The Painful, Costly Journey of Returned Goods -- and How You End Up Purchasing Some of Them Again (cnbc.com) 280
Buyers return a huge number of packages they buy from Amazon and other e-commerce sites, so much so that retailers are sometimes left with little choice but to get rid of large swaths of inventory at a cost. Last year, customers in the U.S. returned about $351 billion worth of items that they had purchased from brick-and-mortar retailers and online stores, according to estimates by National Retail Federation. CNBC: There's a good chance that the $100 printer, the $300 wide-screen monitor, or the $170 router you recently bought from Amazon weren't supplied to the e-commerce giant by their original manufacturers. In fact, the order may have been fulfilled by someone like Casey Parris, who resells items that customers previously returned to retailers. Based in Florida, Parris spends about five hours each day visiting thrift stores and scanning auction and liquidation websites for interesting items, he told CNBC. Sometimes he finds auto parts, other times it's a pair of sneakers, and occasionally he purchases printer cartridges -- all with the goal of reselling them.
Walter Blake, who lives in Michigan, does the same. For years, he's been selling electronic items on Amazon that he acquires from a network of places. Blake and Parris are part of a growing cottage industry where dealers acquire discarded items at very low prices, only to resell some of them back on Amazon and eBay at a premium.
Walter Blake, who lives in Michigan, does the same. For years, he's been selling electronic items on Amazon that he acquires from a network of places. Blake and Parris are part of a growing cottage industry where dealers acquire discarded items at very low prices, only to resell some of them back on Amazon and eBay at a premium.
Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't mind purchasing used goods, there are a lot of things that can be just fine if opened.
But - I do like to know they have been exposed to other humans. Every now and again from Amazon you get a product that has obviously been opened to some extent, that you ordered as new.
So far it's not been anything I cared to return (again), but I think Amazon should try to be extra careful to clamp down on any suppliers shipping anything ever opened as "new"
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Amazon is a fucking flea market. I got LOTS of damaged and returned goods. I actually cancelled my prime subscription, because it's not worth it when I'm constantly returning or settling for less than I paid for.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:4, Informative)
Usually I get new items if the seller is Amazon. But occasionally even Amazon will sell you a used item as new. Maybe it's because they made a mistake, or because they inventory items from 3rd party sellers who are less scrupulous, and you got that one. If I get a used item from Amazon that I purchased as new, I give Amazon customer service a choice. I will return it for a new item, or they can knock the price down to the used price listed on their site. This is of course assuming it is just an open box and not damaged item.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe it's because they made a mistake, or because they inventory items from 3rd party sellers who are less scrupulous, and you got that one.
1) Customer (A) returned item (X) as "broken."
2) Send (X) to customer (B) for confirmation that the item is broken.
3) Profit.
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Amazon is a fucking flea market. I got LOTS of damaged and returned goods.
Both Amazon and Ebay have really gone to shit. I stopped buying from both of them except in very rare cases where its someone I've bought from before and know they are pretty trustworthy -- which is becoming less and less often.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Interesting)
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The most frustrating thing is that they let dodgy sellers use the good reputation of the genuine ones.
Phone batteries are a great example. The listing says "genuine" and there are lots of 5 star reviews, but because of the way Amazon works another seller can come along and take over that listing with a lower priced knock-off, and lots of people will end up buying it based on the reports that the old one is genuine and works well.
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Re: Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:2)
And why do you suppose that is?
What is it about Noway that makes sellers prefer to lose all sales to that country?
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Amazon is a fucking flea market. I got LOTS of damaged and returned goods
Tell me about it. I once had to send soup back to Amazon because it was too hot.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Insightful)
... Never ordered Amazon again after that, Newegg only.
