4 ms·

Wow that’s really entitled behavior. When you buy something, the intention is for you to own that item. It isn’t a trial period meant to facilitate an in-home s

Wow that’s really entitled behavior. When you buy something, the intention is for you to own that item. It isn’t a trial period meant to facilitate an in-home shopping experience. It’s tacky to make it a habit of regularly returning things where the reason for the return could have been prevented. It costs a lot of money to process returns for a retailer, and that cost is often written down. It’s meant to be an exception during the sales process (not a normal condition) and offered as a curtosey, not a defacto right.

kuschku 9y ago
> Wow that’s really entitled behavior. When you buy something, the intention is for you to own that item. It isn’t a trial period meant to facilitate an in-home shopping experience. It’s tacky to make it a habit of regularly returning things where the reason for the return could have been prevented. Actually, quite a few of clothing retailers advertise with that. Most famously Zalando ran constant TV ads everywhere here for a few months promoting the "buy, if you don't like it, send it back".
- ryanmonroe 9y ago
  Yes, "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" is a common marketing theme, and explicitly encourages the behavior parent commenter calls "not a defacto right"
tvanantwerp 9y ago
Tell it to my wife...
phil21 9y ago
> When you buy something, the intention is for you to own that item. It isn’t a trial period meant to facilitate an in-home shopping experience. It’s tacky to make it a habit of regularly returning things where the reason for the return could have been prevented. I think your knowledge may be dated here. Most higher-end stores I've been to in the past 5 years absolutely encourage that behavior strongly with sales reps suggesting you do so. They love it when my girlfriend is out shopping and brings back a dozen shirt options for me to try on, and then immediately returns 9 of them (heck, some stores even offer free shipping on the items you decide against). The store just made a sale on 3 items they otherwise would not have. They of course don't want folks actually wearing those things out for a "trial" period, but they know they must compete with on-line options that operate in this exact manner.
- Stratoscope 9y ago
  Trader Joe's does this with food. In my experience, they will take anything back, any time, with no receipt. (Alcohol being the one exception, although they did take a return of an unopened box wine that was leaking.) A few times I've been in the store and overheard a conversation a customer had with a crew member who encouraged them to bring something back if they didn't like it. I imagine this works out well for them: when you go back, you will probably find something else to buy!
verylittlemeat 9y ago
Running a business on the assumption that customers will share your morals and ethics is a recipe for failure
twblalock 9y ago
It depends on the retailer. Nordstrom's encourages this kind of behavior -- salespeople there make sales by telling the customer they can return stuff if they buy it and find out they don't like it. On the other hand, L.L. Bean has recently added restrictions to their return policy because it was being abused.
mannykannot 9y ago
While I know that there is abuse of the return option, and probably quite a lot, an immediate return is more likely to be because the item has simply been checked for fit and finish. Someone planning to wear something for a particular event before returning it is likely to have it delivered a few days in advance. I will not order items like footwear for mail delivery if I cannot return items that do not fit, and it is up to the retailer whether they want to trade with me on that basis.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
giobox 9y ago
> It’s meant to be an exception during the sales process (not a normal condition) and offered as a courtesy, not a defacto right. It is a defacto right in many situations in many countries. In the UK for example, if a good is sold sight unseen via "distance selling" (mail/phone/online etc), sale of goods legislation requires you to provide a refund for any reason whatsoever if the item is returned within 14 days.
rplst8 9y ago
In addition to all of the previous answers, which are all great, in the case of clothing they are often charging $50-100+ for what amounts to $5 in material and labor.

kuschku 9y ago

> Wow that’s really entitled behavior. When you buy something, the intention is for you to own that item. It isn’t a trial period meant to facilitate an in-home shopping experience. It’s tacky to make it a habit of regularly returning things where the reason for the return could have been prevented. Actually, quite a few of clothing retailers advertise with that. Most famously Zalando ran constant TV ads everywhere here for a few months promoting the "buy, if you don't like it, send it back".

ryanmonroe 9y ago
Yes, "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" is a common marketing theme, and explicitly encourages the behavior parent commenter calls "not a defacto right"

tvanantwerp 9y ago

Tell it to my wife...

phil21 9y ago

> When you buy something, the intention is for you to own that item. It isn’t a trial period meant to facilitate an in-home shopping experience. It’s tacky to make it a habit of regularly returning things where the reason for the return could have been prevented. I think your knowledge may be dated here. Most higher-end stores I've been to in the past 5 years absolutely encourage that behavior strongly with sales reps suggesting you do so. They love it when my girlfriend is out shopping and brings back a dozen shirt options for me to try on, and then immediately returns 9 of them (heck, some stores even offer free shipping on the items you decide against). The store just made a sale on 3 items they otherwise would not have. They of course don't want folks actually wearing those things out for a "trial" period, but they know they must compete with on-line options that operate in this exact manner.

Stratoscope 9y ago
Trader Joe's does this with food. In my experience, they will take anything back, any time, with no receipt. (Alcohol being the one exception, although they did take a return of an unopened box wine that was leaking.) A few times I've been in the store and overheard a conversation a customer had with a crew member who encouraged them to bring something back if they didn't like it. I imagine this works out well for them: when you go back, you will probably find something else to buy!

verylittlemeat 9y ago

Running a business on the assumption that customers will share your morals and ethics is a recipe for failure

twblalock 9y ago

It depends on the retailer. Nordstrom's encourages this kind of behavior -- salespeople there make sales by telling the customer they can return stuff if they buy it and find out they don't like it. On the other hand, L.L. Bean has recently added restrictions to their return policy because it was being abused.

mannykannot 9y ago

While I know that there is abuse of the return option, and probably quite a lot, an immediate return is more likely to be because the item has simply been checked for fit and finish. Someone planning to wear something for a particular event before returning it is likely to have it delivered a few days in advance. I will not order items like footwear for mail delivery if I cannot return items that do not fit, and it is up to the retailer whether they want to trade with me on that basis.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

giobox 9y ago

> It’s meant to be an exception during the sales process (not a normal condition) and offered as a courtesy, not a defacto right. It is a defacto right in many situations in many countries. In the UK for example, if a good is sold sight unseen via "distance selling" (mail/phone/online etc), sale of goods legislation requires you to provide a refund for any reason whatsoever if the item is returned within 14 days.

rplst8 9y ago

In addition to all of the previous answers, which are all great, in the case of clothing they are often charging $50-100+ for what amounts to $5 in material and labor.