Outrageous - why am I responsible for returning small damaged items

Sorry this was a reply to PHB, who said this:

Most consumers, while somewhat inconvenient, would regularly visit the same shops or pass near a post office regularly…thus a consumer dropping it back to the retailer or at a post office wouldn’t be seen as being unreasonable. This is possibly the reason for the ACL provisions as outlined by the ACCC for small items. Larger items, a consumer would not necessarily have the strength/ability/means to safely do the same.

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I understand that there are some consumers who can’t get to a post office or to a retailer, that is why I indicated ‘most’. If you are unable to do such, there are options such as asking a friend, family member, neighbour or a carer (such as that through home assistance services).

Also, if you live in a metropolitan area and can’t get to a post office, see Australia Post can do a parcel pickup for you. Information on the pick up service is

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Yeah i appreciate most people can but these retailers dont really allow for anyone who cant. We are the hidden disabled and abelism like this is everywhere in society. Especially if you live in the country as i do - carers come three times week for an hour or two. As you say for most people its inconvenient. Then there are people who get stuck with dud goods because what are we gonna do? Not everyone has someone, thats just life. A reply paid return address for things that are broken would at least mean i could give them to my carer to put in a postbox. I do find a fair proportion of retailers will do this actually. But not all.

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I can imagine that being difficult. It’s inconvenient for me to get to a Post Office too during their business hours for other reasons as well. And pandemic has me avoiding public places where possible :slight_smile:

You can try using a service like https://www.sendle.com/ they can arrange free pickup of the items you want to send too.

Can Sendle pick up from me?

Yes! To arrange a pickup, all you need to do is book online and print and attach the label. Sendle picks up from over 90% of Australian addresses – check out the Locations & Coverage guide for the full list.

Brisbane to Sydney Sendle rates

They also seem to have small pouch rates too 250g Postage Tracked Pouch | Sendle Australia. Edit oh only for Pro users not standard!

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This is one of the problems we have to put up with buying on-line. There’s convenience, but also a downside. A printer ink company sent me the wrong color. They provided a label for postage and asked me to return it for an exchange. I complained to them about all the effort involved to return it and asked for a discount for my next purchase. They informed me of a current discount voucher available on-line. Better to buy in-store if you can.

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… and often greater product range
… and often lower prices

buying online but when something does go wrong there’s greater inconvenience and that’s also when you find out whether the online supplier has decent customer service (or whether they even have customer service).

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