When you return an item, sometimes a store charges a fee. So for example a $300 phone, they take $35 off your return, so you only get back $265 if you decide to return it.
It’s bullshit because they aren’t going to sell it for $35 less to the next chump.
It has nothing to do with discounting it, it has to do with paying for the labour involved in the sale and refund process, which takes worker time.
That labor should be paid from the profits of goods sold and not returned–just like every other liability.
Why? The company shouldn’t have to eat the cost just because you decide after the fact that you don’t actually want/need the item. The company should be liable for warranty claims, but not simple returns.
There are so many cases where you must be able to use an item to determine its suitability. If brands and vendors don’t facilitate that prior to sale then I have no way to test it without buying it first. Vendors take a gamble then if the product works for me. If it doesn’t, well that’s the cost of doing business. They make money enough for purchasing wares, paying utilities, rent, and salaries, covering logistical overhead, and turning profit all from the sale of their goods. There’s no reason consumers should have to subsidize one of their risks through a special medium beyond the sale of product.
If a company doesn’t like that then they can adopt consumer friendly protections like permitting trying on clothes, test driving a car or having a tool rental option prior to sale.
But if I:
- buy a phone and realize only when I get home that the brilliant engineers forgot to allow me to set a background image
- buy a new computer and realize only when I get home that despite them advertising it supports thunderbolt it won’t actually work with my thunderbolt accessories and can’t support 3 external displays
- buy a new mouse that is enclosed in a sealed cardboard box that doesn’t permit checking the ergonomics only to realize it doesn’t work well
- buy a pair of headphones only to realize they sound bad/creak when worn/have terrible cable noise
- buy an oil filter wrench and realize I can’t fit it and my hand at the same time on the access port
Well, then, they can process a return.
Four of the five examples you provided are warranty claims: The product is defective, or otherwise not-as-described.
The fifth one is the only one where I would probably insist on a return fee. My wrench would clearly have its dimensions listed, and you’d have all the information you needed to learn whether it would work for your particular application long before you hit the “buy” button. When it doesn’t fit, I will be able to show you that you could and should have known that before purchasing. (I’d probably waive the restock fee if you were sufficiently self-deprecating and apologetic about wasting my time.)
If I look and realize I didn’t include that information, that would be a warranty claim.
Why? It’s not broken. Might fit some other car. And not being able to set the background. Not broken. Just operates that way. They should do a better job of describing the product which is why a lot of legitimate returns happen. In a world where bricks and mortar stores are going extinct people must rely on product descriptions and with more and more shady practices by sellers. Forget their restocking fee.
If they lose customers because of the fee, then aren’t they in essence paying the price anyway?
If they lose customers because of the fee, then aren’t they in essence paying the price anyway?
If I buy something from you, and then return it for no reason whatsoever, am I actually a customer? Or am I just some asshole you never want to hear from again?
And it’s a cost of doing business that the business should pay.
The customer always pays, not the business.
Do you want to pay extra because other people return items?
You act like every return is a scam.
Do you want to pay for a product you didn’t get?
There’s no restocking fee for an item that you didn’t get, because it’s not a return.
A company charging you a restocking fee in that situation is a scam.
Fine I guess I have to spell it out. You get the crappy product, return it and pay a restocking fee. You just paid to end up with nothing. Get it now?
Do your research before buying something?
