It’s a trend shoppers and experts alike are seeing when making certain online returns: online retailers giving you a refund and telling you to just keep the item.
Kyle James, the founder of Rather-Be-Shopping.com, said he started seeing this trend about a year ago with Amazon returns.
The massive e-commerce company tells consumers to keep the item you asked to return, and you’ll still get a refund, too.
James said he’s now seeing many more online retailers following suit like Walmart, Target, Chewy, Wayfair, Zappos, Costco, Kohls, Shein and Home Depot.
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But don’t bank on it for all the online purchases you make.
“I think the secret sauce is anything $20 or less. I noticed cheaper electronics, more inexpensive clothing. Think like bigger, bulkier items that are fairly large like storage containers and home décor. They’re large and they don’t weigh a lot, but you got to put them in a big box, so a lot of these retailers are figuring out it makes more sense for us to just let them keep it,” James said.
James said this helps build customer loyalty. Plus, it helps the companies avoid return and restocking fees.
And he said if an item has been used and is returned, it has to be sent to liquidation anyway.
James said you shouldn't use this information to try and game the system. He said you could end up flagged on a company’s list, and get banned from future returns.
But a shopper who may be trying to decide to buy something that’s the same price from two different online retailers, he said knowing a certain company may let you keep a return adds an extra layer of protection.
Something similar happened to NBC CT Responds Consumer Reporter Caitlin Burchill recently.
She went to return an online number and the company said returning the item would cost $10 to restock, or the company offered her the opportunity to keep it for a 50% refund.
The lesson here: make sure you read return policies before making a purchase, especially as the holidays are near.
