Amazon, Walmart Tell Consumers to Skip Returns of Unwanted Items

Re:Amazon, Walmart Tell Consumers to Skip Returns of Unwante... by rchaud on Monday January 11, 2021 @10:34AM (#25730240)

I ordered a small table from Wayfair that was defective. After submitting a report and a photo of the defect, they told me that it'd be refunded, and that I did not have to return it.

Walmart and Amazon have cash to burn to afford this. But let's not forget that VC-backed companies like Wayfair can eat costs like this as well.

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Re:Amazon, Walmart Tell Consumers to Skip Returns of Unwante... by jfengel on Monday January 11, 2021 @03:50PM (#25736624)

Even without the VC money, what would they want with a defective table?

It's not so much an eaten cost as a sunk cost. The table is defective. You didn't describe the cost or the defect, but unless we're talking about a $5,000 dining table with a buffable scratch, there's likely little profit in hauling it back and refurbishing it.

That leaves them open to a certain amount of fraud, and that's a cost they'll have to eat. But as with self-checkout lanes becoming popular, I think a lot of places are discovering that most people aren't out to commit widespread fraud, at least not at a scale that costs more than they save from more onerous means.

They just have to root out the serial offenders -- and I suspect that if you have a second return with Wayfair, it will be more scrutinized.

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