Apple cuts online refund times in half

By

Apple Store
Apple's shelling out billions to go green.
Photo: Apple

Apple is making it quicker than ever to return unwanted iPhones and other gadgets purchased online with a new policy that gives customers refunds twice as fast.

In an effort to boost direct sales from its website, Apple has decided to take a big upfront cost on returns, according to Reuters, but the small move could give it the boost it needs to compete with Amazon and Best Buy online.

When you buy a product from the Online Apple Store it now takes less than a week to get your refund instead of the previous 10-day waiting period. The faster refunds are thanks in part to Apple switching to FedEx 2Day, which lets customers use prepaid labels to ship items back to the Apple warehouses in under three days.

Apple retail stores have been the star of Apple’s colossal money-making machine, but the company is turning its focus to e-commerce as it inched up on Amazon in 2013 to become the No. 2 online retailer with a 24 percent increase in online sales of $18.3 billion.

The switch to FedEx 2Day started in November 2013. Despite the higher upfront costs customers won’t notice a difference in pricing customer’s won’t notice a difference in pricing as Apple looks to add speed to overtake Amazon as the world’s top online retailer.

Source: Reuters

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.