What happens to returned products?

[Jet_ski]

What happens when you return a product to a retailer like Microcenter? Do they just repackage it and sell it as new to the next person that comes in?

 

I got a couple of monitors form Microcenter and one of them had a couple of finger prints on them. As soon as I plugged it in, I noticed a bunch of dead pixels. So now I’m thinking someone else returned it for the same reason and they tried to dump it on me.

[zeusthemoose]

I think if it’s unopened they resell it. If it’s open box and working they sell it as open box. They probably refurbish what they can and either trash or liquidate the broken stuff.

[imreloadin]

For Microcenter tha'ts where their "Open Box" deals come from. If there isn't anything wrong with it then it's discounted and sold. If it's broken or DOA they RMA it and get a new one from the factory to replenish their stock.

[Roswell]

32 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

I think if it’s unopened they resell it. If it’s open box and working they sell it as open box. They probably refurbish what they can and either trash or liquidate the broken stuff.

 

31 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

For Microcenter tha'ts where their "Open Box" deals come from. If there isn't anything wrong with it then it's discounted and sold. If it's broken or DOA they RMA it and get a new one from the factory to replenish their stock.

It depends on the product. If the vendor takes returns, the item is getting sent back to them for credit whether it works or not.

 

Most open items go back out to the vendor, some get trashed/destroyed because that's the deal with the vendor and a handful of SKUs are able to be sold as open-box.

[danomicar]

1 hour ago, Jet_ski said:

What happens when you return a product to a retailer like Microcenter? Do they just repackage it and sell it as new to the next person that comes in?

 

I got a couple of monitors form Microcenter and one of them had a couple of finger prints on them. As soon as I plugged it in, I noticed a bunch of dead pixels. So now I’m thinking someone else returned it for the same reason and they tried to dump it on me.

in some cases, returned items will be sent to the manufacturer and restocked as new. 

[LogicalDrm]

On 5/30/2020 at 7:06 AM, danomicar said:

in some cases, returned items will be sent to the manufacturer and restocked as new. 

If they are sold as new, that would be fraud. Even if sent to manufacturer, that should be disclosed. Any product that has been used after it first left factory isn't by definition new.

[Drama Lama]

28 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

If they are sold as new, that would be fraud.

Unfortunately that doesn’t prevent some retailers from selling used hardware ( sometimes even with missing accessories) as new or selling oem parts as retail( because they can get them cheap in huge masses). (is the case with  my HDD but when I bought it I didn’t knew of that practice and because in the EU manufacturers have to give a 2 year warranty I don’t care)

[LogicalDrm]

1 minute ago, Drama Lama said:

Unfortunately that doesn’t prevent some retailers from selling used hardware ( sometimes even with missing accessories) as new or selling oem parts as retail 

Then your country's consumer protection is failing. Thats something which will be rooted out here really fast if they get caught. Losing business license for years at minimum.

[Drama Lama]

4 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

Then your country's consumer protection is failing. Thats something which will be rooted out here really fast if they get caught. Losing business license for years at minimum.

Yea that‘s of course a problem even with very large hardware shops . If the retail variant gets 2 years of warranty I would not care because of the required 2 year mandatory warranty in the EU . But if the retail variant gets 5 years of warranty that’s really bad .

[Drama Lama]

On 5/30/2020 at 4:59 AM, Jet_ski said:

What happens when you return a product to a retailer like Microcenter

Sometimes they just sell returned products that don’t look fine at first glance to specialized companies or ( but that is more  often the case with clothing) they simply shredd everything( but not expensive electronics (

[danomicar]

5 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

If they are sold as new, that would be fraud. Even if sent to manufacturer, that should be disclosed. Any product that has been used after it first left factory isn't by definition new.

Sure it's fraud, but it's not exactly like the police are overseeing exactly what happens when the original manufacturer receives the item back. I feel like we've all picked up a "new" item off the shelf before only to find clear evidence that at least some of the packaging has already been touched or opened. 

[dizmo]

Depends what you say when you return it. If it's in the box, you say it's fine you just don't need it, and there's a huge line, then the clerk might simply return it to the shelf as new. If you've destroyed the box then it gets either scrapped, sold as open box, or returned to the manufacturer depending on the agreement. It also depends what you say when returning it, and I'm sure you can figure out what different responses go with which action listed previously. 

 

I don't know why my reply is in italics. I'm on mobile and it won't deselect it. 

4 hours ago, danomicar said:

Sure it's fraud, but it's not exactly like the police are overseeing exactly what happens when the original manufacturer receives the item back. I feel like we've all picked up a "new" item off the shelf before only to find clear evidence that at least some of the packaging has already been touched or opened. 

Likely a fault of the customer service desk, not the manufacturer. 

[mach]

If not faulty or defected, they'll most likely get repacked as close to unopened as possible, and of course sold as new.

It's naive to think all returns becomes B-stock.

In countries where everyone can freely return stuff. "I'd just return it." seems a very natural thing to say, right? Even LTT ordered computers, did a review and returned the gears. Think of the sheer amount of stuff get returned but do you see tons of B-stock and open-box deals around? 

This easy return rule is a double edge sword. Very convenient to consumer but the down side is your "brand new" stuff is probably slightly used, unless it's a immensely popular item or a pre-order.

