Many would agree that online shopping makes life easier, but returns can get complicated — especially when the item weighs over 500 pounds.

When two new parents were gifted a new crib from Amazon, it led to a whirlwind of returns, mishaps, and an incredible refund that almost seemed too good to be true.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

When shipping costs more than the item itself

In 2019, my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world, and as a baby shower gift, my father, who lives on the other side of the country, wanted to buy us a crib.

Obviously, the easiest way to do this was to order from Amazon, so that is what he did.

The total came out to something like $650 plus free shipping.

The crib had been a generous gift from the baby’s grandfather.

Now, my wife and I were the ones to select which crib we wanted, and my father had no issue with the price.

My dad ordered it from his account, shipped to my address.

Naturally, the box was quite heavy.

The crib shows up, they drop it at the base of our driveway, and we have about 15 steps up to our front door.

That box is HEAVY (probably handy around 500 lbs) and it’s just me and my pregnant wife… so… me, but we get it in.

We spend a day building it and go on with our lives.

But then a better deal came up on the crib.

But as ads do what ads do, my phone was bombarded with ads for cribs — including the one my father just bought us less than two weeks ago.

Surprise, surprise — it’s gone on sale for $430.

So I contact Amazon, let them know what’s going on, and ask if they have a 30-day price guarantee.

Amazon would let them return the item, but it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

I figured there was no reason to tell my dad he could have saved $220 if he wasn’t able to get the money back.

Now, because it was over $200, they couldn’t just do a refund, but they said we could return the crib and order a new one.

Unfortunately, we had already built the crib and couldn’t return it.

The couple would have to take some extra steps, but they were promised their money back.

So they told us: order a new one, and when that crib comes in, return the old one to get the refund.

I made sure to ask about return shipping, and they said that would be covered since the item had “free shipping.”

I saved the transcript of our conversation.

So that’s what we started to do.

But the next delivery didn’t go as planned.

I contacted my dad, he put a new order in, and we waited for the box to arrive.

Similar situation — heavy box left at the edge of my driveway — but this time, the weather was pretty crappy, and the box got ruined.

I took photos of it sitting at the curb and then moved it inside.

So then came more customer service chats.

I let my dad know, and he contacted Amazon, then got an email providing the return address and instructions on how to return.

The instructions included a blank “Affix postage here” spot on the label.

Back to talking to Amazon support, and they’re “very sorry” and look into it.

This was going to cost Amazon a pretty penny.

Apparently, shipping on this crib is like $350.

I’m sitting there with two cribs and proof that Amazon said they’d cover the return shipping (so like $1,050 in shipping)… all for what amounts to a $430 crib.

But the couple made out like a bandit!

So they told us to keep it and refunded the original purchase of $650.

My sister lived a few hours from me, and she and her husband were looking at starting to try for kids.

So she got herself a crib as a baby shower gift from my dad too.

In the end, they received both a new crib and a story to tell!

What did Reddit think?

It turns out, the whole return policy begins to break down over a certain weight limit.

A price adjustment would have been a much simpler move.

Return policies can be a head scratcher sometimes.

This commenter also ended up benefitting from a return mishap.

When it comes to online shopping, sometimes the real deal is hidden behind a few return labels!

Thanks to some quick thinking, what started as a simple order turned into an unintended bonus.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.