Costco bows to the inevitable, drops the hammer on electronics refunds

CE Pro: Finally ... Costco Tightens Return Policy for Electronics

Thankfully, Costco has finally changed its return policy, which has been killing value-added resellers, not to mention Costco itself.
Dealers at Integration Pros and Remote Central noticed this announcement on the Costco Web site:
RETURNS
Membership: We will refund your membership fee in full at any time if you are dissatisfied.
Merchandise: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell, with a full refund. Exceptions: Televisions, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD / MP3 players and cellular phones must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund.
That's still generous, but a far cry from the return-anything-any time mantra of the past. Too bad for consumers, though. They were using Costco as obsolescence insurance: using a TV for a couple of years, then returning it for the more current model -- no questions asked.
Now, about those $89.99 Costco installs...

Every retailer I've been familiar with who had an extraordinarily generous return policy has eventually either tightened up, or gone out of business. Eatons? Gone. SportChek? Much stricter now. HBC? Stricter now, and probably defunct within the next two years, regardless.

Costco has had a 90 day return policy on computers for some time now, so it's no surprise that they would need to stem the bleeding on electronics which is for them both high volume and extra-low margin. The question remains, will they have to tighten the belt on their return policy for everything else? Looking at the histories of other retailers, I think the answer is yes. Given how much pressure Costco gets from institutional investors to beef up their margins and trim their expenses, I think the only question is how soon they make that shift.

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