I don't get why things like this need returning when they could just ask for photographs.

There is a problem with AI-generated photos of "damage." So I suppose some vendors require returns, perhaps randomly.

I wonder if this is kind of like the Ford Pinto phenomenon: it's cheaper to throw a shade in the box by itself and deal with the damage, and refunds/replacements than it is for them to pay someone to pack it properly in addition to whatever fairly minimal amount a shade like this must cost them to produce.

Pal, I bet you're right. I imagine a lot of people just shrug it off and don't want to deal with the hassle so they just live with the damaged items.

I had a huge hassle a few years ago. Ordered 2 alabaster lamps from PB. Waited forever for them, but really realy wanted them. One arrived with the harp bent. And both missing the lamp shades that were listed when I ordered them. Had to argue with PB (thanks to someone here who helped me find an email address to escalate it to) and go back and forth. I really just wanted the lamps, undamaged, with the shades as described. In the end they wouldn't replace the lamps and argued over and over about the shades. I manually bent the damaged lamp back as best I could and have lived with it. I did convince them to send me the shades.

Lamp shades and fixtures are tricky to ship

I had a very large (tall) custom shade arrive damaged even though the box was not damaged. The box was sturdy but it was too short compared to the shade by maybe an inch and the center of the top must have compressed the spider just enough to put a slight circumferential crease in the shade. It wasn't even a crease on one side you could turn toward the wall.

I sent it back and at least they were probably able to salvage all the parts and a decent piece of the shade material.

Also when Rejuvenation made-to-order their fixtures which could then be modified. I had a tall library lamp come damaged twice or three times. Actually I kept whichever the last one was and bent the post back into the vertical position and it was not noticeable really. Back then they were a completely different kind of company. They printed catalogs on recycled paper with soy based ink and had limited photos with a lot of line drawings. And they would not use any expanded foam, styrofoam or bubble wrap like come lighting companies to to encase the fixture. It was all wrapped in recycled paper and that just wasn't enough. Of course they were sold to a large corporation.

prickly, or for $20 spent they just throw it away because it's not worth their time and energy to send it back or even spend time emailing or on the phone.

When my niece was in college she had a roommate who ordered clothes constantly, and occasionally got things that did not fit. She never sent them back, she just periodically donated them to charity. She had enough money it was not worth her while (to her or to her parents) to do returns. Now that everything is so ephemeral and disposable, attitudes have changed a lot.

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The client for whom I am buying these shades is dealing with an related issue. The furniture she brought with her from her last house before this one-- (She has serial downsized and the next place is as about as small as she can go unless it's a smaller studio). --was mostly older furniture and family pieces. She needed a new dining room table for this house, and she had bought new bedroom furniture right before moving, and random things like a bar cart and a cabinet for below the TV and so forth, and nobody will even take any of it as used furniture, because it's all stuff from Target, or IKEA or some low end furniture brand and it has essentially 0 intrinsic value as soon as it leaves the store. It's landfill fodder. So she will have to either get rid of this on FB buy nothing or sell it for a couple bucks on Marketplace, or actually Pay to have Goodwill or Restore pick it up.

I have had a certain amount of friction with clients and in GW when I have talked about buying real furniture when you can get something that looks the same (but isn't) for a fraction of the price. Well here's what happens when you don't. Two different places came and looked and one place was only interested in the old pieces she is keeping, another took an antique wine press and some silver spoons and nothing else, and they were only interested in pieces she was keeping. Even people who have come for some of the buy nothing sidewalk things she has done were only interested in things they spotted that she was keeping. She can't even Give Away a dining table from Target that is in perfectly good condition, and may have to Pay someone to take it away. She could actually use any money to help defray the costs of moving, and instead it's going to Add to the cost of moving.

That is understandable, Mtn. Evidently there is detection software used to differentiate. While I do not know the specifics, it might be cost prohibited by smaller companies, or they are unaware.

The roof on my sister's FL house is almost 15yo. Just before her HO insurance renewel she received a letter stating if her roof was not replaced before the 2027 renewal, the policy would be canceled. We had already scheduled to have the roof replaced, so no big deal. At the bottom of the letter was this statement:

"Notice regarding AI generated or altered photos - To satisfy underwriting requirements, photos submitted to (company) as repair documentation must be authentic and unedited. Photos will . be process through AI detection software and an internal management review. Any photos that have been edited, altered, or generated using AI will not be accepted and may result in actions being taken, including but not limited to the termination of your policy."

Pal, previously, an Etsy order of a vintage Canterbury arrived damaged. The seller had me destroy and send photos instead of returning. Broke my heart to take a hammer to the piece! To take out my frustration, I might have gone a bit overboard.

I have ordered so much from Wayfair in the past few years. I have never had this happen. If anything, things were over packaged.

I also think it’s odd that you are allowed to keep an item and get refunded for it.

Wayfair is not for bargain hunting. Yes they have sales, but for some things you can find elsewhere for less, for other things, the items can be unique and not found elsewhere.

I have rarely had issues with shipped items arriving damaged, but when I have, they’ve been lamps and/or shades. So then I think, well, I’m not ordering them any more. The problem is where to find them locally. Not many options.