Shopbop return warning

[MontaukWaves]

Uh - NO - here's the deal from a retailer perspective - people buying six things to return five - we don't want you. We don't want you in our store, we don't want you on our site, we don't want you as customers. Period. End of Story. We do maintain and share databases for returns. We ban customer who return too frequently and will continue to ban. Do you empty the penny jar into your purse at the convenience store, I mean, it's there for the taking, right?

Emptying from the penny jar implies stealing/taking items that aren't yours. Is that a fair comparison to buying items online and returning the ones that don't work?

 

[Jaime]

Agree with above. I do think it's ok to not have a returns policy at all, I wouldn't buy from a place like that but at least I know upfront. It's not ok to pick and choose how your returns policy is used and punish buyers for using it as it's set out. That's not good customer service at all regardless of your reasoning. You will get buyers who never return and buyers who retun alot, it would all even out in the end. You either have one or you don't, you don't get to make the rules as you go. That creates threads like this and looks bad for the company.

As I've mentioned I haven't been banned by shop bop or any store for returns and I do return often but reading threads like this make me stop buying at all ever again just in case they decide to power trip in my direction. Bad for business.

 

[Annie J]

to me (and yes its just my opinion and mine to give ....i think they r ridiculous!! y have a return policy if u limit the returns??? i buy as much of anything i want and if i dont like any of it for any reason i return it....its my money

Not to defend Shopbop, but isn't that A&O's inconsistency?
When I got two differently-sized pairs of 7FAM jeans from Shopbop, I contacted 7 For All Mankind. (They were INSANELY rude about it, but that's a different issue.) Turns out the jeans were actually supposed to be an inch longer than the longest pair I received. It was their quality control, not Shopbop.

To go back to topic, I still return a ton of stuff to Shopbop and they are great about it. Admittedly I buy a ton of stuff, too, but between SB and NAP I am loyal to these two retailers BECAUSE they have free shipping and easy returns. I have noticed that SB's shipping/packing is more careless (I got a giant packing tape roller!) and their phone reps are more snarky, so we shall see what happens as they get bigger.

OP got that email two years ago....but yes, online retailers need to deal with returns.

If you are an online only retailer you have got to expect lots of returns. I would see no problem ordering 6 dresses to try out if I needed one for a wedding and couldn’t get to a store to shop. Also I’m not an average sized person. I am pretty short so the models they use online never look like me so it’s hard to really get an idea of how something will look on me until it’s in my hands. I take care to not damage the clothes or get makeup on them or let my pets come in contact with them and I’m speedy to return things. It’s usually in the mail by the next day. But I’m not keeping things if they don’t fit or look good on me. I’d be happy to pay the return shipping cost but getting banned from shopping somewhere would be just plain ridiculous to me. There are so many options on places to shop. If I ever got such an email from a company I’d just quit buying from them altogether. I don’t need to be shamed by a retailer for taking advantage of a policy they decided to have.

Uh - NO - here's the deal from a retailer perspective - people buying six things to return five - we don't want you. We don't want you in our store, we don't want you on our site, we don't want you as customers. Period. End of Story. We do maintain and share databases for returns. We ban customer who return too frequently and will continue to ban. Do you empty the penny jar into your purse at the convenience store, I mean, it's there for the taking, right?

I’m not singling out the posters above for attention but just picked them out quickly as representative of two sides to the issue.

This is undoubtedly a hot topic, it’s not just on a forum like this that we see it addressed, but also in the news, as it connects with business viability and prices, and also (probably more importantly) with environmental matters.

But I do wonder if this argument becomes unnecessarily polarised? There’s room to accommodate both approaches because allowing returns, which may be for a variety of reasons, is what makes online business viable but over-returning when scaled up over thousands of customers reduces viability. Business have to be fair in their application of policy and shoppers have to be reasonable in their use of the policy if they want the businesses to continue to serve them.

There are similar points being made in the thread about Nordstrom return warnings, and people including me have been thinking about trying to be moderate how we view it here (and probably also on previous and subsequent pages):

https://forum.purseblog.com/threads...ng-from-their-online-and-store.1010253/page-5

(I am in the UK but have shopped online from both Nordstrom and Shopbop as well as other US retailers, and of course the same issues apply worldwide with any retailer with online presence).

 

[LoveSPA]

I am Canadian and have been shopping on Shopbop since 2-year ago. Their shipping is slow and refund process is even slower compared to 24S & SSense but they do offer good discount sometimes.
Today to my surprise they told me they no longer refund Taxes & Duties to Canadian buyers as of 21Aug20. I was annoyed because the changed terms & conditions were not spelled out during the check out process (Return Shipping is free, it says) and one would not have known this without checking the fine print on the Customer Service section.
So consider your purchase final sale Canadian buyers since it's about 20%-25% on the price tag which means you won't get $400-$500 back if you return that $2000 purse!!

 

[CeeJay]

I’m going to be honest and say I’m on Shopbop’s side. I can understand maybe buying 2 dresses at a time and returning one, but who needs six options for only one choice? You’re holding up a lot of merchandise for both the company and other potential buyers. Again, just my opinion, but I don’t get this level of serial buying and returns. I think you should accept the email and shop elsewhere, though I suspect this will become an issue at most places.

I have to agree, and this is not "new" at all .. Barneys NY did this years ago (I know because I had an acquaintance who used to buy/return, buy/return, etc. - over & over again to the point where they did not allow her to do that anymore). Your situation reminds me of another person that I knew, who would also buy a series of items .. but, she would wear them for the various events that she had to attend. After wearing them, she would return the items .. to me, that is just not cool!

In this day and age, with retail stores not doing so well, I suspect that many more online 'stores' will create similar rules. Unfortunately, there isn't much privacy in the online/web environment; they do keep track not only of your purchases (and returns) but what you are most interested in (e.g. - designers, shoes/dresses, etc.). So, even if you do go to a different online venue, be prepared that at some point, they will do the same. I think it's time that you change your habit and be more selective (or as they say - ask for online 'help') before you purchase!

 

[Tartlet]

Buying 6 dresses, only to keep 1, may not seem like that big of a deal to many on this thread. But, if that’s done 10 times in a year by one person it represents a 90% return rate. It’s hard to be surprised that their account is flagged with a warning.

To those who threat to take their business elsewhere, realistically that probably isn’t much of a threat at all to the retailer. The retailer might even be happy to see you go. Given that, in this case, the purchaser only keeps 10% of what they buy. The internal business cost for a retailer of processing returns for 90% of an order likely negates the $$ generated from that 1 item the buyer chooses to keep.

As for it being the cost of doing business, that should go both ways as a seller and a buyer in the world of online shopping.