A sticker posted by an e-commerce seller has sparked discussion online on whether this is fair practice.
On Reddit, user u/rikitikitik5 posted an image of a package they had received from a seller, which indicated the following:
“Video must be provided while unboxing or unpacking the items. No video, no return, no refund. No return and refund for missing or wrong items.”
“Is this legal?” The user said.
Some Redditors came to the sellers’ defense, saying that this was a way to avoid potential return scams, where buyers pretend to get the wrong item and ask the seller for a refund or replacement, while keeping the original correct item.
“Some vendors do that defensively because of what they think are return scams, in that the vendor loses time and money dealing with false returns,” u/LecheKaFlan wrote.
“[Scammers] pretend to receive wrong/incomplete/broken items when they actually received it in proper order… Remember back in the day when PC stores insist that you unseal and open items on store premises so they can put a warranty seal? That’s the reason why. Until one day some brands forbade it (cough Apple) and you can unbox in bliss at home… the tendency is that it’s the poor employees who are accused of theft and made to pay for it. When it’s not possible then the business owner takes the loss,” u/joranbaler explained.
Other users did not find anything wrong with the seller’s sticker.
“It’s not like it’s the 90s and only few people have video cameras. Everyone practically has one in their smartphone. Just record your unboxing as proof that that’s what’s in the package,” u/Mid_Knight_Sky said.
“Dude it’s 2023 it’s pretty safe to buy online. Just buy from the reputable stores,” u/mives chimed in.
Still, there were others who said that this fell under the violation of the Philippines’ Consumer Act, which prohibits a “No Return, No Exchange” policy.
Under the law, consumers have the right to replace products that are found to have defects.
“The law leaves it to both parties to come to an agreement or arbitration. If that fails, the law leaves it to the courts. But the label itself is illegal as per the law. No merchant can stick a label like that on their products,” u/AthKaElGal said.
Meanwhile, there were those that argued that this was actually a way to further safeguard consumers.
“To be fair, the seller doesn’t have the final say on who gets refunded. They will go [into] arbitration [on] the platform and whoever has the stronger evidence wins. At this time where there are a lot of scam buyers and scam sellers, this is more of an aid to the consumer. It’s just not communicated properly,” u/fart_east commented.
Reader Interactions