Do Amazon and other retailers penalize customers if they return a lot of items? What you need to know.
As you buy holiday presents for your loved ones, you probably hope to select the perfect gift. But if it’s not the correct electronic item, action figure or if that ugly sweater is just too ugly, you probably expect the recipient will be able to return it for something they really want.
Maybe they can and maybe they can’t. It all depends on where you buy, how you buy and even who you are.
A customer questioned Amazon’s return policies earlier this month when she returned a shower chair, bought from a third-party merchant, and was charged a 50% restocking fee. Amazon told her in an email that she had returned too many items in the past, so any future purchases would not be covered by its guarantees.
Indeed, many retailers actually track returns, and if a shopper is dubbed a “serial returner,” they can be banned from bringing back products they say they no longer want or need.
Amazon wouldn’t say exactly how it makes such determinations.
“We have a number of processes in place to detect fraudulent returns and protect our customers and selling partners,” said Amazon spokesman Branden Baribeau. “We review information on a case-by-case basis and take action on bad actors who abuse our customer-friendly returns policies, including denying returns and closing accounts when appropriate.”
Other retailers use tracking services like The Retail Equation, a company that collects information about shopping habits and returns. Asked how they use such information, the retailers we contacted didn’t respond. The Retail Equation didn’t respond to requests for information, either.
The service says on its website that retail fraud cost retailers in the United States some $78 billion in 2021 alone. That’s a huge issue, and it costs retailers and consumers, too, in the form of higher prices and more restrictive policies as sellers try to get a handle on the costly problem.
Which brings us back to return policies.
These will vary from store to store, and by law, they can.
Laws for returns to brick-andmortar stores vary by state but when you shop online, you lose some of the protections given to you under your state’s law.
It means you have to do your own research into a website to make sure you understand its return policies, from time frames to shipping costs to restocking fees. Read carefully before you click “buy” on your shopping cart, and take a screenshot to record the rules so you have them in case there’s ever a dispute.
Also take care to notice how the seller is rated and whether they are a new or established seller. That will help make sure you’re not buying stolen merchandise, a bigger problem for retailers than individual shoppers who return too much, said John Holub, president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association (NJRMA).
“Our No. 1 issue has been organized retail theft,” Holub said, adding that the problem has only grown as online shopping has become more popular, allowing thieves to impersonate legitimate businesses to sell their tainted wares to unwitting shoppers.
He said the industry has been working with state and federal lawmakers on proposals that would require online marketplaces to verify who is selling on their platform, which would help remove stolen and counterfeit goods from the shelves and give more confidence to consumers.
“Unfortunately people are unwittingly buying stolen and fraudulent goods,” he said.
In the meantime, we should all take steps to be respectful returners. NJ Advance Media spoke to several online sellers who said that returns actually cost them money. They have to pay shipping both ways and fees to post items online, which eat into their small profit margins on consummated sales. And often, they said, shoppers don’t wrap return items carefully, so when the retailer gets them back, they no longer look “new” and they have to sell them as used or take a total loss.
And that, once again, raises prices for everyone.
So good luck with your holiday shopping. Be sure to spend some time with posted return policies, whether in person or online, and don’t forget to request that gift receipt.