New NEX 7, but no stickers, tags, and has 2600 + actuations????

topstuff wrote:

Seems to me that people can't have it both ways.

On the one hand, people have a right to expect a "New" item to be "New". It should be as advertised.

On the other hand, the returns policy in the US allows people to buy what they want to own and then return it if they don't like it with complete impunity.

Businesses selling the gear are commercial operations. We demand that they are priced competitively and down to the bone, because we always want to go to the cheapest provider. Yet if we don't want the item, we expect to get reimbursed.

It may be great for consumers, but it must suck if you are a retailer. You can easily end up with loads of opened boxes from customers who simply don't care and want their money back for no reason at all. And the only way you can move these units is by marking them down and selling them as used.

All your profits are wiped out.

I would be surprised if this is balanced out by the number of people who actively seek out a returned or "warehouse" open-box item. Most consumers simply pressure retailers to sell a new item at or near the price of an open -boxed item.

I think of the potential unintended consequences here. If this issue gets too large, businesses will just stop selling the gear you want because the profits are too thin.

Here in the UK, the largest chain of physical photo stores in High Street UK just went bust. It is a sobering thought.