My two cents is there are gray areas when it comes to returns. For me, if I’m buying from a local, it was packed well and there’s a tiny seam split, I keep it. Or if the inner sleeve has a seam split—doesn’t bother me much. If there’s a small warp that DNAP, I don’t mind (unless we’re talking a one step or something that was real expensive). I’ve seen more and more places that are willing to unseal records for you and ship behind the sleeve. Even MoFi does this now if you put it in the notes.
If you ship me a record in a pizza box with no padding and it arrives damaged, I want a refund.
I do agree with some of what
@RHANDMJ is saying but not all. There definitely are cases of people buying a record, not liking the music and returning it. I know someone who bought one of the AS titles, listened to it and didn’t like the hard-panning and returned it. Or returning a record because the paper inner has a small seam split. As with most things, there are people who abuse the returns system. It’s why VMP changed their return policies. It used to be no questions asked and they’d ship you a new record if there was an issue at all including corner sleeve dings. Then people started subsidizing their subscription costs by claiming there was an issue and selling their new 2nd copy for their subscription cost. And the cheap record players do contribute to some issues other people don’t have. I think it was Demon Days that made some peoples’ cheap record players skip because of the bass but lots of people thought it was a pressing issue.
Amazon has the purchasing power that when something gets returned to them, the label/distributor pays for the damaged goods. It is part of why wholesale distributors raised their prices. Local shops end up eating some of that cost too and lose some of their markup to try to keep competitive with Amazon even though their wholesale price has gone up. I think Plaidroom said they just have to eat the entire cost of returns with seam splits because it’s not worth the headache of trying to return them.
If you want to vote with your wallet, just stop buying records from Amazon—especially if you find yourself getting damaged records constantly. Don’t let the lax return policy be the reason why you buy from them. Buy from shops that package well (AS, MD, Plaidroom, Comeback vinyl, etc).
Don’t know if QC will change anytime soon. You’ve probably seen how people dismiss issues on the VMP subreddit. But hopefully people keep supporting the pressing plants and stores that put out good products and get records to you safely.