This happened a while back (around March 2021), but I wanted to share my story all the same.
I've been trying to stop buying from Amazon and start supporting local businesses. Games cost more at the little guy of course, but I'm willing to pay because I want to support local businesses and I hate Amazon that much.
I do my shopping at two places in Sacramento: Capital Books and Big Brother Comics. Capital Books is for all of my books and (I thought) Big Brother would be for all of my board/tabletop/hobby gaming. Capital Books also sells board games, tabletop books, magic cards, and comics, but it makes sense to buy books from them (because they are a bookstore) and hobby gaming from Big Brother. Right? Seems like a reasonable way to go about living and support two businesses. At least, that's what I wanted to do.
I've bought a few graphic novels from Big Brother and had no issues. It wasn't until I started playing DnD and bought some playing cards from them. These are cards that each list a spell or monster or magic item for easy reference. My group didn't end up using them because DnDBeyond takes care of all that. So I wanted to return them. Please note: some of these card decks have been opened and used once. Some are unopened, shrinkwrap still intact.
The man at the counter tells me there is no return policy. "Ok..." I say.
And I understand that makes sense for certain products. If I bought a single-issue comic book, I could read it and return it. So no returns on comics or even graphic novels. That makes sense. That's reasonable. And no returns on board games unless the pieces are all there (board games these days are incredibly complex) or even only if they're not-punched from the sheets. Another reasonable alternative.
But the man at the counter says no returns. Blanket statement, no exceptions. His reason? "When you buy a product, we immediately buy another to fill the shelf." This excuse stinks of bullshit. This tells me that the company is more interested in extreme short-term profit (locking in that sale) rather than long-term profit from loyal customers. Every customer returns something, surely, once in awhile, right? "Oh, this graphic novel was for a birthday and my nephew didn't want it" Sure, no problem, returned. Is there a chance I'm lying and simply read the book and want to return it now? Sure. A chance. But companies typically take this risk because they know the majority of customers aren't scam artists.
But there's no return policy. Not for opened, pristine deck of cards. Not for unopened deck of cards with a receipt. Because they have to fill the shelf immediately. So I'm out of luck, fuck you guy, we got your $20.
They got my $20 short-term. But they didn't get thousands more from me in long-term business from a loyal customer, so their business loses out.
I really, really wanted to get off Amazon. I really, really, wanted to support as many local businesses as possible. I really, really, wanted to support a local hobby store. But they're not letting me. And sometimes these companies complain, "Oh, how can we ever compete with Amazon's prices? Oh, small businesses are hurting so much these days," (I'm not claiming Big Brother said this -- it's just a frequent cry). Well, you can have a return policy in the year 2021. That's a start.
So now I do all of my hobby shopping at Capital Books as well because they are the nicest people I've ever shopped with. Thankfully their business is doing great, they're going to expand their gaming selection, AND they're opening a separate location as a gaming cafe. How cool is that? Yes please.
In the end, I still go to Big Brother, though. Not to buy anything, of course, but to browse all of their excellent board games and then buy them elsewhere. Because fuck no return policy. read more