orders have free shipping but return shipping is prohibitively expensive. This keeps me from buying some things from their online store, either waiting to go in person or ordering it somewhere else. Or most likely, paying a bit more to get something similar locally.

Exactly this. I’m dumb, but I ain’t stupid.