Hooray! Best Buy Ditches Its Restocking Fee
Business must be dreadful for the Minnesota-based retailer Best Buy. Like the 17 inches of snow that dropped
on its headquarters and the 5 more expected today, its notorious 15 percent restocking fee may have become a wet blanket on sales. (That's what you pay when you returned an electronics item.) According to the company's customer service department, "we have listened to our customers," and starting yesterday the fee will no longer apply to any electronics, including cameras, computers, GPS systems, camccorders, TVs, whatever. Even Apple products which carry their own snooty 10 percent restocking fee will be exempt. However, special order items -- those that are not available in stores -- will still come with a 25 percent give-back should you return them. Better yet, the new policy will apply to purchases made after mid-November.
This good-bye restocking fee strategy could give BB an edge since many other electronics vendors still levy the charges, namely Amazon, Sears, Dell and Apple. 'Twould be a wonderful holiday gift for consumers if Best Buy's move signals the beginning of the end of all restocking fees.
Don't for a minute think that the absence of a restocking fee will allow you to "rent" a GPS system for the weekend to get over the river and through the woods to Granny's house and then return it on Monday. First of all, doing that is not nice -- and raises prices for the rest of us. And, BB's other rules still apply. Although the store is offering a generous holiday return policy allowing you to bring back an item as late as January 31, you have to have your receipt. You should also put what you received back in its original packaging so the store can resell it.
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