The return-risk checklist
A return is the cost of a decision made on missing information. Most of the information was on the listing — or conspicuously absent from it. This is the list we work through before we will call anything a good buy.
1. Dimensions, stated — not implied by a photo
A table lamp listing that states its height lets you check it against the shelf above your bedside table. One that shows a photo and no number does not. Of ten bedside lamps we checked on a public catalogue, one stated its height — in the title. The rest could not be checked for fit at all, and we said so rather than guessing.
2. The supporting part
The lamp needs a bulb; the bulb has a base and a wattage; the lamp has a socket and a maximum. A bulb whose stated base does not match the lamp’s stated socket goes back. So does one rated above the lamp’s maximum. Both are checkable from the two listings — when the sellers state them.
3. Counts that agree with themselves
When a title says one pack count and the specifications say another, one of them is wrong, and you will not know which until the box arrives. Treat the disagreement itself as the warning.
4. Compatibility written as a scope
“Only” is the most useful word on a listing. See the guide on why “compatible with” is not a fit.
5. The return terms themselves
Who pays return shipping, and whether opened consumables can go back at all. Sellers publish this; read it before the purchase, not after.
The principle
A listing that states a specification can be checked, and a mismatch rules it out. A listing that states nothing cannot be checked — and “cannot be checked” is a real finding, not a gap to paper over with optimism.
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