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Customer returned $800 in books after using them to stage a home for holidays
- asicsp 4y agoTweet thread (https://twitter.com/rebecgeo/status/1612509818505289749 https://twitter.com/rebecgeo/status/1612509818505289749) went viral and a lot of people pitched in by buying books.
- canadianfella 4y ago[dead]
- srvmshr 4y agoFrom the scant information, it is very likely this was one of the influencer gigs. People doing this should realize there is a very palpable network effect on everyone else not indulging. For the sake of own influencer livelihood, and just because it is within legality - they should not be throwing someone's life into a whirlpool for few more likes/views/clicks. I feel sorry for the bookseller (and glad they've recouped) but imagine the alternative when this charitable act didn't happen. In addition to stocking, bookseller often take care of shipping return costs too. More so for rare/expensive books. It would have been catastrophic to the business.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago“Influencers” are one of the great externalities of social media. The prospect of fame and wealth turns existing people’s narcissism and sociopathy up to 11 and the rest of us suffer.
- unsupp0rted 4y agoIf not for social media, would their narcissism and sociopathy make the rest of us suffer in other ways?
- traceroute66 4y ago> “Influencers” are one of the great externalities of social media. The prospect of fame and wealth turns existing people’s narcissism and sociopathy up to 11 and the rest of us suffer. True, although it should be noted that the world of "influencers" is starting to shape into an industry of its own, moving beyond individual egos. There are, for example, companies such as The Social Chain[1] whose (almost) sole role in life is influencer management, content production, "social-first distribution" and podcasting. I agree that neither "influencers" or the "industry" surrounding them are something that need to exist. I doubt anyone would miss them if they were not there. [1]https://socialchain.com/en https://socialchain.com/en
- Mystery-Machine 4y ago[flagged]
- dkersten 4y agoIt seems like a strange complaint that this one order was for a third of their rent. Besides the cost of processing the return, if the order hadn’t happened at all, then they also wouldn’t have had this third of their rent so it seems the net effect is.. zero (well, I’m sure cost of return isn’t nothing so they do lose out, but losing out on the sale is an odd complaint, although it’s obviously understandable to be upset that it wasn’t a real sale) Still a shitty thing to do though.
- henvic 4y agoUh? What about costs related to payment processing, time lost, and the fact that if you don't have a big stock maybe you even made a new order for new books when they shouldn't? There are so many reasons why this kind of behavior is toxic... If the intention was to keep the books, but for some reason they decided to return it, that's fine. Even buying thinking you might end up having to return it is still fine, mostly. However, buying with the sole purpose of lending for free, especially from a small business, is awful. Geez. It seems you've no idea how a business is run.
- dkersten 4y agoI mentioned the cost of processing the return. And I mentioned that I agree it’s a shitty move by the buyer. I just disagree with the framing of “this one order was a third of our rent and it turned out fake”, like yeah of course they’re upset, but since it was fake to begin with, that wasn’t ever money they had, so they’d have to cover their rent somehow anyway. It’s a bit like counting piracy as a lost sale when the person was never going to buy to begin with. Of course the whole thing did work out in their favour in the end so cool.
- sbarre 4y agoMaybe someone else would have bought one or more of those books while they were out on "unexpected loan"? Maybe, as someone else pointed out, they ordered replacement copies of the sold books unnecessarily. Maybe they made accounting decisions (employee bonuses, debt/supplier payments, etc) based on their assumed revenue that month, and now they have to deal with an unexpected shortfall? So many potential reasons why this isn't "zero effect". Not sure why you're trying so hard to talk away the impact of the "shitty move by the buyer" here.
- freitasm 4y ago"This person was an unusual case. They were expensive (some wrapped) art and cook books," An "exchange only" policy should be in place. And only for unopened items.
