Sure, but the danger is that they just tune based on return rate without any consideration of quality standards. Amazon has shown they are more than willing to

Sure, but the danger is that they just tune based on return rate without any consideration of quality standards. Amazon has shown they are more than willing to mix merchant inventory and allow unlimited streams of counterfeit merchandise which undermines all third party merchant reputations. This is problematic because a manufacturer / merchant has more time / expertise / money to chip away at quality until it's just barely good enough to not get returned within a limited window. Ideally you want brands / manufacturers to care about quality, but if there is no means to establish a reputation then it's just a race to the bottom.