Surprising Amazon message - anyone else had the same thing?

[Nick Armstrong]

Recently sent a birthday gift to a family member via Amazon - someone else had chosen the same thing, so I volunteered to organise the replacement etc.

But on offering to return it, I received this message:



Never had this before - presumably Amazon has decided that certain lowish-value items aren't worth the admin hassle of the returns process.

Anyone else had this?

In fact (although I didn't explain this to Amazon) the duplication was due to a Wish List malfunction - perhaps this was flagged to them at their end, hence the 'here's your refund, don't bother to send the item back' approach....

[vinteuil]

.

... yes, I too have had this : a totally useless book (a guide to photography) costing less than a tenner - amazon refunded and said "don't bother to return the item"

[Serial_Apologist]

This happens quite often when buying on the net, I'm told. A couple of years back I received a radio router which turned out to be the wrong model. On offering to send it back I was told there was no need, and the firm concerned sent me the correct router. I could have flogged the wrong one on ebay! Maybe some childhood conditioning came into operation on my conscience, because in the end I took it down to the recycling dump.

[teamsaint]

This happens quite often when buying on the net, I'm told. A couple of years back I received a radio router which turned out to be the wrong model. On offering to send it back I was told there was no need, and the firm concerned sent me the correct router. I could have flogged the wrong one on ebay! Maybe some childhood conditioning came into operation on my conscience, because in the end I took it down to the recycling dump.

During a major de -cluttering exercise , (the post teenage children one as it goes)we were asked by a friendly neighbour if we could instead refer to the recycling centre as the tip .........

[muzzer]

A while ago I returned a radio to Amazon which I'd owned for almost a year. A fault with it had developed, a courier collected it and I got a full refund. It occurred to me that I had in effect rented what was mostly a good piece of kit for free. As with the refunds that don't require the item to be returned there's a sense we're all paying for this somehow and that not to return an item from time to time or order something by mistake, not that those necessarily are the circs described above, is to miss out.... With apologies for the equivocation. Or not ;)

[Barbirollians]

I fear that it is the people being paid pennies to manufacture some of this in Pakistan , China etc are the ones who are really paying for the throwaway culture of today and their low labour costs are a part of the reason why so many things seem so cheap nowadays .

Though I doubt this applies to second-hand sellers on Amazon in particular . If you buy a 50p CD that turns out to be faulty who wants to pay to have it sent back ?

[Beef Oven!]

Nothing to do with a 'throw-away’ culture. High volume and tight margins is how this type of business works. People in ''China and Pakistan'' get much-needed employment. The customer gets a nice little bonus in such a transaction and the only unhappy people are flip-flopping liberals and snowflakes.

[teamsaint]

I noticed that tesco buyers came in for some stick on another thread today.

In my line of work, not all of my best friends are buyers, but mostly they are decent guys getting by, and doing what they have to.


there is some really slick business practice these days, that does enable very good deals for the consumer. And there is some crap business practice.

FWIW, and if anybody is interested, the company I work for does some deals selling books to high volume discount chains for around ( and often less than) 10% of RRP, because they buy firm sale, in large volume, and we can cut our costs because the business, though low margin, is also pretty low risk. We can also sometimes do these deals with UK printers, (as well as China , Turkey and India,) where decent conditions apply, so it isn't all down to slave labour in developing countries.

It is really very hard ( and this is where I have some sympathy for buyers) to guarantee good practice all the way through the supply chain, with the best will in the world. Even the likes of M and S, who make a sales virtue of trading fairly, get caught out from time to time, because of the complexity of supply chains, and the fact that others are not as scrupulous as they are.

[Serial_Apologist]

I noticed that tesco buyers came in for some stick on another thread today.

In my line of work, not all of my best friends are buyers, but mostly they are decent guys getting by, and doing what they have to.


there is some really slick business practice these days, that does enable very good deals for the consumer. And there is some crap business practice.

FWIW, and if anybody is interested, the company I work for does some deals selling books to high volume discount chains for around ( and often less than) 10% of RRP, because they buy firm sale, in large volume, and we can cut our costs because the business, though low margin, is also pretty low risk. We can also sometimes do these deals with UK printers, (as well as China , Turkey and India,) where decent conditions apply, so it isn't all down to slave labour in developing countries.

