Argos "Marketplace"

dave0564

I have recently found that some items in the Argos catalogue are little more than advertising for the underlying supplier company. 

As such, these products do NOT benefit from the same convenience which enables returns to an Argos shop for their stocked items - that is, specifically, you can't return these goods to store for any reason: you need to work through a "returns" process (which carries with it the cost of return postage), and which involves contacting Argos Customer Service, them taking the details, passing these on to the supplier, and then the supplier contacting the customer "within 7 days", and then a refund (no doubt after deducting postage cost) made once the goods are received by the supplier some 5 days after that.

Needless to say, I will not be buying anything from Argos in future, unless I can get it delivered to store, so that I can collect it.  That means that the item is an Argos "stock" item, and so returns, if required, can be made in store, and refund processed immediately.

Largs

Yes lots of shops seem to have jumped onto this marketplace rubbish.  Superdrug, B&Q are some I have noticed recently.  The problem is, if you type "spring bulbs" for expample into B&Q I thought it would show me what they sold but it brings up hundreds of items from many suppliers.  If I want to see that I would go to eBay.  I don't like it and thanks for sharing about Argos as I can look out for it now.  My friend works in B&Q and he gets constant grief because people come in asking for an item and he says they don't sell it and then they kick off saying it's on the website.  He asks them to show him and then shows where it says "not available in stores" If I go onto Argos I want to deal with Argos, not some third party seller.  Save that for eBay.

Abbafan1972

Tesco have jumped on the bandwagon as well. 

Lorian

I found it particularly annoying at B&Q, I tend to never shop there now.

dave0564

Oh dear.. I hadn't realised the issue was so widespread.  I will be more circumspect about buying online - Amazon and eBay seem to be quite good at this approach (and we also expect it).  These new guys are playing at it with their shoddy customer service. 

Vectis

Lorian said:

I found it particularly annoying at B&Q, I tend to never shop there now.

If you mean shopping online at B&Q, it does say quite clearly for each item who the seller is, e.g.

Sold & shipped by 'XYZ Ltd'

Available online only and not stocked in B&Q stores

Just ignore the ones that aren't stocked by B&Q or filter them out.

dave0564

As it worked out, sending the item back and getting refund wasn't as bad as I feared.  Refund made in full; no charge for postage; all only took a couple of days.  The hardest bit was repacking the item for return.

Still not persuaded that I like this development though.

jon81uk

Do you have an example of the item from Argos? I can't see anything being sold by a third party on their site.

Mnoee

jon81uk said:

Do you have an example of the item from Argos? I can't see anything being sold by a third party on their site.

I think they're items that you can't pickup from a store, only delivery, which is free. Like this: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1170915

They've got their act together now, but for a solid six months they didn't say that none of these (I think!) would deliver items to Northern Ireland, they would happily take my money, and then refund me weeks later. Quite frustrating buying something during a sale and now equivalents I could pick up locally were no longer on sale! 

The wording they used while I was sorting all that out was 'coming directly from a supplier'. 

jon81uk

Mnoee said:

jon81uk said:

Do you have an example of the item from Argos? I can't see anything being sold by a third party on their site.

I think they're items that you can't pickup from a store, only delivery, which is free. Like this: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1170915

They've got their act together now, but for a solid six months they didn't say that none of these (I think!) would deliver items to Northern Ireland, they would happily take my money, and then refund me weeks later. Quite frustrating buying something during a sale and now equivalents I could pick up locally were no longer on sale! 

The wording they used while I was sorting all that out was 'coming directly from a supplier'. 

"Coming directly from a supplier" doesn't mean its marketplace items like eBay or Amazon though, which is what the OP raised. That just means Argos are drop shipping direct from the manufacturer instead of holding stock in their warehouse, the contract is still with Argos (unlike marketplace on eBay, Amazon, B&Q).
Also Argos clearly state that for larger items that are home delivery only they cannot be returned to store, so that information isn't hidden.

Many other retailers also drop ship, I've seen Asos and JD Sports clearly stating items will come direct from Adidas for example.

Mnoee

I don't think it's obvious this 50x80cm doormat is a 'large item' that will be dropshipped, aside from figuring out it's all free delivery items. A whole 600g, almost as heavy as a bag of flour! 

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4725312

I agree it's not the same as B&Q etc, but I had no idea argos were now dropshipping until I tried and failed to buy a small rug last year. Slightly larger than that doormat, but rugs of the same size were very much sold in store, and easily popped in a boot. 

I don't think what's dropshipped and what's not is made clear, but hey-ho. Just trying to help!