If you’re thinking of sending back a disappointing gift you just received over the holidays, the return may bring even more disappointment.

Americans have grown accustomed to free returns, but a growing number of retailers are charging fees as returns squeeze retailers’ bottom lines.

Macy’s, Abercrombie, J. Crew, H&M and other companies have all added shipping fees for mail-in returns.

And it’s not just the big mall brands, either. Eighty-one precent of merchants are now charging a fee for at least some methods of returns, according to Happy Returns, a logistics company that specializes in returns.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    People were ordering five colors of an outfit, trying each one on once, then returning all but one of them. And then the rest just get thrown out because the company can’t sell the clothing that has already been tried on.

    • frickineh@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Since when can’t they sell stuff that’s been tried on? Brick and mortar stores do it literally every day. Unless it’s underwear, who cares?

    • athos77@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      That was what all of their ads were, though: order what you like, try them on in the comfort of your home, anything you don’t like for any reason - wrong fit, bad color, whatever - just return it! You can’t get annoyed with the customers when this is literally what the merchants said they should do.

      • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        That was what all of their ads were

        lol. Why is made up shit so popular? Don’t get me wrong, some companies have advertised this, but most aren’t pricing this into their costs. Which is why they now want to charge for it.

    • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 months ago

      That happens less often than the scamazon Chinese knock off crap being sold under fake 5 star reviews getting returned. Amazon needs to go back to companies being required to own office space in the country they’re selling to in order to sell their goods there.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      What do you expect with companies like Amazon, Zappos and such where their business model was buy try on and return. Then there is Walmart that would take anything back including empty paint cans if the buyer was unhappy with the color.

      • meco03211@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Knew someone that worked returns at Walmart. Customer wanted to return something. She said they can’t do that. Customer asked to speak to manager. Manager said, “just do the return”. She responded, “we don’t even sell this here. I literally can’t return it.” Manager took over. Did something at the register. Put the item in the return pile to be restocked. Customer seemed happy with the outcome.

        They literally will take items they don’t even sell in the store.

          • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz
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            10 months ago

            Eh, IMO that’s a crappy manager. Rather than deal with the potential outburst from an asshole customer, they’d rather just do whatever the customer wants, further reinforcing their shitty behavior. All of this puts the other employees at more of a disadvantage in future encounters.

            IDGAF if you steal from a corporation like Walmart. But don’t be an asshole to the employees.