restocking fees

I don't like to work for free either, and manufacturers shouldn't be expected to work for nothing. But would they have more sales if they didn't charge the fee? If they really believe in their product, and think it's better than the competition, would it make more sense to encourage in home trials with no fees? Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. It's great to claim the morral high ground and say you shouldn't be expected to work for free, but it's even better to make some sales. In any case, I absolutely respect whatever decision manufacturers make about restocking fees, but my decision is not to deal with those manufacturers who charge them. There are too many other good choices.

Some states allow consumers a set time for complete refunds. Never mind that I rarely can find a dealer that truly knows all the intricasies of todays complicated products. One often has to take the item home, go through all the manuals and then hope that the manuals are correct and then hope that the item works as described. Furthermore these products have to compatible with the consumers existing gear. That most of the on line retailers (dealers aren't usually that much better) are clueless about the products their peddling never mind the ones they don't. Many online retailers don't even have an audition set up, set up.
If one were to buy a garment on line that didn't fit, would you expect to pay a restocking fee?
Would you expect to pay a fee to test drive a new automobile?
We are talking about a performance instruments. How are we to know how something performs without trying it? The specs? Internet sales could be viewed as bids.

I simply don't believe any state allows a consumer a set time for a refund. Please provide a list.

We consumers tend to forget that both manufacturers and retailers know their business better than we do. If restocking fees are a bad idea, they'll learn it soon enough. But the fact that the practice seems to be growing suggests that they are learning the opposite lesson--that the tire-kickers cost too much and bring in too little to be worth bothering with.

If you don't like these fees, and you want to try out lots of equipment, I suggest you buy used, so you can sell what you don't like at little loss. (But I bet you find that trading like that still costs something--maybe 10 or 20 percent?)