Let’s say there’s a way to cheat the system, and manage to get 40 cents and your money back - have you thought about the cost of going to the store and coming back after a while to return the TV? Even if you could do it 10 times a day, you would earn only $4, and you would certainly spend a lot more on fuel and some other expenses.
There's a chance he may have been thinking on buying from store near to him (no need for car) or online and things different than TVs.
That's why I thought I better take more time in explaining that it cannot work.
However, your conclusion is very nicely said and I couldn't agree more:
The sooner you realize that there is no free money, the better for you - the system is set up in such a way that it can protect itself from such rather naive attempts at fraud.
There are so many that naively think that they can cheat here and there a little for some pennies and they actually lose money or even get scammed big time...