B&H selling used as new? Bottom line..

I'm obviously in the minority here but I only buy from retailers that have a restocking fee for returned merchandise.

I once bought an expensive lens from B&H that appeared to have been sloppily repackaged and sold as new. I tested the lens carefully and could find no fault with it. I kept the lens and it still performs well after 10 years of use. Even so, I still have questions as to why this lens was apparently not up to par to the person that originally removed this lens from it's packaging and tried it out. My concern is that someone tested multiple copies of this lens and cherry-picked the best of the bunch. This scenario obviously leads me to suspect that my lens is somehow slightly sub-par in some respect. I don't have another identical lens to compare it against side by side so I can't say positively if it performs as well as it should. I can't help but feel that I paid new price for a lens that someone else culled for some reason.

This experience prompted me to search out an online retailer that will replace defective gear free of charge but charges a 15% restocking fee for non-defective returns. As further evidence of the honesty and integrity of this retailer and their return policy, they usually have open box/demo units of popular items at a 10% discount from the new price. This retailer does also price match B&H for new equipment and when I buy from them I am confident that I am the first person to test it and I am not expected to accept someone's rejects.

The concept of expecting to be able to return new merchandise for a full refund is consumer driven but is not in the best interest of the typical honest customer or retailer.