I called OPGI and talked to a salesman and ordered a cover for my the torque converter on my El Camino. The plastic original one after 370K miles has some broken tabs and require massive washers to hold it in place. The new one is really nice metal, but it does not fit at all. The slot for the starter is just wrong. I called them ready to ship it back, and they just refunded my money and said keep it.

It was a nice part, but useless to me. A buddy of mine owns a body shop and does major restorations on all sorts of cars. I just gave it to him. He said he would indeed be able to use it someday. It was better than sending to to a landfill.

I would love to find the right cover for my car, but the old plastic OEM cover still works fine with the large washers.

Wife ordered a product from Chewy to clean the dog paws when brought into the house after a rain and they get muddy. It's basically a plastic cup with a silicon insert with flexible fingers - you add some water and it scrubs the paw.
She guessed the wrong size- too large. She emailed customer support and they said they'd send the next smaller size for free. She asked about returning the wrong size - they told her give it to a neighbor with a large dog!

Continuing with the cost analysis theory, the big online sellers don't examine most returns and restock. They shove the unopened returned item boxes on a pallet and it goes to an auction. 30% of all online purchases are returned and 50% of clothing is returned.

Used to happen once in a while, but now that Amazon utilizes bulk-reshipping from Whole Foods, I've been required to turn in everything for a refund, even little stuff.

Wife just bought a dog car seat that did not work in our car, it was supposed to fit 2 of them, but it just does not sit right in the i3. It cost $130.

She started up the return process, the company reached out, refunded the money and told us to please donate the bed to a nearby dog shelter.

When we select the next bed we will be sure to give them our business again. I will have to ask her what company it was.

I just happened to step foot......ok......dragged in by the lady friend....to a place called "The Crab Grab and Go" in Theodore Alabama just yesterday. So imagine, a big wide open store with 5 or 6 tables that are about 5' wide x 75' long. Edges are made of 2x6 to keep stuff on the tables. There is no rhyme or reason to what is on the tables, other than a LOT of it looks like Amazon return stuff in bags with stickers. Under a can of cat food there might be a timing belt kit. I saw a complete master cylinder and reservoir laying amongst cell phone cases. Dog chews. You name it, it's all stacked up on these tables and there are people sorting through it looking for the "bargain". Find a large box with nothing marked on it, you take it to the front to another table and the staff will open the box for you. But I think at that point, you've committed to buying it, whatever it is.

So I asked the young lady in charge how all of this worked. It's all Amazon and big box store returns stuff that they have to bid on to buy....by the 18 wheeler trailer load. The current stuff out today came from California. Stuff gets put out when they are closed on Thursday. Store opens on Friday and everything is $10 dollars each. Saturday the stuff sells for $7 each, closed Sunday of course, then $4 Monday, $3 Tuesday and finally $1 Wednesday. Like she said, there's a whole lot of stuff out there on the tables that isn't worth $10 on a Friday. But if you want first pick of the stuff that's when you shop. They hope it all gets sold by Wednesday evening so they can restock for the next Friday cycle on Thursday. She goes on to tell me a lot of the customers have ebay shops where they will resell the stuff. Some are real pros and have apps to decipher the stickers to figure out what stuff is.

And of course I had to ask her "has there ever been a really large find in all of it?" and she tells me one fellow found a gold ring in a postal envelope that he pawned for $2,000.

Quite the interesting place if you wanted to waste a day, and a market that I had never thought of.

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