[Kisai]

On 5/29/2020 at 7:59 PM, Jet_ski said:

What happens when you return a product to a retailer like Microcenter? Do they just repackage it and sell it as new to the next person that comes in?

 

I got a couple of monitors form Microcenter and one of them had a couple of finger prints on them. As soon as I plugged it in, I noticed a bunch of dead pixels. So now I’m thinking someone else returned it for the same reason and they tried to dump it on me.

It depends on the condition it comes back in:

1) It can not be sold as new, usually the customer takes a restocking fee against their refund.

2) It can be sold as "open box" if it comes back in like-new condition, with packaging and manuals

3) It can be sold as "display model", even if the packaging has been discarded.

4) It can be sold as "refurbished" which is usually the same as open-box, except that it's been cleaned.

 

In most situations, "open box", "display model" and "refurbished" are the same thing, just the reason is different. Sometimes you will see something on sale, but if you look closer you will see "open box" or "refurbished" on the price sticker and it's non-refundable, because it's been returned once before.

 

There's also a classification of "refurbished" which is items returned under warranty and repaired, these however are usually items that are easily fixed or have known issues that the manufacturer can repair with like a firmware update or jumper-wires across pins, etc. In the case of items with batteries, usually that's all that's replaced is the battery.

 

Any time something is returned at retail, the store will just put it back on the shelf if the packaging can be re-sealed. So that's something to look for. Items that have never been opened will still have the tape/tamper-tape intact on the box, or will be wrapped in a plastic overwrap.

[Ed Edd and Eddy]

They get dissembled as punishment for not satisfying the customer.

 

[js23]

They are probably looked over for damage and defects, if they check out then they sell the items as factory referbished.

[Jet_ski]

In my situation, the monitor had all the films and packaging. Even the display sticker they put in one corner was intact. However I immediately noticed finger prints on the base which I hadn’t touched. Clearly someone had opened it with minimal unwrapping, checked for dead pixels and returned. You really can’t miss the dead pixels, smack in the center, as you turn on the display there are green pixels on a black background next to the Asus logo. Also, on the first few tries it wasn’t recognized by the computer which made it extra special.

 

I am gonna be out of $80 for car rental on this purchase and the return. I will have a word with the store manager; this shouldn’t happen to others.

 

I guess if you’re returning something that’s defective, you shouldn’t leave the packaging so intact that the retailer can re-list it as new. I definitely ripped the stickers so the next person can immediately know something’s off.

[Protean]

On 5/30/2020 at 5:49 AM, Vitamanic said:

Most open items go back out to the vendor, some get trashed/destroyed because that's the deal with the vendor and a handful of SKUs are able to be sold as open-box.

I was always wondering if this is a case for things like notebooks for 4K USD.

Even if you can produce that hardware for 200USD as a manufacturer, it is still expected to give you 3800USD of income. I think that if that hardware could be refurbished under 5 hours then its worth to make it.

[Protean]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

Sometimes you will see something on sale, but if you look closer you will see "open box" or "refurbished" on the price sticker and it's non-refundable, because it's been returned once before.

I don't really think that is a truth. I live in Poland (central Europe) and here I bought a notebook that was broken (also it has some private files from previous owner, GDPR were not a thing back then, but they could do a f***ing full disk format instead of quick one). I returned the laptop back to the shop, and they didn't say a thing.

 

I just want to say that if you tell about such things its worth to note where you live - different places have different consumer rights

[Guest willies leg]

On 5/29/2020 at 10:59 PM, Jet_ski said:

What happens when you return a product to a retailer like Microcenter? Do they just repackage it and sell it as new to the next person that comes in?

 

I got a couple of monitors form Microcenter and one of them had a couple of finger prints on them. As soon as I plugged it in, I noticed a bunch of dead pixels. So now I’m thinking someone else returned it for the same reason and they tried to dump it on me.

 

Which Microcenter? When did you get it? Post the receipt, I'd like to see the tracking on it.

[Jet_ski]

35 minutes ago, willies leg said:

 

Which Microcenter? When did you get it? Post the receipt, I'd like to see the tracking on it.

Brooklyn, NY. It was curbside pickup. I’m not comfortable sharing the receipt.

[Guest willies leg]

13 hours ago, Jet_ski said:

Brooklyn, NY. It was curbside pickup. I’m not comfortable sharing the receipt.

Well then the only thing I can recommend is to bring it back. They don't sell used stuff as new.

[gamelovers11223]

That's how I got my current case - Corsair Obsidian 1000D. It was returned because someone's wife said no to a such an expensive case)))

I got it for $337 + tax, instead of $499 + tax)))

[Roswell]

23 hours ago, Kisai said:

Any time something is returned at retail, the store will just put it back on the shelf if the packaging can be re-sealed. So that's something to look for. Items that have never been opened will still have the tape/tamper-tape intact on the box, or will be wrapped in a plastic overwrap.

That's not true at all.

 

Many opened items are sent back to vendors for credit, many are destroyed as per vendor agreements, others are transferred to the store's warehouse to be refurbished or to be sold to third parties and a portion of them (vendor agreement permitting) are repackaged and sold as such.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

I believe some items could be sent back to the manufacturer for reconditioning to be sold as refurbished stock. Any other Canadians still remember XS Cargo? They had a ton of refurbished inventory.