4 ms·

How is this a scam? If I buy something from a big box retailer and fail to return it before the return policy ends, is that the retailer scamming me when they

How is this a scam? If I buy something from a big box retailer and fail to return it before the return policy ends, is that the retailer scamming me when they refuse to refund my money?

lapcat 4y ago
> If I buy something from a big box retailer and fail to return it before the return policy ends Notice the word buy here, not try. There's a world of difference between buying and trying. When you walk out of the retail store, you've already intentionally paid your money. With a trial, you don't necessarily have an intention to buy. As I said in the article: "People often compare App Store to a retail store, but what physical retail store in the world allows you to walk out the door with 84% of its products without paying anything?"
- tpmoney 4y ago
  > As I said in the article: "People often compare App Store to a retail store, but what physical retail store in the world allows you to walk out the door with 84% of its products without paying anything?" Buy now, bill me later is a pretty common thing in retail. Technically I suppose you're still "buying", but you haven't paid for anything yet any more than you have when you subscribe for something with a free trial first. Likewise, Amazon (and some other online clothing retailers) offer "try it on at home first, pay after you decide to keep it" models. And then there's sit down restaurants which allow you to order as much as you want and pay after you've eaten. And if you go really up scale, they may not even have prices on the menu and you get surprised by the costs at the end.
  - lapcat 4y ago
    > Buy now, bill me later is a pretty common thing in retail. I haven't seen this. > Likewise, Amazon (and some other online clothing retailers) offer "try it on at home first, pay after you decide to keep it" models. This is actually news to me. Anyway, it's certainly not the traditional physical store model that we've had for decades/centuries/millennia. And Amazon is problematic in its own way, but I don't want to get into that whole thing here. > And then there's sit down restaurants which allow you to order as much as you want and pay after you've eaten. This is not a good analogy. You don't get to walk out of the restaurant without paying. The food doesn't have a trial period. If you ordered it, you pay for it on the bill. Restaurants let you pay at the end of the meal because they want you to keep ordering as many drinks as possible.

How is this a scam? If I buy something from a big box retailer and fail to return it before the return policy ends, is that the retailer scamming me when they refuse to refund my money?

lapcat 4y ago

> If I buy something from a big box retailer and fail to return it before the return policy ends Notice the word buy here, not try. There's a world of difference between buying and trying. When you walk out of the retail store, you've already intentionally paid your money. With a trial, you don't necessarily have an intention to buy. As I said in the article: "People often compare App Store to a retail store, but what physical retail store in the world allows you to walk out the door with 84% of its products without paying anything?"

tpmoney 4y ago
> As I said in the article: "People often compare App Store to a retail store, but what physical retail store in the world allows you to walk out the door with 84% of its products without paying anything?" Buy now, bill me later is a pretty common thing in retail. Technically I suppose you're still "buying", but you haven't paid for anything yet any more than you have when you subscribe for something with a free trial first. Likewise, Amazon (and some other online clothing retailers) offer "try it on at home first, pay after you decide to keep it" models. And then there's sit down restaurants which allow you to order as much as you want and pay after you've eaten. And if you go really up scale, they may not even have prices on the menu and you get surprised by the costs at the end.
- lapcat 4y ago
  > Buy now, bill me later is a pretty common thing in retail. I haven't seen this. > Likewise, Amazon (and some other online clothing retailers) offer "try it on at home first, pay after you decide to keep it" models. This is actually news to me. Anyway, it's certainly not the traditional physical store model that we've had for decades/centuries/millennia. And Amazon is problematic in its own way, but I don't want to get into that whole thing here. > And then there's sit down restaurants which allow you to order as much as you want and pay after you've eaten. This is not a good analogy. You don't get to walk out of the restaurant without paying. The food doesn't have a trial period. If you ordered it, you pay for it on the bill. Restaurants let you pay at the end of the meal because they want you to keep ordering as many drinks as possible.