I just bought Christmas presents and I ordered only the books from Amazon. JetPens packages stationery for less damage, Uncommon Goods has a curated selection, and a wallet from Nordstrom has a better return policy.
Agreed with all the examples you list. The flip side though is I have been dealing with a clothing company (Zanerobe) who's return policy is store credit only. The main problem with that is their product line is really small, so basically my options are keep the pair of pants that I don't like OR just let them hold my money as store credit forever. Should I have read their return policy before buying, yes, probably, but I've gotten so used to places like Nordstrom AND Amazon giving refunds for returned products for any reason that it didn't even occur to me.