Did you order from Amazon or from a vendor selling on Amazon? It's a huge difference.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:4, Insightful)
Newegg isn't what it was. After they went from private to public, they've gone downhill as far as customer experience and service is concerned. They're now as much a store front for other vendors as they are for themselves, and mislabeled and miscategorized products.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Insightful)
As long as it's marked appropriately, it's good for everyone really. Destroying returned goods would be absolutely insane.from economic and environmental angles so it's a win win thing.
I don't mind buying refurbished stuff either if it's marked and priced accordingly. Amazon and other retailers of course should be making sure this is the case, but if you do get used stuff instead you can just return it again I suppose :)
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Informative)
I don't mind buying refurbished stuff either if it's marked and priced accordingly.
** IF ** it's marked and priced accordingly.
That's the problem. Too much deliberate fraud. Too many used/damaged/refurbished things being sold (and priced) as new.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Insightful)
The main reason I don't buy refurbished is the price. I notice just before all major sales now Amazon in the UK tries to flog refurbished versions of their devices for like a 10% - 20% discount.
You wait for the actual sale, and you can get a brand new one for a 35% - 50% discount.
I'm happy to buy second hand stuff, if it comes at a second hand price - i.e. discounted to a greater degree than a new one ever is, but this seems to basically never be the case.
And this isn't out of snobbishness towards second hand goods, but to protect myself, as it's often the case that these overpriced second hand goods often come with reduced rights. So for example, in the UK you have upto 2 years warranty by law, and potentially up to 6 years to get a refund/replacement/repair on a faulty device, IF that device could reasonably be expected to have lasted that long. Therein lies the problem though, and where you lose protection under the law; a retailer like Amazon may accept that a high end product bought new should've lasted longer than it did under this law. However they would almost certainly be able to get away with not acting to fix/replace/refund on it if it was second hand, even if you paid the exact same price for it, because by nature of it being second hand they can reasonably argue that it shouldn't be expected to last as long.
So the reason I expect a second hand product to always be sold lower than the cheapest price of an identical brand new product isn't because I'm out for a bargain, but simply because the very nature of it being second hand comes with reduced consumer rights and protection, and therefore simply has an inherently lower value.
If retailers are going to continue to be greedy and can't accept that, then they're going to be stuck with second hand inventory exactly as they always complain about.
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I know of a toy company that destroys all products whose packaging gets wet, out of mold fears. Taking the toys out of the packaging to give them away costs more than the toys are worth, since they can no longer be written off at MSRP, so instead they crush and shred them. Sometimes destroying no-longer-new (hard to call something unpackaged at the warehouse "used") items is cheaper than reselling them.
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I'll bet they would have zero difficulty getting any number of charities to take them and unpackage them.
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Then they wouldn't be "destroyed" and they wouldn't get full insurance value for them. Also, they're super-paranoid someone will sue over mold-induced sickness.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Interesting)
Then they wouldn't be "destroyed" and they wouldn't get full insurance value for them. Also, they're super-paranoid someone will sue over mold-induced sickness.
This.
I worked at Tim's growing up (prominent Canadian coffee shop, for you internationals) and we'd throw out large amounts of food/donuts at the end of the day. These were still very much edible for at least another day. (Trust me... they were.)
One time, someone made the comment that we were throwing out so much stuff and I just had to ask, "Hey why don't these go to folks who actually need some food?" and the answer was simple; they can't risk the lawsuits if someone gets sick. There was also something in there about taking advantage (baker overcooks on purpose so more food gets "thrown out" for a good cause).
In other words; we are our worst enemy. Almost everytime we try to do something to help others, there's always some people who will go above and beyond to take advantage of you.
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that's why you look for 'ships and sold by amazon'. ANYTHING ELSE could be a knockoff, refurb or return. amazon will take care of you should their returns process fail.
just don't abuse the privilege or try to defraud them (the ol' brick switch-a-roo) -- remember that with the majority of their smaller items (e.g. smaller or lighter than a tv) ends up through the u.s. postal service.. so not only are you committing fraud, but you're doing it via the u.s. mail, and postal inspectors aren't ones to fuck with.
