What To Check Before You Buy Shapewear Online

Sixty days to return, exchanges free, refunds $6 — and everything has to come back with the hygiene seal intact. How Shapermint sizing, compression levels and returns actually work.

Shapewear is one of the hardest things to buy online, for a reason that has nothing to do with taste. The size you wear in jeans tells you almost nothing about the size you need here, the garment has to be tried on to know, and the rules about returning something you have tried on are stricter than in most of your wardrobe. Here is how Shapermint’s sizing, compression and returns actually work, so the first order is more likely to be the one you keep.

Key facts

• Sixty days to exchange or return, counted from delivery rather than from the order date.
• Exchanges are free. Refunds carry a $6 processing fee, with several exemptions.
• Items must come back unworn, unwashed, in original packaging, with tags and hygiene seals intact.
• Final sale items cannot be returned, exchanged or refunded at all.
• Between two sizes, Shapermint’s own rule is to take the larger one.
• Three compression levels, and they are meant for different occasions rather than being better or worse.

Measure first, because the number on the tag is not your usual number

Shapermint asks for three measurements, and is specific about where each one goes.

Bust: the tape wraps around breasts and back, straight around the body, covering the nipple area. Their instruction is that this is “ideally done with no bra on” — a bra changes the shape you are measuring, which is the whole point of the garment you are about to buy.

Waist: they give two ways to find it, which is useful because the waist is the measurement people most often take in the wrong place. Either “the fleshy part between your ribs and hips, that will be at navel-level or just above”, or the more reliable method: lean to one side with your hands on your hips, and your waist is the spot on your side that folds inwards. Measure without clothes on, or with your top raised.

Hips: feet together, tape around the widest part. Their wording is blunt and worth following — “be sure to include your butt cheeks! If the tape isn’t covering the fleshier part of them, then you’re either too high or too low.”

Take all three before you look at a chart. The common mistake is measuring one, assuming the others follow, and ordering from a guess.

The between-sizes rule, and why it runs the way it does

If your measurements land between two sizes, Shapermint’s guidance is a single line: “If your measurement falls in between sizes, take the larger size.” The same answer applies when your waist says one size and your hips say another, which is extremely common and is not a problem with your measurements.

This is worth understanding rather than just obeying. Shapewear works by compression, so a smaller size does not produce more shaping in any useful sense — it produces a garment that rolls, digs, rides up, or is simply uncomfortable enough that you stop wearing it. The larger of two sizes still compresses. It just does it without the failure modes.

If you are unsure, Shapermint staffs what it calls FIT EXPERTS and will give sizing help before you order. Using that is free; guessing and exchanging costs you a fortnight.

📏 Check the size guide before you order

Three compression levels, chosen by occasion

Compression is a separate decision from size, and picking the wrong one is the second most common reason a garment gets returned.

Low compression, described as light control or smoothing: “light control, everyday shapewear pieces will smooth target areas under your outfits comfortably.” This is the one for ordinary days and ordinary clothes.

Medium compression, flexible control or shape-enhancing: “medium compression shapewear offers moderate shaping that targets the body parts you want to be enhanced.” A middle setting, for when you want a more defined line but still have to sit through a working day in it.

High compression, firm or extra-firm control: “firm and extra-firm control pieces are perfect for formal, structured clothing like wedding dresses, prom gowns, evening gowns and cocktail dresses.” Note what those garments have in common — they are structured, and they are worn for a few hours on a specific occasion. High compression is built for that, not for a Tuesday.

The useful way to choose is to start from the outfit and the length of the event, not from how much shaping sounds like the most shaping. Buying firm control for daily wear is how a garment ends up unworn in a drawer.

What “unworn” means, and why it matters more here

This is the part that catches people out, so it is worth being precise. To come back, an item must be unworn, unwashed, and in its original packaging, with tags and hygiene seals intact. That covers shapewear, bras, leggings and panties.

Items with incomplete packaging, signs of wear, or missing hygiene tags are not accepted. Neither are gift cards or store credits.

The practical reading: try it on, over underwear, indoors, without removing the hygiene seal or the tags, and decide quickly. Keep the packaging until you have decided. That is a narrower window of behaviour than returning a jumper, and it is the single most common reason an otherwise valid return is refused.

Final sale items are excluded entirely — not returnable, not exchangeable, not refundable. Check that label before you buy, because the sixty days does not apply to them at all.

🛍️ See the current range

The money: exchanges are free, refunds are not quite

Sixty days from delivery, and the two routes are priced differently.

An exchange — different size, different colour, different style, even a different brand within their range — carries no fee. Shapermint provides a printable prepaid return label or a QR code, and once they receive the item they ship the replacement.

A refund carries a $6 USD processing fee. There are four exemptions worth knowing: UK customers, anyone choosing store credit instead of money back, Shapermint Club members, and anyone whose item arrived defective, damaged or simply wrong. That last exemption matters — if the mistake is theirs, you should not be paying the $6, and if you are being charged it anyway, say so.

Returns and exchanges are both started from their returns portal rather than by email.

A sensible order of operations

Measure bust, waist and hips properly, using their two-method waist test rather than guessing. Take the larger size wherever you fall between two. Choose compression by the outfit and the number of hours, not by maximum effect. Check whether the item is final sale before adding it to the basket. When it arrives, try it on with the tags and hygiene seal untouched, keep the packaging, and decide inside the sixty days — exchanging if the size is wrong, since that route is free.

The short version

Sixty days from delivery. Exchanges free, refunds $6 unless you are in the UK, take store credit, are a Club member, or received the wrong thing. Everything must come back unworn with seals and tags intact, and final sale means final. Between sizes, go up.

✨ Browse bras, shapewear and leggings

Sources: Shapermint exchanges and returns page · Shapermint Exchanges & Returns FAQs · Shapermint help centre on choosing a compression level · Shapermint help centre on taking body measurements · Shapermint help centre on in-between sizes