Shoe Reseller Decides to Try Electronics Sales

In an apparent stroke of I-wanna-be-like-Amazon, the owner of the online shoe retailer Zappos has rolled out a secondary site, where electronics are being hawked.

The article that points this out, on ZDNet, begins with the shoe resellers policy of paying return shipping if the customer is unsatisfied, and stating that policy applies to the electronics it will sell also. However, further down the page, while illustrating the (immediately gratifying) policy of allowing returns of product for up to 365 days, the other shoe drops, and the balloon pops as well.

The only way that either of these things can happen is if you don’t ever open the package! So if, say, you buy a router, and decide that you don’t like it during the shipping time, or perhaps your old router returns to operation, you may wait up to 365 days to return for refund and pay no shipping.

How often is that going to occur? Do you generally order electronic items you simply aren’t sure you want or need? I’m darn sure of what I want, and what I am getting before I put in the credit card information. After that, there are only about three things that will cause a return for me. Incorrect information by the manufacturer, incorrect information by the vendor, or defective product. In any of these cases, I will be taking care of the problem, post haste. So how will Zappos somewhat ill conceived policy help me, or others like me?

If the customer keeps something unopened that long, perhaps using it as a Christmas or Kwanzaa gift the next giving interval would be best.

I looked at the shoes at Zappos about a year ago, and I was not terribly impressed by anything other than selection. If this company wishes to actively compete in the electronics arena, they had better be prepared to compete on price with the big boys, like Amazon, NewEgg, and the like.

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