I agree, returns are where amazon crushes it. I feel like there should be some startup just focusing on making the perfect returns product for small brands. Just do anything including at home pickup and then figure out how to optimize later.

I had to return iSpring RO system bought through their official portal. It came as a shock to me that I had to pay for shipment that was 70% of the contents value. IMO that's the way to discourage returns.

Much better that nearest post office. Take it to the nearest whole foods and don't even bother with the box.

Yeah, returning ends up being the clencher for me for a lot of Amazon stuff.

If I think there's basically no likelihood of me returning something, I'll sometimes shop elsewhere, but for anything where there's even a chance of me not liking it for whatever reason I will buy on Amazon now.

> Got a dud? Quality not as expected? Ordered two by mistake? Size is not fitting?

I totally agree, but I find the quality of the items I get off of Amazon to generally be a lot less than other places I chose to shop. Likely due to the fact that I intentionally shop on other sites for specific products but on Amazon I get things that just aren't necessary for me so I spend less time curating the purchases.

The tradeoff for consumers is that convenient returns are cheaper to implement than quality control.

i'm happy to pay a convenience fee to not have to set up an account to order from each individual store. having my address and payment info in one centralized superstore is way better than having it spread around dozens of niche businesses

Personally I’m happy to pay 20% extra elsewhere just to know that Bezos is not getting any of my money.

But I’m weird like that; I also think ordering everything online is inherently immoral (provided you are an able bodied person living in a city)

I was floored the other day doing an Amazon return. It was a rented office space, with just a window where you drop off your item to a clerk. I peeked inside it was floor to ceiling packages and toys and items. And there was a line behind me.

The sheer logistics and human will that made that possible is crazy to me.

Extrapolate to multiple locations in Miami alone. Then Florida. Then East Coast. Then USA. Then Europe. Global locations.

Who is in charge of all this? How do they keep track of all this? How do they identify a tiny little podunk location is fucking up and how do they find someone they can trust to run it?

It's crazy! Think about it next time you return something to Amazon.

Except you don’t have the choice to “pay 10% extra just to buy from Amazon”. Amazon force sellers to set not-lower price everywhere else.

Just bear in mind that if they don't like how often you return or the circumstances, they will issue you a sudden lifetime ban

But also if you go to support chat (not via the order details, which often rejects attempts at getting support) via the site footer, and escalate to an agent, you can tell them you don't have a post office that's easy to get to for you and don't drive etc. and they will just issue you a refund (if it's a quality problem). Done this many times when the product was damaged.