Free returns a rare service at leading retail web sites

Although free shipping on returns is becoming a strategic customer relationship tool for some e-retailers, the concept is rare among the top 10 retail web sites by number of unique monthly visitors, according to a survey by Internet Retailer. Only two of the top 10 offer some form of free return service: Hewlett-Packard Co.`s HPShopping.com and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.`s WalMart.com.

The other sites in the top 10, according to visitation figures compiled by comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks Inc., are: Amazon.com, Dell.com, Apple.com, BarnesandNoble.com, BestBuy.com, TargetDirect.com, Sears.com and AT&T Wireless Services` ATTWS.com. Some retailers, such as Best Buy, note that they absorb the cost of shipping returns only in cases when they shipped the wrong or defective products. The top 10 sites used in the Internet Retailer survey only include sites rated by comScore that offer a returns policy for products they sell at retail.

HPShopping offers a free pick-up service. It requires a customer to repack equipment in its original packaging and call a customer service representative to receive a return authorization number and arrange for a carrier service. The customer then writes the authorization number on the package along with the words, "NetReturn Express Tag Pickup." Although the process appears simple, HP warns that a customer could become liable for return freight costs if the repackaging is not done according to instructions. It also requires customers to first speak with a customer service rep to see if there is a way to work out technical problems with the purchased equipment to avoid processing a return.

WalMart.com includes a pre-paid U.S. Postal Service return label with every shipment. It asks customers to fill out a reason-for-return section on the back of the invoice and pack it and the purchased products in the original packaging.

The option of returning online-ordered products to stores, however, is more common, offered by six of the 10: Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Target, Sears and AT&T. In some cases, however, store return policies are complicated. Wal-Mart notes that it won`t accept store returns of computer hardware or other large items ordered online. And TargetDirect, the umbrella web site for Target Corp.`s Target, Marshall Field`s and Mervyn`s, lists several differences in its returns policies for each brand. Products ordered online from Target.com can be returned to a Target store, but products ordered online from Marshall Field`s cannot be returned to a Marshall Field`s store. There is no store returns policy stated for online orders of Mervyn`s products.

The TargetDirect site, which is operated by Amazon, also includes a clarification that Amazon products purchased after linking from TargetDirect can only be returned to an Amazon warehouse.