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:4, Funny)
Wal-Mart used to be the best. Way back in the olden days, when 56k modems were a thing, I bought one at the local Wal-Mart. Brand new, shrink-wrapped box. Got home, opened it up and inside was a block of wood, just the right size and weight.
Customer returns item
Put on new shrink-wrap and put back on shelf without actually checking the contents of the box
PROFIT!!
Re:Yes, sometimes you get this form Amazon (Score:5, Funny)
Got home, opened it up and inside was a block of wood, just the right size and weight.
That's why whenever I go shopping, I bring a power drill and only buy items if I drill into the box and no wood shavings end up on the bit.
You might wonder about general viability, but there are some routers I've bought in the past that could only be improved by a drill right through the circuits!
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Ooooh, curse you, Dr. Jones!
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Amazon has really lost the magic in the past year or so. Come to think of it, pretty much everything e-com I've done lately has been a hassle.
I live in a shitty inner city area close to Seattle, tons of foot traffic out front, and churches feeding homeless every other day. My packages get swiped pretty regularly.
Amazon just leaves the shit on my porch at the top of the steps, not even near my door, like some kind of invitation. Sometimes they even take a picture to prove it got there because they KNOW it's
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Wow, glad you at least protected the computer shipment! I mostly work at home so luckily I get packages before the trail of bandits behind delivery trucks.
I have also once or twice seen things marked as "delivered" that showed up later, once or twice had packages where even with the tracking number the company could not say where the hell the package was days after it was supposed to arrive.
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I've had text messages saying delivered, only to have the item show up half an hour later. But it wasn't Amazon doing the actual delivery, so I suspect that UPS or USPS has a flaw in their logic with regard to reporting delivered items back to Amazon.
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"Amazon just leaves the shit on my porch at the top of the steps"
Is it Amazon, or UPS, USPS, or some other delivery company?
I've had USPS and UPS leaving boxes in my driveway, without ringing a doorbell. I have no way of seeing a package there unless I happen to stroll outside. Just last week, I purchased a $500+ generator through Costco, and UPS set the box on the driveway. Our neighborhood is generally pretty crime free, but I'm surprised that they're willing to risk this kind of loss when it's only an
Re:This is how I "rent" electronics for free. (Score:5, Informative)
Wow, you're a shitty person!
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There is no "wooooooosh" here. Your attempt at humor is a failure. It may work in person, but not so much in an online post. BTW, notice that at least a few others agree with him according to the +5 Informative mod.
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You obviously don't do this very often, or Amazon would have dropped you as a customer by now.
Re:This is how I "rent" electronics for free. (Score:4, Funny)
You're why retailers track our returns and sometimes decline them or ban you [nbcnews.com].
Re:This is how I "rent" electronics for free. (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to shop A LOT at Micro Center, so I got to know the store manager pretty well. My return rate was always around 5%-10%, which they considered pretty normal. But they had one guy who's return rate was over 100%. The infuriating part to me is that he had to go over $10K in purchases before they banned him. Yes, you read that right, he returned Every. Single. Thing. he ever bought. But that's only 100%. Yup. They had an amnesty period when they first opened, where you could return things without a receipt, and he had returned an old copy of Microsoft Office. This was about 20 years ago or so, so it was a substantial amount of money. People like that really ought to be taken out back and shot.
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"This is how I make other people pay for my stuff through higher prices."
TFTFY
P.S. Try politics - it'd be a good fit.
Nothing wrong wit it IF... (Score:5, Insightful)
There is nothing wrong with people re-selling thing as long as the following conditions are met:
1-The item is thoroughly tested, and any problems fixed or the item is listed as having defects.
2-It is clearly stated that the item is used or seller refurbished.
3-The item is listed for half or less of the going online price for the same item brand new.
4-If the item is listed as refurbished, any batteries must have been replaced with brand new batteries...if not, its USED, not refurbished!
