I'm going to buy every camera, play with them for a bit, and return all of them!

RedFox88 said:

There was recently a buyer whining on here that B&H rescinded the buyer's right to return any item after returning 6 items or so within a year. Even a B&H employee gave him the smack-down in these forums for it!

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Reviewing the actual post, he returned more than half of over 100 orders, continued the routine after being warned, and was then barred from returns.

dpreviewprov said:

Here in Australia, if you buy it, it is yours. PERIOD.

There is NO "return because change of mind" policy. Return is only accepted if the item is defective.

Sounds fair to me.

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In most cases this is true. HOWEVER, when shopping at major retailers you earn 'buyers credit' - better to say 'credibility'. Not to list an example, but if you have good rating in the store (chain), you can return stuff. ACL 2011 stipulates this as a customer right and more and more retailers do have 7 days return policy. The thing is that these return policies exist but the official restocking fee goes up to 30%. With a good rating you may pass without being slugged but even frequent buyers (not just randoms) carefully consider the purchase.

I have experienced people returning boxes as 'unopened' while not really: they were just carefully opened (and then closed, items free of fingerprints). Now ridiculous part: despite boxes being unopened, the retailer opened them to check the content (fair deal, they might get the brick back).

Australian consumers are quite a suckers: they often allow seller to 'open and inspect' the content in the store, before their eyes.Many don't pay attention if the box was properly sealed or just looked like new and 'virgin'. Cameras are usually sold from behind the counter, so you don't stand a chance to carefully examine the packaging.I usually say 'Let me...' and the bargaining starts....

Yes, this (liberal return policy) is spreading as it's shown to be successful. Apparently, the Australian that wrote earlier didn't read my post. Prices are cheaper in the US than anywhere else, which is due to many factors, but liberal return policies have proved a success. The poster who referenced the earlier thread about the B&H disciplinary action - I also followed that thread - reminded us of how companies can control abusers. My experience in a Micro Center in Houston as a part-time job indicated that there were very few abusers, also mentioned earlier; it just wasn't an issue.

Anyone knowing Amazon's philosophy about this knows it has worked for them. Is there a B&H or Amazon that originated in Australia?...I don't think so. If you shop on eBay, you now that successful sellers have liberal return policies...

Most or all retailers keep tabs on how much stuff you return.

If you overdo it, you may get totally banned (Amazon) or restricted to "store credit only" (common with local retailers).

I know some of this first-hand and some from trusted sources.

Australian prices used to be sky high but the retailers here learnt the "hard way" that Australian consumers vote with their credit cards (and shop with B&H, Adorama, etc).

In the last few months (or years?); the prices here are on par (and in some case, better) than US prices.

See these retailers:

www.digidirect.com.au

www.georges.com.au

Sigma web shop (for Sigma cameras) www.crkennedy.com.au

etc.

(all of the shops above are brick and mortar shops).

DtEW said:

...Is a desirable thing to look for in a camera retailer.

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Your motivation for them not accepting returns seems mainly to be about price, so just look for one with a competitive price and buy from them, whatever their returns policy.

There's a balance to be struck between having a flexible returns policy that results in increased custom and having it tight enough to prevent (or discourage) too many returns that eat into their profits.

I'm not well off so the first thing I look for in a retailer is a competitive price. If a local bricks n mortar shop can offer that I'll buy from them in preference to internet shops, but the bricks n mortar ones have nothing to offer me in terms of advice (they don't pay enough to retain knowledgeable staff & training is basic) or range of goods stocked. I only use 'em out of some kind of loyalty towards the local economy (tiny difference, I know).

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