OT: BMW about return shipping

[LeesKeys]

Buying a keyboard online is great. Free Shipping. Great unless the item doesn't meet your expectations and you have to pay return shipping a restocking fee. Purchased Nektar gx49 from Sweetwater at $99.00. Free shipping! Great deal! Return shipping cost (UPS): $42.00 + restocking fee, $5.00, or about 1/2 of the cost of my original purchase!

 

What's a guy to do when he lives in a rural area with no large music stores nearby? Not to mention that there are so many kinds of keyboards, even a well stocked music store would very possibly not have what you want to lay hands on!

 

Oh well.

[KuruPrionz]

Tricky stuff.

If Sweetwater covered the return postage they would become "the free rental place for one night gigs", not a good spot to be in.

They have to protect themselves from that. Giving us free shipping is nice, as you can see some things are pretty expensive to ship.

 

I get it though, I just got a pair of Neat Worker Bee microphones, the two boxes got separated and one arrived 2 days later. When I tested the first mic by itself I thought about returning it.

When I tested the pair together on acoustic guitar they were awesome. So I am keeping them. If the second one had not been satisfactory I would have had quite a shipping bill for a $180 experiement - yikes!

[LeesKeys]

Yeah, I absolutely understand the seller's position...

[zeronyne]

I feel your pain. We are lucky enough to have shipping included in the cost of gear on many occasions, but the margin cannot justify free return shipping, especially for retailers that have no brick and mortar presence.

 

I try to consider that dilemma when I buy really large or really inexpensive gear. It"s often cheaper to sell the item locally after considering the bite that shipping will take out of your refund. But if you live somewhere sparsely populated, that"s also not an option.

 

I think in my case, if I paid 100.00 for an item and returning it would cost almost half, I would just keep it. Sorry you went through that.

[Markyboard]

I agree with you guys. But I wonder if the retailers who have discount shipping can"t offer to generate the shipping label at a reduced cost for the customer. On the other hand maybe the shipping cost is a deterrent for abuse.

[LeesKeys]

I agree with you guys. But I wonder if the retailers who have discount shipping can"t offer to generate the shipping label at a reduced cost for the customer. On the other hand maybe the shipping cost is a deterrent for abuse.

 

 

Interesting point. I know Ebay does that for sellers, but I don't know anyone who does it for "returners"

[Docbop]

I was caught like that when I wanted a 7-string archtop guitar. I got lucky and found one of the Ibanez ones at one of the big online stores that had free shipping. So I got it, but my small hands and size of a 7-string neck didn't work out. So I wanted to return it so when I called luckily for me I mention the volume pot on the guitar was noisy (something a little DeOxit spray would fix). The customer service person okay it's defective no charge for return shipping or restock. That taught me if I return something find the something to wrong no matter how small and mention it, it save me money doing so.

[hookie]

On the other hand, I view it like I"m renting something for 30 days to see if I like it or not. Applicable more so for more complicated merchandise like expensive, deep, keyboards. Okay, not that great of an idea, but I"m trying to change my negative views. lol!