What can I try before I buy (online)?

March 26, 2018 9:40 PM

I purchased a mattress after trying two ubiquitous companies that let you do the standard 100 night trial, the first one I returned, the second one I kept and it was awesome! I want more of this when I make purchases online in the future. What new companies (or old ones) are built on this same kind of business model, either try it free before committing or buy it and get free (& free return shipping) returns in X amount of time?

I was prompted to ask because of this Buffy Comforter, which, if I needed a comforter, I would totally try. I'm not in the market for anything in particular, but I enjoy shopping and give myself a fair amount of disposable income in my budget for nice, everyday items so I'd like to see what's out there for purchases big and small. I don't want to scam the system or anything—I keep it if I love or even just like an item—and I already shop at stores with good return policies (like Sephora/Nordstrom), so I'm not looking for suggestions on those kind of stores.

Obviously, "love it or your money back" is not a new concept but I feel like a bunch of new companies are sprouting up with interesting products and are based solely online, and are offering free trials or specific trial periods, and I want to know about them! Or, to put it a better way, "like Casper for [you tell me! toothpaste? vacuum cleaners? socks? etc!]"

posted by the thorn bushes have roses to Shopping (9 answers total)

I realized just as I hit post that my title that says "try before I buy" might be confusing — I'm open to purchasing items, too, as long as they have an explicit "we will let you return this if you don't like it after giving it a fair try and we WANT you to return it if you don't like it, and we've made that super easy and free to do that" business model.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 9:42 PM on March 26, 2018

Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic (same company), Amazon (on many but not all items), Zappos (owned by Amazon) and Nordstrom all have free returns with free return shipping. Costco is usually really generous about returns, as is REI, but not sure about free shipping with either.

I have heard anecdotally that if you return too many items to Amazon that they'll ban you. No idea what those numbers look like though.
posted by cnc at 9:55 PM on March 26, 2018

I hate to threadsit, but I have a feeling my question is to blame for your answer, cnc, which is totally not at all what I'm looking for — my fault :)! I don't want a list of stores with good return policies, those are easy to find. I'm looking for online stores who sell like one or two specific things that they think is better than what else is out there, and they either don't have physical stores or only have one, so they offer free trials or trial periods with free returns for you to try that one thing they're super sure is the best of that thing ever. Think Casper mattresses or my example above of the Buffy Comforter. Hope that helps!
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 10:07 PM on March 26, 2018

Warby Parker - glasses
posted by meowzilla at 10:42 PM on March 26, 2018

Honestly I think the stores that offer this are going to be few and far between. Mattresses are notorious for being high-margin.

I know what you mean though - the idea of a company standing behind a product so much that they are willing to push the boundaries is nice.

If nothing else scratches the itch, I do a lot of buying stuff off of wirecutter.com (usually through amazon) to try things and return them. At least then I know the best options out there.
posted by bbqturtle at 6:55 AM on March 27, 2018

ThirdLove bras if you are a person who wears bras - I haven't tried them but I keep being tempted. They have a "Try before you buy" for 30 days policy - you just pay $2.99 shipping. Return is free if you don't like it.
posted by Kriesa at 7:01 AM on March 27, 2018

Joybird is an online-only furniture store that lets you return items for up to one year (but return shipping is only free if you return it within the first two weeks). I thought they only sold sofas, but it looks like they've branched out.
posted by amarynth at 7:32 AM on March 27, 2018

We ended up returning a sofa from Benchmade Modern because despite the swatches and full-size printout we had tested, it was physically weird in our space, and can confirm that their returns policy is as good as it sounds.
posted by nonane at 7:33 AM on March 27, 2018

Allbirds lets you return shoes in any state of wear after a 30-day trial!
posted by quatsch at 5:33 PM on March 27, 2018