To return something to purchase it again on sale?

[polka14]

DOI: I haven't actually done this.

WWYD if you bought X, it has just delivered and you go to leave a review and notice it is now on sale. Would you return your full price item to re-buy at the discounted price? Are there any rules around this?

Yes it's definitely a minority of people very occasionally getting a negligible difference between an original price and a slightly lower one that would be solely responsible for an otherwise healthy business having to close....nothing to do with increased rental and energy costs, increasing minimum wage and staff pensions and other contributions, reduced high street footfall, development of online shopping, changes in customer base and consumer marketing, or a million other reasons, nope, ONLY because Mrs Jones saved a fiver on a top she bought last week.

I think it's completely fine.
If shops offer refunds then people are going to take them up on it. If they are happy to sell something at a lower price then they have to accept people will buy it at a lower price!
Plus it would only apply to someone who was still within the 28 day return limit so fairly limited. There must be a lot of things shops lose more money on, like people buying loads of items and then returning all/most of them so making no profit and incurring postal costs (if buying online)and staff time, shoplifting, etc. At least this way they are still getting some money for the item.

Many retailers plan for sale season as they absolutely rake it in. The sale price, especially on the first day of sale, won't even begin to lose them money. Mark ups on clothing is obscene. Many savvy customers just don't buy anything in the run up to the likely sale period - with the exception of Christmas you'll usually see a dip in sales before you put markdowns live.

Going back and asking to have something at the sale price, won't be touching margins in the grand scheme of things. Even crappy leftover stock at the end of a sale won't have the cost price on the ticket - it'll be sold to TK Maxx or Brand Alley at close to cost.

So no, this behaviour does NOT cause retailers to go bust.

I speak as someone who ran fashion merchandising departments for many many years.

Do it.

@ParisNoir the retailer I worked for tried being strict on refunds. Mysteriously then products were always 'faulty' or 'broken'. People used to make up such complete shit so they could get their money back. For example removing the dice from a board game so it was 'faulty' but they didn't want a replacement because they had "already bought another copy from different shop" so we had to refund them.
My retailer tried saying no to refunds and being strict - it got grief and complaints and "I know my rights". If we gave them gift vouchers instead of cash - which were paper ones then - they would then use the vouchers to buy something like a 15p sweet because they knew the change up to £1 had to be given in cash. (Thankfully most retailers use gift cards instead of paper vouchers now and change isn't given).
Basically too many customers take the piss.

Nothing wrong with it in my mind, return it and save some money, won't make a difference to ASOS.

I’ve done this before. I bought a washing machine a night before Black Friday because it was 20% off. On Black Friday, one of the ads just popped up on my phone and it was 50% off. They’ve not even processed or posted my order. I called the company and spoke to someone and they said they can’t give me the difference as a refund which I thought was petty.
I just cancelled the old order on the spot and ordered another one at the discounted price.

@KeepYaHeadUp ok maybe it is different for clothing retailers.
I still think it's a really shitty thing to do.

Why?

At Argos I once bought a laptop that had a third knocked off two days later.

I rang them and they refunded the difference.

if they hadn’t have refunded it I’d have returned it as it was a significant saving!

Basically too many customers take the piss

LOL I run a business. I'd probably go bankrupt too with this kind of attitude- yeah, blame your clients for your crappy business practices not working! The clients dont exist solely to make you rich, you are there to provide them with something of value. If you cant run your business properly then thats 100% on YOU, not the customers. Thats a very basic business principle in business- 100% responsibility.

@KeepYaHeadUp Because I think it's rude. Simple as that.
But to be honest almost 2 decades of retail working turned me into a general hater of people due to their obnoxious behaviour. Thankfully I got out it and I am a much happier person now and I quite like people.
I will never work in retail again.

Exactly- we all know the ridiculous mark ups that go on in retail so cry me a fcking river if someone swaps something for a sale price. Even at sale prices shops are still making a giant profit so this idea that its sales causing shops to fold is nonsense.

@ParisNoir well the company I worked for lasted 99 years so they obviously did something right. It was only their final years that things got bad.
To be honest the 'head office' people not listening to the 'on the floor' people didn't help.
Oh well. They are long gone now.

To be honest asos run 20% off promos so often now, I never buy full price and just wait for a code to be emailed. They must do it at least twice a month for random days. Occasionally two hour windows. I save what I want and take the risk it'll be there when the code comes in.
But yes I have done this. Recently I cancelled an order and then reordered it so I could take advantage of the points promo.

I would.

Yes I've done this, and I've also contacted retailers (Next and H&M I think) in this situation and got a refund for the difference.

Then it was mis-managed in the final years and still their own fault. Why were customers suddenly returning things only in the final years? you are contradicting yourself heavily here- first you say it was the customers fault the company went under, then you say they lasted 99 years so must have been something right! Customers dont suddenly change overnight, it was the same customer base they always had so something must have changed and it wasnt the customers suddenly all demanding refunds was it?

I did this with a Hush dress - the day after it arrived I got a £10 off any dress voucher. I called them up and commented on the fact I could return my one, reorder and it would all be free P&P.....so cost to them. Or, if they'd prefer they could give me £10 refund or I'd happily take a £10 Hush voucher. They gave me the voucher....which a month or so later I spent (with extra ££ on top)

So if you'd prefer ask for a credit note/voucher so although the still "keep" the money so to speak.

Yep. My husband did this with my engagement ring (pre-proposal I might add!) and I'm glad he did, he saved hundreds of pounds 😂

GAP used to do this when my DC were little. All you had to do was take in your receipt.

John Lewis used to do it too. Part of the never undersold tagline.

@ParisNoir I don't think it was just the the last years of their existence that people taking the piss over refunds was happening. I started there in the mid 90s and it was happening then.
Yes it was heavily miss managed towards the end. Many, many reasons. Not just their refund policy.
It would of had many different ways of selling over it's 99 years. At the start goods were simply one of 2 set prices (3p or 6p). Stock wasn't self service. They sold different products when they opened in 1909 - products sold at the end hadn't even been invented. Different times so different levels of success.

I’ve done it from ASOS a few times, it might be frowned upon but every penny counts.

I can't see this being the main or only reason the retailer went out of business.