5-Items cannot be listed as "open box" if the item has ever been removed from the box! Removal from the box makes it USED!
Re:Nothing wrong wit it IF... (Score:5, Informative)
4-If the item is listed as refurbished, any batteries must have been replaced with brand new batteries...if not, its USED, not refurbished!
I used to buy refurbished products but I don't anymore. Refurbished doesn't always mean refurbished anymore. Quite frequently used products are sold as refurbished. Unless it is refurbished by the manufacturer itself, I don't trust that Refurbished actually means Refurbished.
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It's weird though, it is like the used car business has spread into phones - there are so many available, even from the network providers
Nothing wrong with Amazon Warehouse deals. (Score:3)
Things obviously have changed. Gotten a lot of networking gear through Amazon's warehouse deals where the only thing damaged was the packaging. My printer was refurbed by the manufacturer. Extended warranties for anything high value and questionable.
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I have counter-examples where Amazon Warehouse items were items that had been previously returned because they had a subtle, or not-so-subtle malfunction. Back they went again.
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Unless it is refurbished by the manufacturer itself
Wait what? Who in their right mind buys electronics that have been refurbished by someone other than the manufacturer?
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I've bought Apple equipment refurbed by IBM. They have a process to decommission employee workstations and stuff, so it's professionally done, but not from the manufacturer.
Rare exception though.
Lenovo equipment too, but that's less surprising.
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Wait what? Who in their right mind buys electronics that have been refurbished by someone other than the manufacturer?
People obviously do because the vast majority of Refurbished Items I see for sale these days are refurbished by third party companies. I suspect they're really "used" not refurbished in that case.
Re:Nothing wrong wit it IF... (Score:5, Insightful)
3-The item is listed for half or less of the going online price for the same item brand new.
This is a silly condition. As long as full information is provided, the product should sell for whatever the market will bear.
For many products, being "used" makes little difference. Would you need a 50% discount to buy a used hammer?
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I wouldn't buy a used hammer. What possible reason could someone have for returning it other than it was defective? Maybe the seller repaired it... But I have little trust in them unless they were the manufacturer. Don't need a hammer head flying off and cracking my skull open.
Re:Nothing wrong wit it IF... (Score:5, Informative)
I wouldn't buy a used hammer. What possible reason could someone have for returning it other than it was defective?
They found their other hammer that they thought they lost in that one drawer in the garage that they didn't check because why would it be in there?
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For some of us older guys, the word hammer had a slang meaning. I certainly wouldn't want a used one, and if I had more than one, there's probably be trouble.
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Hammers come in a variety of sizes, weights, shapes and features. It's actually possible to buy the wrong hammer.
Re:Nothing wrong wit it IF... (Score:5, Insightful)
What possible reason could someone have for returning it other than it was defective?
Here's a few I can think of.
Wrong kind: accidentally bought a framing hammer when they needed a claw hammer.
Wrong size: too heavy for user.
Wrong color: clashes with the rest of her collection.
Wrong price: found same item for half the price elsewhere.
Re:Nothing wrong wit it IF... (Score:5, Funny)
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I think it's an American consumerism thing.
If you as a seller deliver goods that are as stated and not defective, should limit the right for a buyer to return them.
Why should the seller have to bear the cost of your fickle choice.
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Wrong weight? Wrong type of hammer (they wanted a peen and got a claw, for example)? The handle doesn't fit their hand? It has a sound they find particularly disagreeable (which might not bother other people)? They whacked themselves on the thumb and decided to blame the hammer? They actually needed a spark-free hammer? I can think of a lot of reasons people might return a perfectly functional hammer.
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What possible reason could someone have for returning it other than it was defective?
I returned a hammer once, used. I bought it online, when it arrived it was not the size I expected. I used it once out of necessity and returned it.
You clearly don't understand the many MANY reasons that people return things.
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Would you need a 50% discount to buy a used hammer?
I might.