- traceroute66 4y ago> An "exchange only" policy should be in place. And only for unopened items. Your idea needs to have a meeting with Mr Reality. a) The business world is competitive, you are competing with the likes of Amazon who have a no-nonsense returns policy. If you become known as a business with a troublesome returns process, then customers will simply vote with their feet. b) People returning stuff after short-use is, like it or not, a fact of life in today's world. Ask anyone who sells fashion goods ... girls buy stuff for the Friday night party and return it on Monday. It happens and it's basically a cost of doing business. If the stock is any good, it will get sold anyway, just as nearly-new instead of new. c) In an increasing number of jurisdictions, the law falls on the side of the buyer. For example in the EU, your "exchange only" policy would be an absolute non-starter (with very few exceptions, e.g. food items, healthcare items etc).
- freitasm 4y agoa) Most likely people who would ruin your business by returning stuff b) Hence a policy to ward off this kind of clients. Why bother selling if you will have the item back - with the costs of restocking, processing, dumping or relisting, cleaning, etc? c) I don't think so. Here in NZ and Australia very few places offer a return policy for change of mind - and most places are online outlets. IF you buy something on the street be prepared to have the option to exchange only.
- aaaaaA3 4y ago>b) People returning stuff after short-use is, like it or not, a fact of life in today's world. Ask anyone who sells fashion goods ... girls buy stuff for the Friday night party and return it on Monday. It happens and it's basically a cost of doing business. If the stock is any good, it will get sold anyway, just as nearly-new instead of new. You get blacklisted very quickly if you do this.
- giancarlostoro 4y agoIt's really sad they returned all those books instead of donating them. On another note, if you ever need to stuff up a book shelf, at least in my area, every local Goodwill has books for $1 a pop roughly. Hard cover is $3 regardless of what the books actual value is. I'm sure other stores like Salvation Army and Thrift stores have similar stock for cheap. You're better off spending insanely low amounts and just donating the books if you really don't want them. I have personally found some gems at Good Will though.
- b800h 4y agoIn this case the purchaser clearly wanted their house to look snazzy over the summer. A load of 1960s paperback editions of things like "I'll Say She Does!" and "Trouble with Lichen" would probably not have done the job.
- femto 4y agoIn a similar vein, a couple of years ago someone tried to return A$10,000 of toilet paper and sanitiser, which they got stuck with when their profiteering venture was shutdown. The vendor refused to process the refund and the case lead to a change in refund policies for most Australian supermarkets. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-15/supermarket-shopper-tries-to-return-coronavirus-hoardings/12149548 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-15/supermarket-shopper-t...
- bongobingo1 4y agoWonder if that anti-collusion measure is still laxed. It says temporary but I'm not sure where to look to see if its undone now - can be debated whether we're still in some kind of "crisis" mode or not depending on what scale and where you're looking.
- femto 4y agoStill going, currently due to end on 31st of March 2023 [1]. The original authorisation [2] was until the 31st of March 2021, but has been extended multiple times. Might get extended again? [1] https://www.accc.gov.au/update/accc-grants-authorisation-for-ongoing-supermarket-cooperation-on-covid-19-response https://www.accc.gov.au/update/accc-grants-authorisation-for... [2] https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/authorisations-and-notifications-registers/authorisations-register/coles-group-on-behalf-of-itself-and-participating-supermarkets https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/authorisations-and-...
- Aloha 4y agoI had a friend working for Safeway in Seattle during the Pandemic. Safeway changed policy and refused to take returns of just toilet paper or hand sanitizer, because of the panic buying.
- devaler 4y agoThis is one of the many reasons I do not miss working for a bookstore. A large percentage (but not the majority) of our customers were either grifters or thieves.
- rwmj 4y agoIt seems like a surprising thing to steal. Don't shoplifters normally go for items which are easy to fence?
- garciansmith 4y agoThey sell them to other bookstores. Or try to, anyhow, and that is not necessarily a good idea, since (especially in the used and rare bookstore world) owners often know each other. I worked at a used bookstore and a friend of the owner who had their own store was robbed: a few days later, the thieves showed up with boxes of books taken from that store. Thankfully the owner of my store realized it right away and the thief was caught.
