IN a sign of bad times, high-end stores on Madison Avenue are seeing lots of luxury goods being returned – high heels, handbags, fur coats – anything with a price tag still attached. And sources say men are bringing in the returns instead of their wives. “It’s as if the women are too embarrassed, or too upset, to come in themselves. It’s too painful for them to part with their recent purchases,” said one retailer. “So they make their husbands perform the painful chore.” And it’s fitting for the man to collect the cash, since he paid for the unnecessary items in the first place.