I ordered a fairly expensive lawnmower from Amazon, and it arrived slightly damaged (really horrible packaging with no real protection--I think it wasn't Amazon's packaging). I called Amazon, and they sent another overnight(!) and told me to just keep the first. (I fixed it up at low cost and use it at our farm.)
They clearly have factored in goodwill as an offsetting benefit to any costs of selling entirely remotely.
(BTW, the best customer service I have ever experienced was from Anthro, the computer furniture company. I had used one of their desks (MDF construction) for 5 years and it was sagging in the middle. I called to complain and they apologized, explaining they had re-engineered that design with an additional support leg in the middle. They then, at no cost and no promting from me, overnighted me a replacement new-style desk ($900 desk, $300 shipping), five years into the life of the original desk. Astounding.)
They clearly have factored in goodwill as an offsetting benefit to any costs of selling entirely remotely.
(BTW, the best customer service I have ever experienced was from Anthro, the computer furniture company. I had used one of their desks (MDF construction) for 5 years and it was sagging in the middle. I called to complain and they apologized, explaining they had re-engineered that design with an additional support leg in the middle. They then, at no cost and no promting from me, overnighted me a replacement new-style desk ($900 desk, $300 shipping), five years into the life of the original desk. Astounding.)