Optimal Refund Mechanism With Consumer Learning

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lyu, Qianjun
• 署名单位: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
• 刊物名称: RAND JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0741-6261
• DOI: 10.1111/1756-2171.70046
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: Experimentation

摘要

This article studies the optimal refund mechanism when an uninformed buyer learns about their valuation over time. We consider various refund mechanisms including simple return policies (no returns or free returns), and stochastic return policies, which allow the buyer to keep the product with some probability upon receiving a refund. We show that the optimal refund mechanism is deterministic and takes a simple form: either the seller deters buyer learning by offering a low price without returns, or encourages maximal learning by setting a high price with free returns. Interestingly, free returns are optimal only for intermediate prior beliefs.