"This person was an unusual case. They were expensive (some wrapped) art and cook books,"
An "exchange only" policy should be in place. And only for unopened items.
An "exchange only" policy should be in place. And only for unopened items.
Your idea needs to have a meeting with Mr Reality.
a) The business world is competitive, you are competing with the likes of Amazon who have a no-nonsense returns policy. If you become known as a business with a troublesome returns process, then customers will simply vote with their feet.
b) People returning stuff after short-use is, like it or not, a fact of life in today's world. Ask anyone who sells fashion goods ... girls buy stuff for the Friday night party and return it on Monday. It happens and it's basically a cost of doing business. If the stock is any good, it will get sold anyway, just as nearly-new instead of new.
c) In an increasing number of jurisdictions, the law falls on the side of the buyer. For example in the EU, your "exchange only" policy would be an absolute non-starter (with very few exceptions, e.g. food items, healthcare items etc).
You get blacklisted very quickly if you do this.
Maybe maybe not, but then you end up returning to point a) ... along comes Amazon with Prime Try Before You Buy
Perhaps if a business lost sales to "girls buy[ing] stuff for the Friday night party" they might gain them from people like me who see the prices as higher than I'd want to pay in the first place.
With the exception of online purchases, that's only true for the return of non-faulty items. In Ireland, for example, you have no right to change your mind after the purchase and return the item just because you didn't like it (except for online purchases, which must allow 14 days for return).
Now, many shops will still allow you to return items within a certain time frame for your money back, but they would be well within their rights to operate an exchange-only or store-credit policy (and some do!).
However, if the item is faulty or not fit for purpose then the seller must offer you a replacement, repair, refund, or reduction in price. Whether or not you are entitled to choose which of these you get is dependent on how long since you bought the item, and whether or not the suggested repairs/replacement are reasonable.
Where is this? I have never seen this as an option.
Amazon is not doing this out of charity.They know suckers love friction less experience only to buy stuff they don't need and then forget to return it.
Not really. Most of it ends up in a dumpster unless these are really high-end items. Or in some liquidation warehouse if the quality is good enough. Otherwise, probably on a landfill in Ghana.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/business/online-shopping-...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-...
Return fraud leading to perfectly good clothes being wasted is not only bad for the environment but likely leads to higher clothes prices for legitimate customers.
b) Hence a policy to ward off this kind of clients. Why bother selling if you will have the item back - with the costs of restocking, processing, dumping or relisting, cleaning, etc?
c) I don't think so. Here in NZ and Australia very few places offer a return policy for change of mind - and most places are online outlets. IF you buy something on the street be prepared to have the option to exchange only.