What is your opinion on "restocking fees"? Greedy retailer? Or do you think the fees are justified?
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When you return an item, sometimes a store charges a fee. So for example a $300 phone, they take $35 off your return, so you only get back $265 if you decide to return it.
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When you return an item, sometimes a store charges a fee. So for example a $300 phone, they take $35 off your return, so you only get back $265 if you decide to return it.
It’s bullshit because they aren’t going to sell it for $35 less to the next chump.
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When you return an item, sometimes a store charges a fee. So for example a $300 phone, they take $35 off your return, so you only get back $265 if you decide to return it.
Depends on the reason for the return and the amount of the fee. It does cost a business money to take product back to stock. Businesses need to keep stock moving out. Just holding stock costs them money. Taking stock back costs even more. They likely can’t sell it as new on top of the normal overhead costs of stocking it.
If it’s returned because you didn’t like it, it’s reasonable for you to bear some of the cost.
If it’s defective or doesn’t work as advertised, that’s different. The retailer should eat the cost of that.
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Depends on the reason for the return and the amount of the fee. It does cost a business money to take product back to stock. Businesses need to keep stock moving out. Just holding stock costs them money. Taking stock back costs even more. They likely can’t sell it as new on top of the normal overhead costs of stocking it.
If it’s returned because you didn’t like it, it’s reasonable for you to bear some of the cost.
If it’s defective or doesn’t work as advertised, that’s different. The retailer should eat the cost of that.
If it’s returned because you didn’t like it, it’s reasonable for you to bear some of the cost.
I think that is reasonable only if the seller has a "try before you buy" policy. As one example, if I'm looking for a new computer peripheral like a mouse or a headset or similar, I usually have no way to actually see how well it works for me before buying.
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It’s bullshit because they aren’t going to sell it for $35 less to the next chump.
It has nothing to do with discounting it, it has to do with paying for the labour involved in the sale and refund process, which takes worker time.
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When you return an item, sometimes a store charges a fee. So for example a $300 phone, they take $35 off your return, so you only get back $265 if you decide to return it.
I can see several reasons why this may be done, and most depend on the retailer and product. The short version is that restocking fees make sense for large or valuable items, and for small businesses.
High-value items like electronics, jewelry, etc. are prone to theft and return fraud. For example: someone could buy a computer or jewelry, swap some parts, and return it with different parts that are worth much less. It takes time and resources to test the product to verify it's the same as what was sold.
Large items like furniture are very expensive to ship and when one is puchased, the retailer would often restock the item which costs them money.
Small businesses are often charged higher fees by manufacturers and distributors for ordering or shipping products, as they generally don't order in high amounts. This means that they will make less money if they sell an item for the same price as a large corporation. Small businesses also don't have the same resources for testing returned products, so processing returns has a much larger impact on them vs large corporations. Because of this, it often makes sense to implement a restocking fee to make up for these costs.
Large corporations generally have a streamlined process for processing, testing, and shipping returned products. While some things are still expensive to process, it's significantly less impactful for a large business to process a return. It still costs money to process a return, but in my opinion restocking fees can be greedy for larger corporations that can eat those costs.
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It has nothing to do with discounting it, it has to do with paying for the labour involved in the sale and refund process, which takes worker time.
That labor should be paid from the profits of goods sold and not returned--just like every other liability.
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That labor should be paid from the profits of goods sold and not returned--just like every other liability.
Why? The company shouldn't have to eat the cost just because you decide after the fact that you don't actually want/need the item. The company should be liable for warranty claims, but not simple returns.
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Why? The company shouldn't have to eat the cost just because you decide after the fact that you don't actually want/need the item. The company should be liable for warranty claims, but not simple returns.
If you have the right by law to return something, they must not charge a fee. That cost needs to be included in the original price. If the return policy is optional, then they can charge something. And you can decide to never buy anything from them ever again. And trash that store on social media for its hostile policy.
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Why? The company shouldn't have to eat the cost just because you decide after the fact that you don't actually want/need the item. The company should be liable for warranty claims, but not simple returns.
There are so many cases where you must be able to use an item to determine its suitability. If brands and vendors don't facilitate that prior to sale then I have no way to test it without buying it first. Vendors take a gamble then if the product works for me. If it doesn't, well that's the cost of doing business. They make money enough for purchasing wares, paying utilities, rent, and salaries, covering logistical overhead, and turning profit all from the sale of their goods. There's no reason consumers should have to subsidize one of their risks through a special medium beyond the sale of product.
If a company doesn't like that then they can adopt consumer friendly protections like permitting trying on clothes, test driving a car or having a tool rental option prior to sale.
But if I:
- buy a phone and realize only when I get home that the brilliant engineers forgot to allow me to set a background image
- buy a new computer and realize only when I get home that despite them advertising it supports thunderbolt it won't actually work with my thunderbolt accessories and can't support 3 external displays
- buy a new mouse that is enclosed in a sealed cardboard box that doesn't permit checking the ergonomics only to realize it doesn't work well
- buy a pair of headphones only to realize they sound bad/creak when worn/have terrible cable noise
- buy an oil filter wrench and realize I can't fit it and my hand at the same time on the access port
Well, then, they can process a return.
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When you return an item, sometimes a store charges a fee. So for example a $300 phone, they take $35 off your return, so you only get back $265 if you decide to return it.
