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Return policy: Hassle‐free or your money‐back guarantee?

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  • Lu Hsiao
  • Ying‐Ju Chen

Abstract

This article compares the profitability of two pervasively adopted return policies—money‐back guarantee and hassle‐free policies. In our model, a seller sells to consumers with heterogeneous valuations and hassle costs. Products are subject to quality risk, and product misfit can only be observed post‐purchase. While the hassle‐free policy is cost advantageous from the seller's viewpoint, a money‐back guarantee allows the seller to fine‐tune the consumer hassle on returning the product. Thus, when the two return policies lead to the same consumer behaviors, the hassle‐free policy dominates. Conversely, a money‐back guarantee can be more profitable even if on average, high‐valuation consumers experience a lower hassle cost than the low‐valuation ones. The optimal hassle cost can be higher when product quality gets improved; thus, it is not necessarily a perfect proxy or signal of the seller's quality. We further allow the seller to adopt a mixture of these policies, and identify the concrete operating regimes within which these return policies are optimal among more flexible policies. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 403–417, 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Lu Hsiao & Ying‐Ju Chen, 2014. "Return policy: Hassle‐free or your money‐back guarantee?," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(5), pages 403-417, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:61:y:2014:i:5:p:403-417
    DOI: 10.1002/nav.21591
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    Cited by:

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    3. Yan, Shuai & Archibald, Thomas Welsh & Han, Xiaohua & Bian, Yiwen, 2022. "Whether to adopt “buy online and return to store” strategy in a competitive market?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(3), pages 974-986.
    4. Wen, Xin & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Chung, Sai-Ho, 2019. "Fashion retail supply chain management: A review of operational models," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 34-55.
    5. Mandal, Prasenjit & Basu, Preetam & Saha, Kushal, 2021. "Forays into omnichannel: An online retailer’s strategies for managing product returns," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(2), pages 633-651.
    6. Liao, Chen-Nan & Chen, Ying-Ju, 2019. "Role of exchangeable tickets in the optimal menu design for airline tickets," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 151-163.
    7. Li, Xiaoxiao & Gao, Jie & Bian, Yiwen, 2023. "Return freight insurance strategies for the online retailer and insurance company," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    8. Jin, Delong & Caliskan-Demirag, Ozgun & Chen, Frank (Youhua) & Huang, Min, 2020. "Omnichannel retailers’ return policy strategies in the presence of competition," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    9. Fan, Zhi-Ping & Chen, Zhongwei, 2020. "When should the e-tailer offer complimentary return-freight insurance ?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    10. Lee, Chang Hwan & Rhee, Byong-Duk, 2021. "Retailer-run resale market and supply chain coordination," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    11. Li, Wei & Chen, Jing & Chen, Bintong, 2018. "Supply chain coordination with customer returns and retailer's store brand product," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 69-82.
    12. Lu Hsiao & Ying‐Ju Chen, 2015. "Retailer's rationale to refuse consumer returns in supply chains," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(8), pages 686-701, December.
    13. Ratchford, Brian & Soysal, Gonca & Zentner, Alejandro & Gauri, Dinesh K., 2022. "Online and offline retailing: What we know and directions for future research," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 152-177.
    14. Li, Bo & Jiang, Yushan, 2019. "Impacts of returns policy under supplier encroachment with risk-averse retailer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 104-115.
    15. Duong, Quang Huy & Zhou, Li & Meng, Meng & Nguyen, Truong Van & Ieromonachou, Petros & Nguyen, Duy Tiep, 2022. "Understanding product returns: A systematic literature review using machine learning and bibliometric analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    16. Huang, Zongsheng & Huang, Lingchen & Zhao, Yingxue & Meng, Xiaoge, 2021. "Money-back guarantee in the presence of strategic customer behavior," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).

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