Archive for November 16th, 2006

It will be harder to return gifts this year, including that digital camera

Shoppers might be in for some nasty surprises the day after Christmas as stores implement increasingly complicated and restrictive return policies, including checking a “blacklist” of “serial returners” prior to a refund, or by imposing unexpected restocking fees.\r\n\r\nBoston (PRWEB) December 19, 2005 — Shoppers may be in for some nasty surprises the day after Christmas as stores implement increasingly complicated and restrictive return policies, including checking a “blacklist” of “serial returners” prior to a refund, or by imposing unexpected restocking fees.\r\n\r\nSome retailers including KB Toys, Sports Authority, Express, and some Staples stores use a personal database by The Return Exchange of Irvine, CA to track customer returns. (Home Depot, Wal-mart, Barnes & Noble, and others reportedly use their own proprietary systems.) Typically, stores swipe the shopper’s driver’s license when a return is being made, and if the store’s return limit is exceeded, the customer’s tendered return is denied. Most stores’ posted policies don\’t warn shoppers of a cap on frequent returns.\r\n\r\nOther stores are using increasingly strict but conventional means to curb returns. Items such as personal, digital cameras, and opened goods may be subject to limited return rights, restocking fees, shortened return periods, or no refunds at all.\r\n\r\nFor example:\r\n\r\n- In October, Sears became the first major department store to introduce a broad 15% restocking fee on choose home appliances, electronics, home improvements, household goods, lawn and garden equipment, and automotive items not returned unused with full packaging. In two stores checked, the new policy appears mainly on 6” by 6” signs in tiny print, and on the back of sales receipts. Some checkouts have old or missing signs. This inconspicuous disclosure may not comply with say posting requirements.\r\n\r\n- Circuit City has a restocking fee on certain open items, but neither the specific fee nor the product categories are disclosed on store signs or on the sales receipt. Both direct shoppers to circuitcity.com for details. Also, their primary posted sign uses small white type on a yellow background, making it illegible for many people.\r\n\r\n- OfficeMax will not accept returns of opened digital cameras, software, etc., unless defective. Non-returnable categories vary on the internet versus in-store.\r\n\r\n- JC Penney requires special occasion dresses to be returned with the “return tag” still in place. (This thwarts shoppers from “renting” dresses for one-time wearing.)\r\n\r\n- Amazon deducts 20-50% for certain returns after 30 days. SmartBargains.com will keep any goods returned twice after 30 days, and provide no credit for such items. Buy.com’s “Easy Returns” policy is over 1400 words; its holiday policy posted late.\r\n\r\n- OfficeDepot.com only offers identical exchanges on laptops, digital cameras, PDAs, projectors, and handheld personal returned within 14 days.\r\n\r\n- Ideal Purchase requires personal to be returned within 14 days instead of 30, they\’re excluded from their holiday policy, and certain items have a 15% restocking fee.\r\n\r\n- Target offers no returns without a receipt, but will search their system for one.\r\n\r\n“There might be many unhappy returns this year if consumers are slapped with unexpected restocking fees, or find themselves erroneously placed on a returns blacklist,” said Edgar Dworsky, Founder of Consumer World®, the Internet\’s largest public service consumer resource guide ( http://www.consumerworld.org ). “There is also no excuse for retailers to fail to clearly and fully disclose their return policies to shoppers in advance.”\r\n\r\nSome retailers relax their regular return deadlines at holiday time by extending the return period into January. Remarkably, in Consumer World’s spot check of in-store return policy signage, some stores failed to post the terms of their holiday policies. Nonetheless, some chains with generous regular or extended holiday return deadlines include:\r\n\r\n- Amazon.com: January 31 (for most items shipped 11/01 through 12/31)\r\n\r\n- Best Buy: January 8 (for camcorders, digital cameras, printers, monitors, projectors, radar detectors); Jan. 24 (all other items purchased since Nov. 1 except computers)\r\n\r\n- Purchase.com: January 31 (for items bought 11/01 through 12/31, certain exclusions apply)\r\n\r\n- Circuit City: January 25 most items (in stores, unspecified restocking fee on unspecified products)\r\n\r\n- Costco: No deadline (except 6 months for computers)\r\n\r\n- Kohl’s: No deadline (with receipt)\r\n\r\n- OfficeMax: 14 days after Christmas\r\n\r\n- Staples: No deadline for office supplies. (January 7 for tech. and furniture purchased since Nov. 25)\r\n\r\n- TJ Maxx/Marshall\’S: January 7 (for buys Oct. 30 – Dec. 7)\r\n\r\n- Target: 90 days from buy (15% restocking fee on portable electronics, digital cameras, camcorders; specially marked clearance items only qualify for current sale price)\r\n\r\n- Toys R Us: 90 days (45 days for unopened electronics, video products)\r\n\r\n- Wal-mart: 90 days most items (other items: 15 days (PCs), 30 (cameras), or 45 (PC accessories.))\r\n\r\nConsumer rights vary from say to state with respect to product returns. Generally speaking, a store can set up any return policy it wants, whether it is \”all sales final\”, \”merchandise credit only\”, or \”all returns in 30 days\”. Most says require the policy to be clearly disclosed to the buyer prior to purchase, usually by means of a sign. Some says do not consider a disclosure that only appears on the sales receipt to meet this requirement. It isn\’t unreasonable, however, to require customers to provide a sales slip or gift receipt to establish where and when the item was purchased, and at what price.\r\n\r\nTips for Hassle-free Returns:\r\nhttp://www.consumerworld.org/pages/returns.htm\r\n\r\n- To improve your chances of getting a full refund, provide a sales slip or gift receipt, and return the item in new condition, unopened, and with all original packaging material. Returns without a receipt are subject to the retailer\’s posted return policy, which might result in receiving only a merchandise credit for the lowest price the item has sold for in recent weeks, or possibly no refund or exchange at all.\r\n\r\n- If the item to be returned is defective, some says such as Massachusetts, require the store to give the consumer his/her choice of one of the three \”R\’s\”: repair, replacement or refund, irrespective of the store\’s posted return policy.\r\n\r\n- Consumers who have a problem returning a gift, should first contact the store manager or customer service department of the retailer. If a satisfactory resolution is not obtained, then a complaint can be filed with the say Attorney General\’s office or local consumer bureau.\r\n\r\nConsumer World®, launched in 1995, is a public service, non-commercial consumer resource guide with over 2000 links to everything \”consumer\” on the Internet. Edgar Dworsky, the founder of Consumer World, is a former Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection and Anti-trust Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General\’s Office.

