Buying online-return or sell locally?

11 years ago

What do you do when you buy an item online that you find you don't like--live with it, return it or sell locally? If sell, do you discount or try to recoup your cost?

I bought 2 neutral fabric covered castor chairs. I put one together and that's when I realized the item's not a good fit for us. It's too small and the seat is rock hard. The packing materials (styrofoam & wrapping) disintegrated when I unwrapped and took parts out. It would be a hassle to deconstruct and rebox. Ironically the item had 50+ reviews with a 4-star average. I'd initially tried to find something locally but no luck so finally took a chance & ordered online. Bummer.

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Comments (9)

theroselvr
11 years ago
Depends on how much money was spent. I'd probably try to get them to take it back for a refund; but would check the online retailer ratings site Reseller ratings to see if there are any complaints on refunds.

As far as reviews; people are now paid to review products; so you never know what to trust :(
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ellendi
11 years ago
This is a lesson learned. I would never buy furniture online unless I have seen a sample of it in person and sat in it.
Why can't you return it? Is shipping it back not worth it?
I order clothes and shoes online. I do try to look for free shipping, but this is not always the case. Sometimes you just have to "suck it up", pay for the shipping.
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I read up on use tax, and certainly will pay what's owed at the end of the day, but still have to keep in mind that potentially lower online prices will mean lower taxes as well... Taking the "no tax" issue out of it, I wonder if they might deliver for free as all the online stores I am looking at will. I have printed out the 1 or 2 lowest prices I found online for each appliance. Don't know if these are from acceptable stores as far as the local's price-match policy goes, but worth a shot. I really want to buy from the brick and mortar, but we would like them to be able to come within $1000 or so of the online prices. Hope that is not unreasonable? If there is one item they are really far apart on, we may get that one thing online. I have not yet set foot in this local store (as I mentioned, it is 90 minutes away) but I have to say the customer service so far has been quite good. I emailed them to find out what exactly was in their showroom and have since exchanged 4-5 emails over 3-4 months with one of the salespeople about different products, etc. And they did offer to deliver/service outside their normal area for me. So fingers crossed for Saturday, I'll let you know how it goes! :-)
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yayagal
11 years ago
I'd take the loss and send it back.
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gsciencechick
11 years ago
I would try to return them if they just don't work, depending on the price and just eat the cost of the reshipping. If it's too much of a hassle to rebox, then maybe consider CL or donate to Goodwill or Habitat.
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hilltop_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
I did search locally to avoid buying online but couldn't find anything so finally decided to order online.

Vendor's policy says "Returned items must be in new condition and in the original packaging. Please do not assemble or modify a product before returning it or else we cannot refund your purchase." Well,the inside packaging was paper thin and literally fell apart. And I did assemble one chair in order to see what it was like. Right now I'm out $468 total. I had free shipping but if I return the one unopened/unassembled chair I'll have to eat shipping both ways. I'll probably try to sell them locally.
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theroselvr
11 years ago
I would try my hardest to unassemble the chair & throw it back in the box. That's a lot of money to lose.
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hilltop_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Well, I made the unfortunate decision to try and assemble the other chair. It has a wooden part that's cracked in half. This was my 2nd purchase from Wayfair. First time was great, this time, not so great.
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deeinohio
11 years ago
Problem solved! You can now return them on their dime for broken merchandise.
Dee
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ww340
11 years ago
Wayfair is absolutely great on returns.

Call them and tell them one of the chairs is defective.

I had 2 great experiences with them. I had a very expensive light fixture that was missing pieces. They asked me if I wanted a new one or a refund. I requested a new one and they said they would contact me if they wanted me to send the other one back. They never did request it, so now I have some spare parts for the new one.

The same thing happened with a faucet. They are very easy to deal with.

Explain the situation with the defective one, and then tell them you just want a refund and ask how to send them both back. Just be honest and tell them you were disappointed with the quality in general.
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Buying online-return or sell locally?

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theroselvr

ellendi

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Buying online-return or sell locally?

Comments (9)

theroselvr

ellendi

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yayagal

gsciencechick

hilltop_gwOriginal Author

theroselvr

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deeinohio

ww340

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hilltop_gw
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