Returns taken out of packaging

[bateman_ap]

Just wondered if anyone can suggest how they handle this:

We sell something to a customer (a physical product). They open it and decide they want to return it (wrong size/they just don't like it etc)

Now they have removed it from the packaging meaning it will be obvious if you resell it it would have been opened previously, it appears from a article in the Guardian today that customers are allowed to do this (can't link to it as I'm a too new user!):

"The retailer cannot insist that items are returned in their original packaging. If you had to get them out of the packet to inspect them, that is OK."

Do we have to just take this and sell it cheaper in the future as some sort of "warehouse deal" as Amazon do, or is it OK to send out not in the original packaging anymore, I am sure if we do then users are going to give bad reviews and return them?

 

[Bill1954]

Unforunately it's just another kick in the nutz from the consumer contracts regulations. From my understanding, customers are under no obligation to even return an item once it has been refunded.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

You need to fully read and understand the distant selling regs, be sure most customers know their rights now days very well

 

[bateman_ap]

I understand the distance selling regulations, as much as they hurt! It's more how other people handle the returned product and reselling it in the future if the original packaging has been opened.

 

[Bill1954]

It's the phrase "examine an item as they would in a shop" that annoys me.
there isn't a shop I know of that would let you open a shower, try it in situ, return it just thrown into any old cardboard box, and then give you a refund just coz you don't like it.

 

[AMS79]

I would just knock a couple of £s off and sell it as open box or similar. As long as you are clear to the customer that it is not enclosed in the original packaging you shouldn't be penalised.

Incidentally when selling online, customers still have a duty of care as far as looking after the product is concerned. Regulation 34 of Part 3 of The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations, 2013, states “If (in the case of a sales contract) the value of the goods is diminished by any amount as a result of handling of the goods by the consumer beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods, the trader may recover that amount from the consumer, up to the contract price”. As a guide, the Regulation suggests that handling should not be beyond that which might reasonably be allowed in a shop.

We've recently received a return of several fragile items that we sent back loose in a box (no original packaging or purpose made shipping box in sight) and each item exhibits varying degrees of damage and even parts missing in one case. Suffice to say - the customer has been notified that they are no longer re-saleable and are being returned to them tomorrow.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

I don't know what you sell, but perhaps you could use eBay to off load returns / 'soiled' goods? Yes, you have to pay eBay fees but at least you have clear distance between your website / brand and your eBay seller account.

 

[antropy]

Would it really be that difficult to repackage it? As a student I worked in a bookshop where some of the very expensive photography/art books were wrapped in shrink-wrap. Serious customers were allowed to look at them, but there was a machine out the back that could re-seal them.

 

[scm5436]

Incidentally when selling online, customers still have a duty of care as far as looking after the product is concerned. Regulation 34 of Part 3 of The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations, 2013, states “If (in the case of a sales contract) the value of the goods is diminished by any amount as a result of handling of the goods by the consumer beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods, the trader may recover that amount from the consumer, up to the contract price”. As a guide, the Regulation suggests that handling should not be beyond that which might reasonably be allowed in a shop.

Epic. I knew about the first part (9) but completely missed the other part (12) about "it goes beyond the sort of handling that might reasonably be allowed in a shop". That answers the question I was going to ask, and in a very positive way!

 

[lesliedocherty]

Recently, we had a crazy customer who done a paypalcase against us, he returned a pair of trainers after drawing over the box with a black permanent marker (still cant believe it).

Paypal only refunded him half the money, and i got half the oney and the shoes, had to sell them cheap as boxwas now damaged, they were pretty fair about it.

 

[obscure]

It's the phrase "examine an item as they would in a shop" that annoys me.
there isn't a shop I know of that would let you open a shower, try it in situ, return it just thrown into any old cardboard box, and then give you a refund just coz you don't like it.

True but that's an extreme example. When buying clothes in-store you can pick them up from the pile, hold them up to check size, try them on in the changing room and then drop them back on the pile (unfolded and unpackaged). Therefore you need to be able to do that with goods sold online. That means opening the packaging.