I believe a fair and reasonable restocking fee is absolutely justified when customers try to game the system. Having worked in several retail establishments over the years, I can tell you that this sort of behavior is rampant and I've seen lots of really shady shit from people, including:
- Buying clothes for a special event and then trying to return them the next day.
- Buying a tool to fix something in your home, and then trying to return it the next day.
- Breaking an item that you purchased, and then wanting to return it, claiming that it is defective.
People are opportunists. If there are no controls in place to keep some people from doing shitty things, some people will do shitty things.
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I believe a fair and reasonable restocking fee is absolutely justified when customers try to game the system. Having worked in several retail establishments over the years, I can tell you that this sort of behavior is rampant and I've seen lots of really shady shit from people, including:
- Buying clothes for a special event and then trying to return them the next day.
- Buying a tool to fix something in your home, and then trying to return it the next day.
- Breaking an item that you purchased, and then wanting to return it, claiming that it is defective.
People are opportunists. If there are no controls in place to keep some people from doing shitty things, some people will do shitty things.
Breaking an item that you purchased, and then wanting to return it, claiming that it is defective.
Context is king, however, if I bought a tool and it broke when I was using it, you best believe I'm going to return it.
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When you return an item, sometimes a store charges a fee. So for example a $300 phone, they take $35 off your return, so you only get back $265 if you decide to return it.
Returns are not a right, no retailer is required to accept them. Most do it for a better shopping experience, people are more likely to spend if they know they can return.
You are protected from defective or dangerous products, but that's through the manufacturer's warranty. You are also protected from products that do not work as advertised. I think that's a law in most countries.
But returns for other reasons like bad clothing fits or you just don't like it are not legally protected for the most part. There are some exceptions but they're specific.
So to say restocking fees are greedy is silly.
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Returns are not a right, no retailer is required to accept them. Most do it for a better shopping experience, people are more likely to spend if they know they can return.
You are protected from defective or dangerous products, but that's through the manufacturer's warranty. You are also protected from products that do not work as advertised. I think that's a law in most countries.
But returns for other reasons like bad clothing fits or you just don't like it are not legally protected for the most part. There are some exceptions but they're specific.
So to say restocking fees are greedy is silly.
A return within 2 weeks is a right in the eu actually.
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Breaking an item that you purchased, and then wanting to return it, claiming that it is defective.
Context is king, however, if I bought a tool and it broke when I was using it, you best believe I'm going to return it.
Which, if the retailer has any kind of a brain, will be followed by a polite request for a demonstration of how you were using said tool when it broke. They know what to watch for to identify scammers, trust me.
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A return within 2 weeks is a right in the eu actually.
Only for online shopping I think.
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Only for online shopping I think.
Oh good point! So. it's only a right online.. weird.
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Only for online shopping I think.
No, I think that you have that right for every contract, that you enter (buying contract or otherwise). Though there are exceptions (for example digital goods like ebooks). Ypu can very much bring back a retail good that you bought in a store for 14 days after the purchase. Though I think they can refuse, if you damaged the product in that time.
For example I returned an item I bought in the tool store, because I realized I bought the wrong one.
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There are so many cases where you must be able to use an item to determine its suitability. If brands and vendors don't facilitate that prior to sale then I have no way to test it without buying it first. Vendors take a gamble then if the product works for me. If it doesn't, well that's the cost of doing business. They make money enough for purchasing wares, paying utilities, rent, and salaries, covering logistical overhead, and turning profit all from the sale of their goods. There's no reason consumers should have to subsidize one of their risks through a special medium beyond the sale of product.
If a company doesn't like that then they can adopt consumer friendly protections like permitting trying on clothes, test driving a car or having a tool rental option prior to sale.
But if I:
- buy a phone and realize only when I get home that the brilliant engineers forgot to allow me to set a background image
- buy a new computer and realize only when I get home that despite them advertising it supports thunderbolt it won't actually work with my thunderbolt accessories and can't support 3 external displays
- buy a new mouse that is enclosed in a sealed cardboard box that doesn't permit checking the ergonomics only to realize it doesn't work well
- buy a pair of headphones only to realize they sound bad/creak when worn/have terrible cable noise
- buy an oil filter wrench and realize I can't fit it and my hand at the same time on the access port
Well, then, they can process a return.
Four of the five examples you provided are warranty claims: The product is defective, or otherwise not-as-described.
The fifth one is the only one where I would probably insist on a return fee. My wrench would clearly have its dimensions listed, and you'd have all the information you needed to learn whether it would work for your particular application long before you hit the "buy" button. When it doesn't fit, I will be able to show you that you could and should have known that before purchasing. (I'd probably waive the restock fee if you were sufficiently self-deprecating and apologetic about wasting my time.)
If I look and realize I didn't include that information, that would be a warranty claim.
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Returns are not a right, no retailer is required to accept them. Most do it for a better shopping experience, people are more likely to spend if they know they can return.
You are protected from defective or dangerous products, but that's through the manufacturer's warranty. You are also protected from products that do not work as advertised. I think that's a law in most countries.
But returns for other reasons like bad clothing fits or you just don't like it are not legally protected for the most part. There are some exceptions but they're specific.
So to say restocking fees are greedy is silly.
Ummm, they're offering the return.
