I've leaned somewhat toward Outlaw's position here. Compared to the "big" stuff, they've got to be operating on a narrower profit margin on the interconnects.

1. I can see where they are coming from with the statement that there's not a practical market for used cables. I think such markets could potentially be developed however, but there may be some concern or uncertainty about dedicating the time and effort to explore it for a single product. They could probably go through a channel like Audiogon and sell them for a reduced price, or they could try to sell them on their site. If that was the only hurdle, I'd agree that it's a weak argument.

2) Restocking fees, higher prices, and/or return shipping charges... The time it takes to process a returned $20 optical cable is not much different than the time it takes to process a returned $1100 amp (add some time for figuring out how to move the 70+ pound box). Time costs money, and it wouldn't take much time to eat up the entire list cost of a PDO cable just handling a return. Factor in the fact that if they're lucky they're going to get to re-sell that PDO at a reduced price ($15 or less?) and at this point they're giving the cables away as far as their bottom line is concerned. A short stack at $80 would be perhaps a little easier to absorb, but still would start to be risky. A restocking fee and leaving shipping to the buyer would be a reasonable solution (if they could find a reliable way to re-sell the returns), and I think $20 for the short stack you mentioned (which is $6.67 per pair, not $10 -- 3 pairs) is not too high when you consider restocking fees in some other industries are often 25% to 30% or even more (or so the contractors tell us when they get stuck with the wrong product and want to use it anyway).

I don't think you're far from wrong, in fact your probably pretty much right. It's a case, however, where the risk to the manufacturer is enough that it is reasonable to argue for either choice -- no returns or returns with a restocking fee. I'd hate to see Outlaw get burned by a bunch of returns on interconnects and not be able to keep the 950 at the $899 price or have to delay some other product development because of financial problems.

As an alternative to the absence of a return policy, a wary buyer could perhaps buy a set and if necessary sell the cables for close to list price on somewhere like Audiogon or eBay and recover most of their investment. It's more of a hassle than simply boxing it up and shipping it back, but it's an option.