How do returns affect sales figures?

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bsp77

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I have a question for the sales gurus here. What happens if U2 sells about 1.7 million by Christmas but 200,000 are returned the following week, either because they got the gift twice or are just not interested? Does that actually drop sales down to 1.5 million or does it just become the problem of the company (Best Buy, Target, etc.)?

Thanks!
 
I don't think 200,000 copies will do much, if the stores even allow for exchange. Some will only allow a CD to be exchanged for the same one - not for something else.

What I'm more curious about is when there is a massive shipment, but the customer sales never materialize. For example, a few years back, the Backstreet Boys had one of their albums certified at 8x Platinum upon initial shipment! Walmart had a special deal with them and given how successful the Backstreet Boys' last albums were, this massive shipment order seemed to not be a problem However, from memory, the album, while selling well, didn't approach anywhere near 8 million copies in the U.S. I think actual consumer sales were around the 4-5 million mark. This is a very respectable number, but what happened to the extra 3-4M copies of the album? Did the RIAA change the certification? As I wrote, I don't think 200,000 copies for an album selling as well as U2's album is of any real concern. But 3-4M copies is.
 
I believe they shipped 2.5 million of the U2 album in the US, it will definitely reach that, probably by the end of January or in February.
 
doctorwho said:
What I'm more curious about is when there is a massive shipment, but the customer sales never materialize. For example, a few years back, the Backstreet Boys had one of their albums certified at 8x Platinum upon initial shipment! Walmart had a special deal with them and given how successful the Backstreet Boys' last albums were, this massive shipment order seemed to not be a problem However, from memory, the album, while selling well, didn't approach anywhere near 8 million copies in the U.S. I think actual consumer sales were around the 4-5 million mark. This is a very respectable number, but what happened to the extra 3-4M copies of the album? Did the RIAA change the certification?

From what I understand, the RIAA does take into consideration returns to the label (so not to the shop, but returns from the shop to the label). Of course, the label should also accept those returns then. I just checked the RIAA site and Black & Blue (the album in question) is still certified as 8x platinum. I guess a whole lot of those albums are somewhere in the used bin... :)

C ya!

Marty
 
My understanding is that once the label sells an album to retailers, its up to the retailer to sell that album and make a profit. There is not a single album in RIAA history that has had its awards taken away, and the reason is that an album shipped is an album sold. I think only within maybe the first two to four weeks of release could there possibly be a chance of there being a "return" as RIAA requires there be 1 month or 30 days before an album can be certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum.
 
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