- barbariangrunge 4y agoWhat other used bookstores? There is only two of those in the surrounding 300km where I live and they’re both struggling
- mistersquid 4y agoI looked for details but could not find them in the OP or linked tweet. Given the owner says of the books > They were expensive (some wrapped) art and cook books there is a possibility this $800 sale was for fewer than a dozen items. Maybe even fewer than 5 items. A small number of items doesn’t excuse the unethical behavior of a buyer using a small business’s inventory as stage props, though it does put said behavior in perspective, so to speak. In any case, it’s good empathetic readers purchased enough new books to offset the revenue shortfall.
- giarc 4y agoA colleague of mine worked Walmart returns desk back during her high school/university days. She said many people would buy all their Christmas decorations early December, then return them early January since Walmart had a very relaxed return policy.
- fps_doug 4y agoWhen I was younger, a friend's dad used to run a millinery. We'd sometimes hang out there for half an hour after school and then his dad would take us home by car. I was always amused by that oddly specific sign next to the cash register saying something like "one week return policy, except for black or white hats". Every time I saw that sign my curiosity grew so one day I finally asked his das what was up with that specific exclusion. "Simple" he said. "White hats are for weddings, black hats for funerals. People would return them all the time, the day after the ceremony."
- bachmeier 4y agoWhen I was in college, I had friends that would buy games for the computer and return them to Walmart when they finished them. TBH some of those games were a scam. You could finish them in six hours. I didn't feel sorry for Walmart in those cases.
- petodo 4y agoI used to do this with my kids growing up, buy matching size low quality winter shoes at beginning of winter, which can barely last through winter, get refund for broken shoes at the end of warranty, basically free renting if you are willing to risk shoes will get broken already during winter. Since I have 2 kids I don't care that much about it, if it gets broken great, can get money back and buy new shoes next time for same kid or use it for other kid, if it doesn't break, other kid can use them when they will grow up.
- ErikAugust 4y agoIs providing books, etc. for staging a business opportunity? There is already such services, no?
- RegnisGnaw 4y agoThis solution is free.
- sbarre 4y agoIt exists (film/TV, real estate, etc), but I doubt the person in this article would have paid for that when they could just scam a bookstore instead.
- apocalyptic0n3 4y agoYes. Home staging is a fairly common business for cities to have. They'll provide all of the materials themselves and then take them back once the photography/open houses are complete.
- garciansmith 4y agoNormally yes. I worked at a large used bookstore that would do this: interior decorators, realtors, and film crews would either purchase or rent large numbers of books. Renting would be cheaper, of course, as long as the books returned in good condition (which they sometimes did not). The labor involved was often very great, since most of those books came from their proper spots on shelves and then had to be reshelved (although we kept some nice looking sets that were frequently used for this). What was needed often had certain parameters too (e.g., books with blue spines, only leather-bound volumes, or only a certain height). What surprises me in this case is that the realtor actually cared about the content of books. The vast majority know that people won't actually look at the titles and just care about the ambiance created.
- micromacrofoot 4y agoPhotographers do this quite often with just about anything you can return, though it seems very rude to do it to a small business. You should see how the film industry used to return rental cars.
- potamic 4y agoRental cars are meant to be returned, no?
- micromacrofoot 4y agosorry could have added more detail - the old ruse was to pay for the rental insurance, wreck the car for the movie, and then return it
- LanceH 4y agoHe's implying the rentals were abused beyond normal use.
- rwmj 4y agoWhen I was a poor student we would "hire" games consoles by buying them from Argos, returning them for a full refund within the 14 day(?) guarantee period, and then rinse and repeat. I seem to recall that the games themselves were not covered by the returns policy, so we ended up acquiring quite a collection of cartridges. Not something I'm very proud of.
- bityard 4y agoOne guy I worked with was hired by the company, moved into an apartment near the office, and bought all of his furniture from Costco. I guess they have a very liberal return policy because when he another job and moved to a different state around a year later, he simply returned all of the furniture to Costco.
- cafard 4y agoBack in 2002 or 2003 I stopped in at a hardware store in the Washington, DC, suburbs. A sign announced that there were no refunds on "emergency supplies". I asked, and this meant plastic sheeting and tape, because these were the days when the federal government was warning of possible terrorist attacks.