I had to look up sparking pots. So I don’t suppose I’ve ever wanted one, because I didn’t know they existed.
But in any case, I’d want a parking spot or a sparking pot for entirely different situations. Either would be useless for what the other one does. And I suppose you could set up a sparking pot in a parking spot and then would want both of them at once. So I can’t really see this as an either-or, and didn’t vote.
Gotta get some slippery soap.
Light drizzle? 
What’s the return policy of the place your parents bought the adapter from?
I’ve asked the hardware store whether I could take something carefully out of the package, check for fit, and return it if it didn’t; and they were fine with it. I don’t think I’ve done that with an electronic item, though; and I don’t know whether it made a difference that the people at the store knew me.
Amazon with a Prime account, and as far as I can tell free delivery both ways, which somebody is eating the cost of.
That’s part of the cost of doing business on Amazon.
If someone “bought” a dress or a necklace, wore it to a isn’t, and then returned it, i would think less of them. But I’d you buy an article, and it doesn’t serve the purpose you bought it for (either because it doesn’t work, or because you didn’t need it after all) and you return it according to the policy of the seeker, without needing to invent a story… Well, the vendor have you that option, and you used it fairly.
Well, I generally wouldn’t return something I’d ordered unless it was defective or not as described. Partly because it would bother my conscience, and partly because I wouldn’t want the hassle. If it’s my mistake, the cost should be on me.
But I would need more info before deciding that other people were jerks for doing so.
I semi-regularly return merchandise to Amazon without a thought. I don’t do it without a reason, and I’m not breaking any rules by following their return policy.
A recent example is an off-brand replacement part for a device I regularly use. It was significantly cheaper, so I gave them a shot. The part did not work nearly as well as advertised, so I returned it and will now stick to name brand only for this part.
The manufacturer did not deliver on their promise that the part was just as good as the OEM, so back it went.
mmm
Having worked retail, I don’t return anything unless it’s defective, unless I’m sure it can be re-sold. If the seller is willing to eat the loss as a cost of doing business, it may not be wrong, but I find it wasteful. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
There’s a big difference here between what my parents did imo. In their case the part (presumably) works exactly as advertised, and the seller has done nothing wrong.
Yes, I understand.
However, when returning to Amazon, they request the reason for the return. Among the options are:
So, if it’s ok with Amazon, it’s ok with me.
mmm
Pretty sure that the hardware store expected to be able to re-sell the part I returned. I think they may have said ‘as long as it’s in salable condition’, but they didn’t consider my having opened the package to check the fit to have made it unsellable.
I suspect that Amazon is pretty wasteful of just about everything other than the time of its employees.
One big difference is that you didn’t mail the item back to the store on their dime. In the case described in the poll, even if the item can be resold, Amazon has to pay the price of shipping both ways (or pass that cost along to its other customers).
If your aren’t going to use it and you will throw it away or it will just clutter the bottom of a drawer, it’s no less wasteful than returning it to a vendor that might be able to resell it.
I’m too lazy to return stuff, as a rule of thumb. But i feel like it’s wasteful to keep stuff I’ll never use.
True. I carried it back in the next time I came to that town.
I usually prefer brick-and-mortars; for multiple reasons. There are however some things I can’t get locally.
Apparently they actually just throw a lot of it out.
True. I try to give things away when I make a stupid purchase: I feel like eating the cost is my punishment for being wasteful. But no one else is obligated to operate this way!
Nah, they sell off liquidation lots consisting of returns in bulk, via pallets, gaylords, or even truckloads. Re-sellers buy these blind (usually) and piece them out in hopes of turning a nice profit.
You can even buy them direct from Amazon..
mmm
Maybe they’ve changed this drastically in the last couple of years. I haven’t time to hunt up more cites.
ETA: even if it does now all go to liquidation companies: I wonder how much of it the liquidation companies throw out.
When I have had to call Amazon in past years about an issue with a purchase a lot of the time they will either give me an adjusted discounted price, a full refund and just tell me to keep the original product.
It’s been several years since I had to do this so I don’t know if that policy is still in place.
As usual, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle.
They likely sell a lot via liquidation while also tossing out a ton (way too much, I’m sure).
Indeed. A common complaint from resellers is how much broken/unusable crap is in their mystery lot.
mmm
I returned something to Amazon recently because it had been improperly packaged and arrived broken. I was really surprised that they made me return it. Although, i brought it, in it’s original packaging, to a nearby whole foods, and it’s certainly possible the employee there was authorized to throw it away, and not pay to ship it back.
(it was a kitchen sieve, and it arrived crushed, and with the screen mostly detached from the ring that holds it. It was really broken, and i doubt its value as scrap metal was worth the cost of shipping it.)