Costco Return Policy Fraud
Hedging against the Costco return percentage is an excellent method for other suppliers to purchase products in bulk at discount prices. Many stores opt to sign contracts with wholesale suppliers in order to take advantage of the Costco return percentage, and purchase at heavily discounted prices in order to recover any potential losses they might suffer from the sale of the products.
The Costco return percentage is actually quite low, especially as compared to the volume of turnover stock they manage to sell. Considering this, it becomes highly clear why they establish these contracts and want to resupply their stock as quickly as possible. Costco’s business plan is to sell high quality goods, either brand name or generic, and this is the reason why Costco’s return percentage is so low. Many customers purchase products from Costco and are quite pleased with them, therefore having no need to return any of them.
However, some consumers do choose to take advantage of the company’s return policy, called Costco return policy fraud. Typically, there are only two ways individuals engage in Costco return policy fraud. Firstly, they take advantage of Costco’s relaxed policies on returns, returning items to the store and claiming they are either damaged or unwanted, but in fact have actually been damaged intentionally or used. The second Costco return policy fraud method was done by acquiring a salvaging contract for the Costco return percentage, or locating which liquidator was acquiring the products and then trying to purchase from the liquidator.
Purchasing the returned goods at greater discounts, or less than wholesale, only increase the cost savings these individuals were enjoying. After purchasing these products, they would then proceed to take the previously returned items back to a Costco, and receive a full price refund. This strategy was causing huge losses for Costco, prompting the company to reevaluate their return policy and adopt stricter regulations.
In fact, since adopting their new policy, the Costco return percentage has actually fallen because people are no longer able to take advantage of their system and claim fake returns. Costco now request that returns on high priced items, like electronic goods, be completed within 90 days following the day of store purchase. While this policy does not state you require a receipt, you will clearly need one to prove your original purchase date
Furthermore, companies with contracts for Costco’s returns have to help prevent Costco return policy fraud by either marking these products as salvage goods, or removing the Costco identification labels from all these products.
Inevitably, this makes your job harder, as a retailer, to figure with suppliers are taking Costco’s returns, especially because the wholesale supplier will not advertise this fact and cannot do so under contract. However, if you are knowledgeable about product prices, it is actually easier than you might think to figure out which wholesale suppliers are reselling Costco returns. Through a little research and time, you can purchase products at less than wholesale and pocket the profits for your business.

