There are so many times where I'll want to try an item before I purchase it but of course, that's not possible online. So nowadays I'll only buy something if I know I can get a free change of mind return, but still so many stores don't offer it.
As such, I was looking to create a tool that guarantees free returns (even for change of mind). Maybe through a subscription or add a % to each transaction. Almost like an eBay Plus but for all websites.
Initially, I was imagining it to be a Shopify app. To entice sellers, if an undamaged return is made, then I will pay the seller the shipping cost.
I was thinking about making a landing page and seeing if I can build a waitlist as validation. I would share that landing page on forums like HackerNews and Reddit. Do you think that's a good way to validate something like this? (Any other forum recommendations are also appreciated!)
Any other feedback is also welcome!
So your bascially an insurance company for returns?
return anything for any reason?
what would be the limits?
how long would be the return for?
When would I want to pay extra for the insurance? would it not only be for expensive stuff? or should it be like a yearly subscription unattached to a transaction?
What would you think the costs would be?
How would you deal with bad sellers?
Should I not trust my local laws + the big platforms backing this up? is it for small independent sellers?
You'll need to work the details, people would try to exploit the system sooner or later as a scam ...
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, so it would be a return for any reason within a period (e.g. 30 days) for any product that isn't damaged. I'm leaning toward making it just add a certain % to each purchase that you want covered by this.
As a Shopify app, I initially would look to support small, independent sellers.
There could be those that look to exploit it but my first concern is figuring out if there would be sufficient demand from shoppers for something like this.
If I validate that (with a landing page), then being the middleman, I would need to watch things like bad buyers and sellers but that would be a nice problem to have!
well the generic idea exists, like escrow service, and platform guarantees
paypal's original promise had securing the transaction as main premise, due it never dealt with returns just because. but returns under conditions of issues like not as described.
The things is the premisses move inside the platforms
We know bussiness grow with offering these, Zappos is one of the biggest case for this... (IDK if it works for anything)
As a customer, personally I have a hard time with this, unless we talk something like clothing (that probably means there are other things I'm not thinking of, but not for most items)
Also like returns to China for example commonly cost more than the entire product+original shipping... which might be an issue for you..
I think you can find some format that would work, but you'd probably have some adjestments to the details along the way..
I do wonder why it shouldn't be vendor focused vs customer focused somehow...
You make some good points, especially on potentially making that it more vendor focused. Definitely need to do more research - I think seeing the feedback to landing pages will be very useful