That hammer head is going to come off some day, and that day will undoubtedly be sooner if it's been used.
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3-The item is listed for half or less of the going online price for the same item brand new.
5-Items cannot be listed as "open box" if the item has ever been removed from the box! Removal from the box makes it USED!
Sorry but no. Your arbitrary line just makes you look like an entitled brat.
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Exactly. Just because someone took it out of the box and said oh shit, that's not what I wanted, doesn't make it "USED".
Re:Nothing wrong wit it IF... (Score:5, Funny)
That brand new laptop I bought from Amazon had some user named "Bruce" on the login screen. They don't check shit.
Hey, what's your problem? What do you have against Bruce? What did he ever do to you?
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I never let Bruce log onto my laptop.
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Don't you know Bruce Almighty!
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Fucking Aussie philosophers!
Recycling is fine, as long as like new (Score:3, Interesting)
There's nothing wrong with reselling a returned item. It's a good form of recycling as it's better than tossing it into the dump. So long as the item is pretty much "new" I could care less. I've gotten refurbished Chromebooks before that you could swear were "new" because they were in such good shape.
Re:Recycling is fine, as long as like new (Score:5, Informative)
That's not the complaint. It's fine reselling it. But reselling it as *new* is fraud.
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How about "like new"
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Odometer hijinx (Score:5, Insightful)
The Market for Lemons [wikipedia.org] (1970) never gets old.
This paper effectively supports the regulatory intervention of government to ensure accurate public labelling of remarketware of all stripes and sizes.
It's not by any means always a bad thing for flourishing private commerce that government maintains certain forms of caveat emptor in their fiat-powered gun sights. Who, precisely, wants a mode of private commerce where everyone sensible runs around with permanently cinched purse strings?
Moral of the story: be careful what you drown in the bathtub if you value liquid enterprise.
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Moral of the story: be careful what you drown in the bathtub if you value liquid enterprise.
Which is exactly why some want all of us so poor that the only thing we can do is spend what little money we get.
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If I'm reading you correctly between the lines, that's a fine policy proscription for small minds: anything that smacks on the surface of sticking it to The Man is inherently good, therefore any nuanced understanding of systems theory can go fly a kite.
It's certainly the case that the haves in any political order stick it to the have nots (who generally prove twice as quick to stick it back shoul
"through" Amazon, not "from" Amazon (Score:5, Informative)
No, you didn't purchase these "from Amazon". You purchased them "through Amazon". That's referring to an independent seller.
As far as Amazon direct sales, they are transparent about it. Returns are sold through their own refurb department. (I think they have just rebranded this "Amazon Renewed"?) I have purchased several items and all were good deals in great condition. They disclose in advance anything cosmetic defect, missing item, etc. with photos. It is usually no more than a cosmetic defect to the BOX.
I bought a high-end garbage disposer that had a scratch on the bottom. I really don't care if the plumber's eyes are offended by the scratch. ;)
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Whoops! Amazon Renewed is from third parties.
Amazon Warehouse Deals is what I was referring to. I've bought several items - garbage disposer, Sennheiser wireless headphones, etc. Never had a problem with anything. If it isn't suitable for Warehouse Deals, then it goes out in auction lots. So, people who resell the auction lots are reselling Amazon's rejects that they didn't feel comfortable re-selling themselves.
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If I give Amazon money in return for a thing, I bought it from Amazon as far as I'm concerned.
Re:"through" Amazon, not "from" Amazon (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not always (Score:3)
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I really don't care if the plumber's eyes are offended by the scratch. ;)
I'd be more worried about your eyes getting offended at the plumber's crack.
The customer is not always right... (Score:5, Insightful)
The fundamental problem is the mentality that "the customer is always right". That wasn't even what was originally said, all those years ago in Macy's. It was more along the lines of, don't argue with the customer in public.
