Samsung’s Galaxy Tab appeared to be setting the market alight with its rapid shipping, but reports are suggesting nearly 16% of sales of the device are ending in returns.

This news comes hot on the heels of another damaging revelation from Samsung: sales of the Galaxy Tab have not been as high as first reported.

Lee Young-Hee, vice president of Samsung’s mobile communications wing described the actual amount of units sold to consumers as “quite small”.

“Our sell-in was quite aggressive and this fourth-quarter unit [figure] was around two million.” She said, “Then, in terms of sell-out, we believe it was quite small. We believe, as the introduction of a new device requires customers to invest in the device, even though the sell-out wasn’t as fast as we expected, we still believe sell-out was quite okay.”

So, the Galaxy Tab is experiencing slow sales, which aren’t worrying the company too much; but what about the soaring return rate?

Experts have warned that such high return rates are not necessarily a reflection of a poor product; often these returns are the result of “buyer remorse”. This means, the consumer gets home, likes the device but realises they don’t really need a tablet, and return for a full refund.

This is a recognised consumer pattern, particularly with expensive, cutting edge technology.

However, John Packowski of All Things Digital, has highlighted that the iPad’s return rate at American carrier, Verizon is a mere 2%; eight-times lower than that of the Galaxy.

As the Galaxy Tab becomes more established in the market, Samsung will be hoping that these figures start to make better reading for their shareholders.

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