4 ms·

"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 i

"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 ago
  a) 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.
  - traceroute66 4y ago
    >You get blacklisted very quickly if you do this. Maybe maybe not, but then you end up returning to point a) ... along comes Amazon with Prime Try Before You Buy
    - c22 4y ago
      On the other hand, I've received items from Amazon before that were clearly previously opened and returned, sometimes with missing pieces, once the item was clearly defective. Due to this subpar experience I no longer order anything from Amazon since, personally, I'd rather not spend my time returning things and their slipshod policy almost guarantees I will have to.
  - jghn 4y ago
    Not to mention it's basically giving those people an interest free loan funded by the rest of us. Perhaps if a business lost sales to "girls buy[ing] stuff for the Friday night party" they might gain them from people like me who see the prices as higher than I'd want to pay in the first place.
- messe 4y ago
  > 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). With the exception of online purchases, that's only true for the return of non-faulty items. In Ireland, for example, you have no right to change your mind after the purchase and return the item just because you didn't like it (except for online purchases, which must allow 14 days for return). Now, many shops will still allow you to return items within a certain time frame for your money back, but they would be well within their rights to operate an exchange-only or store-credit policy (and some do!). However, if the item is faulty or not fit for purpose then the seller must offer you a replacement, repair, refund, or reduction in price. Whether or not you are entitled to choose which of these you get is dependent on how long since you bought the item, and whether or not the suggested repairs/replacement are reasonable.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- TimPC 4y ago
  I’ve reduced purchases on non-Amazon sites because they expect me to pay to ship a return back to them. Amazon not only pays all return costs they send someone to my door to pick up the return. Adding friction does lose customers.
  - throw1234651234 4y ago
    It's amazing to me how much stuff people return. I have seen people buy a ton of stuff and return half of it on a regular basis. I guess it's a time filler for you/them. I don't run a store, so it doesn't affect me, but just seems like a huge waste of time.
    - c0wb0yc0d3r 4y ago
      I know several people who will buy something from multiple retailers so that they ensure that they get what they want when they want and return the "slow" items.
      - throw1234651234 4y ago
        The part that these people are completely oblivious to is that they then have to wait for these packages, figure out what they are, print labels, and get them to a return location. This ends up being a cost in time akin to getting a workout in, reading a book, or taking a walk that day.
        thatguy0900 4y ago
        This is an exageration. It comes in the packaging, it's just tape, and most of these places, especially Walmart and Amazon, have counters in stores you might have wanted to go to anyway to return them without packaging them right anyway. When you do a Amazon return it gives you like a month to do it in
  - dmitryminkovsky 4y ago
    > they send someone to my door to pick up the return Where is this? I have never seen this as an option.
- Freak_NL 4y ago
  > If the stock is any good, it will get sold anyway, just as nearly-new instead of new. Not really. Most of it ends up in a dumpster unless these are really high-end items. Or in some liquidation warehouse if the quality is good enough. Otherwise, probably on a landfill in Ghana. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/business/online-shopping-returns-liquidators/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/business/online-shopping-... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-parts-ghana-into-toxic-landfill/100358702 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-...
  - bdw5204 4y ago
    That's a really good reason why clothing stores should be exchange-only for returns. If you don't like it or it doesn't fit, you should be able to find something else in the store that fits that you do like. Return fraud leading to perfectly good clothes being wasted is not only bad for the environment but likely leads to higher clothes prices for legitimate customers.

"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 ago
a) 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.
- traceroute66 4y ago
  >You get blacklisted very quickly if you do this. Maybe maybe not, but then you end up returning to point a) ... along comes Amazon with Prime Try Before You Buy
  - c22 4y ago
    On the other hand, I've received items from Amazon before that were clearly previously opened and returned, sometimes with missing pieces, once the item was clearly defective. Due to this subpar experience I no longer order anything from Amazon since, personally, I'd rather not spend my time returning things and their slipshod policy almost guarantees I will have to.
- jghn 4y ago
  Not to mention it's basically giving those people an interest free loan funded by the rest of us. Perhaps if a business lost sales to "girls buy[ing] stuff for the Friday night party" they might gain them from people like me who see the prices as higher than I'd want to pay in the first place.
messe 4y ago
> 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). With the exception of online purchases, that's only true for the return of non-faulty items. In Ireland, for example, you have no right to change your mind after the purchase and return the item just because you didn't like it (except for online purchases, which must allow 14 days for return). Now, many shops will still allow you to return items within a certain time frame for your money back, but they would be well within their rights to operate an exchange-only or store-credit policy (and some do!). However, if the item is faulty or not fit for purpose then the seller must offer you a replacement, repair, refund, or reduction in price. Whether or not you are entitled to choose which of these you get is dependent on how long since you bought the item, and whether or not the suggested repairs/replacement are reasonable.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
TimPC 4y ago
I’ve reduced purchases on non-Amazon sites because they expect me to pay to ship a return back to them. Amazon not only pays all return costs they send someone to my door to pick up the return. Adding friction does lose customers.
- throw1234651234 4y ago
  It's amazing to me how much stuff people return. I have seen people buy a ton of stuff and return half of it on a regular basis. I guess it's a time filler for you/them. I don't run a store, so it doesn't affect me, but just seems like a huge waste of time.
  - c0wb0yc0d3r 4y ago
    I know several people who will buy something from multiple retailers so that they ensure that they get what they want when they want and return the "slow" items.
    - throw1234651234 4y ago
      The part that these people are completely oblivious to is that they then have to wait for these packages, figure out what they are, print labels, and get them to a return location. This ends up being a cost in time akin to getting a workout in, reading a book, or taking a walk that day.
      - thatguy0900 4y ago
        This is an exageration. It comes in the packaging, it's just tape, and most of these places, especially Walmart and Amazon, have counters in stores you might have wanted to go to anyway to return them without packaging them right anyway. When you do a Amazon return it gives you like a month to do it in
- dmitryminkovsky 4y ago
  > they send someone to my door to pick up the return Where is this? I have never seen this as an option.
Freak_NL 4y ago
> If the stock is any good, it will get sold anyway, just as nearly-new instead of new. Not really. Most of it ends up in a dumpster unless these are really high-end items. Or in some liquidation warehouse if the quality is good enough. Otherwise, probably on a landfill in Ghana. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/business/online-shopping-returns-liquidators/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/business/online-shopping-... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-parts-ghana-into-toxic-landfill/100358702 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-...
- bdw5204 4y ago
  That's a really good reason why clothing stores should be exchange-only for returns. If you don't like it or it doesn't fit, you should be able to find something else in the store that fits that you do like. Return fraud leading to perfectly good clothes being wasted is not only bad for the environment but likely leads to higher clothes prices for legitimate customers.