It is really very hard ( and this is where I have some sympathy for buyers) to guarantee good practice all the way through the supply chain, with the best will in the world. Even the likes of M and S, who make a sales virtue of trading fairly, get caught out from time to time, because of the complexity of supply chains, and the fact that others are not as scrupulous as they are.

My own view on this is that we cannot presume that the low prices we pay for merchandise from third world countries aren't down to low labour costs which wouldn't be tolerated here or in countries where unionisation ensures liveable standards for workforces - otherwise why wouldn't the goods be being made here?

[Beef Oven!]

My own view on this is that we cannot presume that the low prices we pay for merchandise from third world countries aren't down to low labour costs which wouldn't be tolerated here or in countries where unionisation ensures liveable standards for workforces - otherwise why wouldn't the goods be being made here?

The wages are low, so is the cost of living. The per capita GDP is less, so there’s nothing wrong here. Perhaps we should be looking at the 'happiness index', anyway

[teamsaint]

My own view on this is that we cannot presume that the low prices we pay for merchandise from third world countries aren't down to low labour costs which wouldn't be tolerated here or in countries where unionisation ensures liveable standards for workforces - otherwise why wouldn't the goods be being made here?

Unless you have an almost impossible rigour in the monitoring the supply chain, maybe we just have to use some sense, and hope that internal systems in those countries , (along with what pressure we can apply) will drive standards upwards.

in the system we have, increases in living standards are promoted by international trade, not hindered by them, not least because of specialisation.

[Dave2002]

The wages are low, so is the cost of living. The per capita GDP is less, so there’s nothing wrong here. Perhaps we should be looking at the 'happiness index', anyway

There is an element of truth in that statement, but it's not the whole story. It's perhaps a bit more complex depending on one's point of view.

In countries such as VIetnam and Cambodia many people now appear to be happy, and the transport modes are predominantly by scooter or motor bike. Yet would we want to switch places with them? Probably not. Relatively few people in those countries now travel by bicycle - though that was a predominant mode of transport 10-20 years ago (look at older photos), and there is a clear aspiration to use cars - which will almost inevitably in those countries cause terrific chaos on the roads.

However, we also see the "madness" of using cars as a means of transport in the UK - with motorways getting more and more congested, and frequently not really functional at all. Despite this it seems very unlikely that in the UK we will revert back to "simple" vehicles, or to use public transport more, and equally it seems unlikely that the people in countries like Vietnam and Cambodia will relinquish their aspirations to car ownership.

Few of us in the UK really want to spend our lives as farmers, growing vegetables for taking to market, or working as shopkeepers in cities. Happiness may be partly a philosphically moderated condition "being satisfied with (putting up with?) one's lot" - despite low wages, and poor living conditions.

It's all right for other people, but ....

[Karafan]

During a major de -cluttering exercise , (the post teenage children one as it goes)we were asked by a friendly neighbour if we could instead refer to the recycling centre as the tip .........

In Harrogate (doncherknow), the sign reads "Civic Amenity Site"(!). I almost feel like taking sandwiches and making a day of it!

[P. G. Tipps]

Nothing to do with a 'throw-away’ culture. High volume and tight margins is how this type of business works. People in ''China and Pakistan'' get much-needed employment. The customer gets a nice little bonus in such a transaction and the only unhappy people are flip-flopping liberals and snowflakes.

Quite ... and the reason that millions of Chinese have been lifted out of dire poverty was the decision of the Government there to virtually dump communism (if not the anti-democratic, one-party State) and use the mass markets of the West (especially the US) to catch-up with the developed capitalist world and, in some cases, to have already overtaken it.

We shouldn't feel too sorry for the Chinese as generally they are much smarter and more astute than we are in the West. As for Pakistan I'm not aware I have ever bought anything manufactured in that country, though I cannot say I've checked every single label of origin.

In contrast, I can't remember too many things which I've purchased in recent years that were not manufactured in China!