Getting the ideal deal on a digital camera

by Malcolm Silberman\r\n\r\nThere\’s a nice fluid market for both new and after market digital cameras on eBay. Digital Camera usage has grown enormously over the past few years. Technology has reduced the old film and developing nearly to the archives. Quality cameras ranging in price from well under $500 to over $2000 are available. Professionals, amateur hobbyists and regular households all seem to be acquiring cameras, often more than one per household. The question becomes how can I acquire a digital camera at the ideal possible price?\r\n\r\n\r\nWith a large volume of most models being traded everyday, this is the ideal efficient market. One can study the dynamics of this micro-market and determine some useful buying rules. With a little more information than the rest of the marketplace, one can nearly certainly make some intelligent buying opportunities. This article focuses on how to identify these gaps and often buy digital cameras for 20-40% below retail.\r\n\r\n\r\nThis article should be read together with my longer piece and a web site, which produces the information required to identify buying nuggets. Find the links and URLs to these two sites at the bottom of this article. The niche site focuses specifically and only on data from the digital camera market.\r\n\r\n\r\nMost information on eBay focuses on the selling element, i.e. how to sell your stuff. I have tended to specialize on the buying end and trying to identify market opportunities and price in-efficiencies to really capture excellent deals. To do this we need to understand the dynamics of the eBay market place. Like any other market it is supply demand driven, and like a huge flee-market if a buyer has knowledge of how many items are for sale at what prices and how many other buyers are in the market, then that buyer can capture the upper hand. Lets focus a little more on supply.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe eBay supply dynamic is a little different in that supply of an item must be seen at a point in time. In other words, because auctions end at different times, one needs to grasp the number of auctions ending in close proximity for the same item. This gives you a feel for the supply of items or in our case cameras. What makes this interesting is that this day there could be a massive amount of auctions ending for a particular model, but next week there could be very few. This is one element driving the price.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe demand side is slightly more complex and hidden from the average eBay buyer. This is where that the internet site I refer to at the bottom has some useful data. Demand in eBay terms is measured (by sellers) as a number of factors – how many people view my auction, how many people ask questions, how many people place me on their watch page, and how many people actually bid. Obviously as we progress down this list the data become more reliable as an indication of demand. Page views are not easy to obtain, even though some sellers place a publicly viewable counter on their auction pages. Questions and watchers are available to sellers, and the special web site mentioned below will expose this information. Number of bids is available for all to see.\r\n\r\n\r\nNow if we happened to produce a graph as the auction progresses of the changes in the number of questions, watchers and bids one can easily see how the demand is changing as time progresses. Typically if questions are high and watchers are high, but bids are low, this may indicate some confusion and a possible purchase opportunity. If watchers are very high and climbing, but bids are low, this can point to a last minute bidding war, and a stay out indicator.\r\n\r\n\r\nArmed with this information and also a swift summary of other similar auctions ending soon, plus a swift feel for the skill set of the seller and the current highest bidder, once can see a picture very different from the average eBay buyer. Soon the trained eye will observe some nice buying opportunities. For the professional or amateur photographer this will soon bring in a number of digital camera buys that are quite a bit cheaper that retail. For example it is quite possible to find gems at 20-40% of retail prices. Lets face it, most digital cameras perform perfectly years after acquisition. Digital electronics seldom degrade over time, so the aftermarket such as eBay is the idea place to purchase cameras affordably.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nArticle by Malcolm Silberman and Education Specialist trained by eBay, for a more lengthily discussion of this topic visit http://bargainsfrom.us/how-to-buy- digital-cameras-at-a-discount-both-new-or-used and to see Camera auctions with this value added data visit http://digital-camera .bargainsfrom.us email him at digital-cameraATmacsilber.com\r\n\r\n

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