Given REI's liberal merchandise return policy, these frills make economic sense.

FORBES: Backpackers meet the bottom line

During my store visits, I have seen customers in both Izod and Levi shops examine merchandise and return it to the shelf.

FORBES: JCPenney Sales Will Be Lower For Rest Of The Year -- And Then What?

Customers have a chance to return merchandise (free of charge within 21 days) and they will take advantage of this privilege by ordering more than they will keep.

FORBES: Amazon.com new high fashion push is aggressive and will encroach on Department Stores' turf

JCPenney is having one of its best days in quite a while as the stock price pops on new merchandise, the return of sales and a rumor of an REIT-like transformation.

FORBES: JCPenney Goes Pop

Gap this month told investors it expects pressure from higher cotton costs to ease, helping it return to expanding merchandise margins, especially in the back half of 2012.

FORBES: Cotton's Pinch on Clothing Stores Continues

Amazon claims they will not ask for the traditional mark-down allowances from manufacturers nor return privilege for the merchandise from the suppliers.

FORBES: Amazon.com new high fashion push is aggressive and will encroach on Department Stores' turf

Less sophisticated but almost as costly to retailers is return fraud, the practice of stealing merchandise and returning it to the store for a full refund.

FORBES: Holiday Thieving Season

Returns without a receipt are subject to the posted return policy, which might result in your receiving only a merchandise credit for the lowest price the item has sold for recently, or possibly no refund or exchange at all.

FORBES: Returning A Gift? What You Need To Know About This Year's Return Policies

The institution never contemplated or established a trust fund for players who lost their scholarship, so they could then upon certain conditions being met, receive a return on the considerable royalties amassed by the school from the merchandise sales from the numbers worn by those teenagers.

FORBES: How Parental Responsibility Will Radically Change College Football - Is the Alex Collins National Letter of Intent the Start?