Retailers seem to be cracking down on returns lately, and I don’t really blame them. I’m all for fairness if a product is defective, or the wrong size, but you have to draw the line somewhere.  The customer isn’t right if the customer is trying to rip you off.

Barnes & Noble made some waves this week with this announcement:

So what’s so wrong with that?

I’ve bought a product (not at B&N) before, indecisively left it sitting around too long, decided I really didn’t want or need it, then tried to return it.  Turns out I could only get the current sales price for it and lost a bunch of money because it had been marked down quite a bit since I bought it.  Whose fault is that?  Mine.

Apple give you 14 days to return your product, in the unopened, original box.  And they charge a controversial 10% open box fee.
Target gives you a full 90 days, but “Music, movies, video games, software and collectibles must be returned unopened…. Camcorders, digital cameras, portable DVD, computers, portable electronics, framed art, gas-powered scooters and hot tubs purchased from Target.com are subject to a 15% restocking fee.”
(Target sells hot tubs? Steamy!)
Wal-Mart allows up to 90 days for some items, but as few as 15 for others such as digital music players and computer hardware.  Books must be returned “unused and unmarked.”
Amazon gives you 30 days.

So why do I think only 14 days at Barnes & Noble is fair? 

Because Barnes & Noble is, primarily, a bookseller. Because you can fully use a book in 14 days. You can take it home, read it, be “done” with it, then take it back for a full refund.  Why should that be OK? 

I can’t buy a sandwich and eat it and take it back for a full refund, obviously.  I guess I could buy a nice shirt, wear it to an event, then take it back for a full refund.  That’s not illegal, but it’s definitely unethical, and more than likely the shirt would end up “used & marked.”

Sure, they could break out the many different categories of books (aside: which far too many people who blog about or write about books neglectfully fail to do… a computer reference book or a manga book or a romance novel or a children’s picture book or a self-help book or a cookbook… these are all very different products, consumed or utilized in entirely different ways.  Another blog post maybe…). 
We could apply different policies to different types of books.  But holy smokes that would be a legal nightmare: Romance novels only get 14 days because the reader isn’t planning to keep the book around for reference, right?  But with Windows Vista For Dummies they surely don’t take the book home, figure out everything they need to know about Vista then take it back within 2 weeks, do they?  If you buy the new Michael Connelly, you’re probably going to throw it back within a day or two and be done with it, aren’t you?  So should you be allowed to get your full money back, even though you already “used” the whole book?

“The point is to eliminate ‘customers’ who empty their bookshelves of books they’ve owned for years and get store credit,” says B&N CEO Steve Riggio.
I totally agree. That’s just cheap and classless.  Try doing that with your socks or your iPod or your dishes.  You can’t.

I’m all for the 14 days.  Do a little research, buy what you want, and if you can’t figure out within 2 weeks that you bought the wrong darn book, that’s your own fault.