If something is broken, or wrong, or whatever - of course, you should be able to send it back. However, when it comes to abuse, the retail world needs to grow a spine. Just as an example: There is an online clothing retailer where I live. They have trendy stuff, and quickly became very popular with young women. The last I heard, a year or so ago, fully half of the clothes were returned. Some anonymous interviews with their customers revealed the reason: Lots of them would order 3 or 4 outfits, wear them out, or to parties, or whatever - show off something new - and then return the outfits, only to order more.
The same thing happens in other branches, although non-clothing is a bit less personal. Who hasn't received a piece of electronics, or a toy, or whatever where the packaging has clearly been opened? If shop like the clothing retailer I mentioned stay in business, the only way they can do it is by sending out those very same articles again to the next customer. Sold as if they were new, not due to some shady middleman, but directly by the stores themselves.
So we all pay the price for this crap. Getting (hopefully lightly) used stuff sold to us as new. And generally paying higher prices, because the associated costs have to be covered somehow. If you aren't familiar with the site NotAlwaysRight [notalwaysright.com], you should have a look. It's where people in retail get to tell the stories of some of the customers they have to deal with. It's funny, sure, but it's also freaking sad...
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Have you had a look at what that website would pay for those cheap, Chinese knock-offs of designer clothes, and what they're charging the clueless imbeciles buying them? They could literally burn their warehouse to the ground every other week, and as long as the ships keep coming from the slave labor countries, they'll keep making a profit.
Re:The customer is not always right... (Score:5, Insightful)
The phrase has since been twisted by greedy customers who willfully misinterpret it as justification for getting more than they're paying for (i.e. stealing from the seller).
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In a battle between what you think the customer should get and what the customer thinks s/he should get, the customer is always right.
That's correct but still not applicable in market economics. The problem is the use of the customer here is singular. The expression is right if you treat customers as plural. In the singular case it's often better to get rid of a customer if you have high volume as simply entertaining that annoying customer can be more of a drain on the business that the resulting complaints.
I used to laugh when my partner gave customers a quick refund and turned them away if they complained. The customer would complain "B
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I have watched many videos on YouTube of people who buy palettes of "Amazon Customer Returns" and end up with stuff that has been bought, used and returned. Halloween costumes that were bought, used once and returned. Pool toys that were bought, used all summer and then returned. LEGO sets that were bought, opened, all the good bits taken out and then returned.
Amazon (and other retailers) need to stop taking returns of items that have been bought and opened and used and then returned.
If you bought a new For
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
returned goods and idiots (Score:2)
A lot of exdisplay/return goods are as new from amazon. Just because an idiot could not use it does not mean it is broken.
I would not buy some certain items for conterfiet reasons.
News? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Ebay used to be people selling stuff they didn't want any more.
About a decade ago it mostly switched to a marketplace for merchants. Some used stuff, a lot of of brand new stuff. A lot of it from China. They changed the rules around that time to make the feedback system a lot harsher and shift the balance in the buyer's favour.
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About a decade ago it mostly switched to a marketplace for merchants.
Oh dear, you're older than you think you are, and to set that straight remember that the final part of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy came out a decade ago, and so did Spiderman 3.
Ebay on the other hand started acting like this around the start of the original Spiderman trilogy, or almost 2 decades ago.
Feel as old as the rest of us yet?
Returns are the nature of the beast. (Score:2)
If you can't see something before buying, the only way to comparison shop is to buy one of everything you're considering, and send back all the ones you don't want. I've done this with musical instruments and parts thereof, where this is actually expected practice (to the point where they don't charge immediately, as they expect most of it back). They'd rather support what I'm trying to do, make one shipment to me, and get one shipment back. Prior to such policies being implemented, people often would buy a
A sad cultural shift (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a sad shift of where we have come as a culture. It used to be that retailers that opted to provide high end customer service would include 'no questions asked' return policies and their premium customers appreciated this flexibility but mostly did not take advantage of it.
