Anyone work somewhere where you have a restocking fee on something that is returned.

I need someone to explain to me why they feel the need to charge me EXTRA for something that is unopened to return it. Why do i have to PAY YOU to walk your lazy hind back in the back and put it back on the shelf??

Is there more to it than this? Am i missing something?

 

A restocking fee on a special ordered item, or after a certain amount of time is ok in my opinion, because the merchant now has something on his shelves that he didn't plan on.
Merchandise that they either had to finance, or pay out of pocket, and may either be hard to move, or has been replenished in stock already.

Imagine that your local hardware store has a $500 welder sitting on the shelf, maybe he sells 2 a year. You buy one, he orders another in and puts it on the shelf. Two weeks later you return yours. Now instead of having $500 worth of welders (or sump pumps, or rocking chairs), he has $1000. Do this on one or two items a day, and the finances begin to add up.

I know a place where special orders on auto parts are 50% down, and 50% restocking fee. They tell me that the 50% barely covers return shipping and the restocking fee to thier suppliers.

 

I used to work at Best Buy, and we only charged a restocking fee on certain opened items. The funny thing is that the restocking fee was 15%. They only marked 10% off the price for an open box price. What a bunch of scammers.

 

too make more money and or because they can

the guy returning to product to the "back" doenst get paid the restocking fee

 

Do they not have the right to recoup what they are paying him

 

If you buy it, and then you don't want it, then why shouldn't they charge you a restocking fee. You were the one that choose to buy it, you were the one that decided to return it. If it were a faulty product, then you have a vaild point, but if it was fine, and you just changed your mind, thats your problem, not theirs. Be glad they actually took it back.

 

i dont understand what you mean...

 

OK...well, im going to have to reveal my situation expressly.

The local dealer...you buy a fuel filter, they have 63 in stock, i take it home, i realize it is cheaper online, i take it back, unused, and unopened, one day later.

Now, what is the point of the restocking fee. N/m the "you shoulda checked first", i dont think they are doing it to teach me a lesson.

Its not special order, its not expensive, its not rare, and its not something they use once in a blue moon.

So i just dont get why i have to pay the dealer a restocking fee when inventory is automatically corrected via computers, and all the little dude has to do is walk 27 feet and place it back on the shelf in an open hole. On a side note, some dealers do it, some dont.

 

Ya, I believe it is there to cover the cost of somebody spending the time and effort to place a product back in stock, whereas they are really supposed to be paid to take something out of stock. Because in reality businesses make money by moving merchandise and quantity out, not in.


To cover their rears, many establishments have that information posted out in the open so it really is up to the consumer to decide if they want to go thru that hassle and expense before buying the merchandise.


(But I fully understand where yer comin from. I can honestly beleive that it's really there to discourage returns to keep positive cash flow in. But that's just me. Who knows?)

 

I read a deal the other day saying that the big places are tracking your return of stuff now and you will be issued a refund,credit,restocking fees etc based on how much stuff you purchase then return

and I meant it is an expense for the guy to have to put stock back on the shelf
they need to recoup their money somehow

 

I sell wood flooring. I know the conditions of my warehouse. I gad a guy try top return 100 square feet of brazilian cherry last week that he bought last october. I DO NOT know the conditions that the wood was in. Is it too dry,wet etc.

Thats 1 reason.

Say someone orders 10" wide handscraped walnut (rather rare) We make it for the customer. He wants to return 20 sqft..... What the heII am I gonna do with that?


99% of the time if someone returns something, there's no fee, we just keep the credit open on thier account. If they want a check/creditcard refund, then its 20%. It costs money to run a business. Proccessing paperwork and useing credit cards arn't free.


Last example.
A contractor bought 1000sf of 2nd grade maple shorts for a gym floor (we got them from a vendor) in november. 2 weeks ago, he racked out the whole floor, the customer does not like the colored boards and wants a better grade of maple. I called our vendor, They have 0 intrest in taking the product back, so if we take it back we'd eat it. ALSO the product is ALL OVER the floor right now. I told the contractor 65% restock for us to come clean up his mess, 25% for us to pick it up in original condition at his warehouse.

They decided to pick through the wood and grade for color.

SOmetimes the restock fee covers the nightmare cost.

 

Also, whenever you return something you bought with a credit card, the credit card company charges the merchant a fee. Depending on the CC, it can be many times the normal 'purchase' fee that merchants pay anyway.

 

I buy my products at Advance locally, they'll refund me the diffrence in price, instead of me having to return it.

Also, most places when you order, They will order a part to replace the one you order with todays inventory system. So they have shipping costs for the part they ordered, the restocking fee may cover that.

 

well, i can understand the wood problem...but we are talking filters here. I did call them, apparantly the only person that knows for sure if there is or is not a restocking fee is the parts manager, who is apparantly in a perpetual corporate meeting. Ill save a whole 7 bucks if i get it returned...probly wont mess with it, but i was very curious about it. I understand the CONCEPT of the restocking fee, but i do believe it is abused in many many businesses.

 

I'm sure it is. its hard to return money once its in your pocket.