Today, I learned something new about Amazon return policies. As a Prime subscriber, I used to think that regardless of the reason behind the returns, they would always be free. I was wrong.
As I had to return some items that I didn’t like and there was no fault on Amazon or the manufacturers’ part, I was presented with esentiall two options: drive to UPS or Kohl’s store to drop off for free or pay to have the items picked up. Below are the screenshots when I choose the reason as “Bought by Mistake” or “No longer needed”
Had I chosen something that indicated the return wasn’t my fault, the options would be different
I guess it is sensible and smart of Amazon to implement this control. Otherwise, there would be abuses from customers (myself very likely, I have to admit) and the logistics costs would be even higher than what they are nowadays.
On a side note, the return experience I had at Kohl’s was very smooth. You can actually return Amazon items at any Kohl’s nationwide and all that it takes is QA code which can be stored and shown via your phone.
It made me think: how does this partnership benefit Amazon and Kohl’s? I am speculating here, but I guess this option makes sense financially for Amazon as they piggyback on the scale of Kohl’s logistics or business with shipping partners like USPS, UPS or FedEx. Instead of 100,000 items delivered a month, I imagine the deal with Amazon would bump the number up for Kohl’s. The increased volume can give them the leverage to negotiate a lower unite rate and have Amazon share the extra cost. From Amazon side, it would be cheaper to share with Kohl’s than to handle the entire costs alone.
Additionally, customers are given another option. I can imagine in some cases it would be more convenient to drop items off at Kohl’s stores than packaging and labeling the items.
On Kohl’s side, they might be banking on the fact that as customers have to come in their stores to return items, it will increase impulsive purchase in the stores.
Minh Quang Duong 