Roll the clock forward and we now have people that knowingly abuse these policies. I know of people personally along with all sorts of anecdotes where they have purchased a big screen TV for the super bowl or a PPV fight or similar, throw a watching party, and then take the unit back for a full refund AND SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH DOING THIS. Their rationale is often that other people do it so why not, and/or the store lets me do it so what's the issue.
The retailer often has no choice because all of their competition allow it so they will lose customers if they do not. This is often really hard on small locally owned stores because they have to compete with the chains, but do not have the purchasing power to push all those returns back to the vendor and so just have to eat up the discount they have to give to sell the 'previously opened' unit to someone else. And no, you can't just box it up and sell it as a new item - if you know it has been previously opened then legally in the US you are not allowed to sell it as 'new'.
So at the end of the day the manufacturers and the retailers all mark their products up to recover the losses due to returns and the people who actually pay for things end up covering the cost of the asshats who think it is their right to game the system. There are of course cases where things need to be returned because they don't fit or are not the right color or w/e, but with most purchases you should be able to figure those things out without opening and using the product.
One long strange journey in particular... (Score:3)
This article was posted two weeks ago and now reappearing as a dupe. Was the first one returned to Amazon?
Why is this on the front page again? (Score:3)
Msmash how did you post something on the 26th December that has comments from the 14th December?
Is it such a slow news day that you need to repost stuff?
Not limited to online (Score:3)
My most recent experience with this problem was the purchase of mid-range headphones. ( ~$300 )
The box still had the seals in place, but when I got it home and pulled them from the box, it was obvious they had already been opened. A few pieces were missing and, upon closer inspection, there were hairs stuck to the earphone cups indicating these had been worn.
I ended up returning them to the store for another pair.
Retailers act surprised when I decline to take the floor or demo model and I tell them that I don't want the model that everyone has fondled, picked up and played with as the likelihood of said item having some issue requiring its return is too high. Especially if it's a high value item.
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Refurbs don't work quite that fast and typically are offered through different channels. Also, good refurbs are generally for sale right away but not at 10% of the cost.
Re:The full circle of the Food chain (Score:5, Insightful)
I recently ordered a not inexpensive ($400~) smartphone from Amazon but they sent me the wrong sub-model. After initiating the return procedure, Amazon never sent a courier out to pick up the package. It was sitting on my coffee table for nearly a month and I had been in contact with no less than 6 Amazon reps, all of whom assured me that someone would be by to pick up the package. The last rep I spoke to issued a refund back to my credit card (which I verified) and said he would put in a "special" request to have the package picked up and that if it wasn't picked up, then I could keep the phone.
Guess what happened? No courier showed up and I now have a free, albeit wrong sub-model, smartphone. In the meantime of waiting for the courier to show, I had bought the correct sub-model from a different online shop, so basically I got two for one. I ended up giving the free phone to my girlfriend because I had no use for it.
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Re:The full circle of the Food chain (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm probably from a different country, so I don't know how these things work, but can you do that without paying postage, and do these shipping boxes fit in a typical post box?
Re:The full circle of the Food chain (Score:5, Informative)
I'm probably from a different country, so I don't know how these things work, but can you do that without paying postage, and do these shipping boxes fit in a typical post box?
It's called "Reply Paid", "Business Reply Mail", "Freepost", or even "International Business Reply Service", and exists in several countries. More information is on Wikipedia: Freepost [wikipedia.org].
In general, being able to return items without paying postage depends on where you live and who you bought the item from, but it certainly does exist. In the Netherlands, where I live, it's part of the competitive advantage of webshops: next day delivery is so ubiquitous that not having that actually means you lose customers, so your return policy becomes m ore important.
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in the USA you get a pre-pad shipping label, you pack it yourself and take it fedex or UPS
Re:The full circle of the Food chain (Score:4, Funny)
The bottom always supports those above.
But then things fall apart; the centre cannot hold! Anarchy is loosed upon the world.