Interesting article on Holiday Shopping and Return Fraud

[GBAstar]

I was browsing the eBay seller forums and I thought this article was interesting:

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-can-offer-much-better-than-everyone-else-when-it-is-someone/m-p/18789175#U18789175

Especially these stats:

Fighting fraud
Retailers want to accommodate legitimate returns, but they’re battling an epidemic of return fraud that will cost them an estimated $8.76 billion dollars, according to the National Retail Federation.
A significant portion of those losses, $3.4 billion, take place during the holiday season. Based on its 2013 Return Fraud Survey, the NRF estimates that nearly 6 percent of holiday returns will be fraudulent this year, up from 4.6 percent last year. The survey also found that 14 percent of the returns made throughout the year without a receipt are fraudulent.
To fight this crime wave, most stores (74 percent) now require picture ID if you want to return something without a receipt. Another 12 percent require ID even from customers who have a receipt.
It’s always been smart to bring a sales slip when you try return or exchange something. That way you’ll get the full price that was paid for the item. Without a receipt, you may get the most recent sale price, if the store will even accept the return.
“It’s absolutely reasonable to expect the customer to prove that the item they’re trying to return came from that store, when it was purchased and at what price,” Dworsky said. “Return fraud costs all of us in the long run.”
Consumer World has compiled a detailed list of return policies at more than a dozen major retailers.

 

[Spokker]

I returned four items to the store recently. For some reason, when we got the gifts each article of clothing had a separate gift receipt. For three of the items we returned, we had a receipt, while the fourth did not. In a case like that, there is no way a store should suspect return fraud. My ID was requested for the fourth item without a receipt.

Even then, I was cognizant of return fraud because of this forum, so I was hoping they would not accuse me of it. It's sort of like when you exit the store, you sometimes brace for the alarms to go off even though you know you have not stolen anything. And I hate when they go off by accident. Another big reason to shop at Amazon instead of big box stores. In any case, they gave me store credit and we got different shirts.

I don't show ID when returning something with a receipt or if the store has the ability to look up purchases via credit card. It's part of the reason why I don't shop at Best Buy anymore.