It all depends on the what's been negotiated with a vendor, and I'm sure it depends on the products being returned too. Some negotiate a returns allowance where they automatically knock off say 5% from their price from the vendor, so the retailer ends up eating any returns costs, rather than have to deal with all the logistics and shipping costs to send back a defective item. Others make the supplier eat the cost. Either way, someone is losing.
Returns are really meant to be for defective items, something that didn't perform as expected, or for people who regretted buying it, but haven't used it yet. People just take advantage of generous returns policies because they can, and businesses just chalk it up to a sunk "marketing" cost to keep people returning knowing they have great returns policies that can be abused (see Costco).
I mean, ethically what the OP is doing is wrong, it just is. But it doesn't stop people from doing it. Heck, I know of people who buy fancy clothes, don't rip of the tag, and return it after they wear it a couple times. They can do it, doesn't mean it's not a questionable thing to do.
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