Retailers often say you need a receipt to return things you bought, but those are just words, man. You can often return items with no proof of purchase. Whether you’ve received a gift you don’t like or you’re prone to losing receipts, returning items without a receipt can sometimes be a minefield. But here are some tips and techniques to make it more likely you’ll get your money back.
Sadly, there’s no one method for getting your money back every time—your experience is going to vary from store to store, and even from customer service rep to customer service rep. The best thing you can do is prepare yourself before you go, and build up a good case if they ask you for a receipt. Here’s what you’ll want to consider ahead of time.
Check the store’s return policy
Before doing anything else, check up on that store’s return policy, so you know what you’re going to face. Many stores don’t actually care about having a receipt—Wal-Mart, for example, will let you get cash back for anything under $25, and store credit for anything above that—no receipt necessary. Target, on the other hand, can look up any purchase using your credit card or gift card. If you shop at stores like Costco, that require a membership, they can easily track your account’s purchases. Amazon even has a policy for gift returns, which is great when you don’t have the receipt yourself. Basically, don’t waste time building up a case if you don’t need it—check your store’s policy, see if you can wrangle up whatever you need to get your money back, and head on in.
Make your return as soon after purchase as possible
With a few exceptions, you’re going to get the best results the sooner to the purchase date you try and return the item. This is especially important if the store has a policy about returning items within 90 days, or some other specified period of time. If you’re after this date, however, you can try returning it without a receipt and say it was a gift—if they can’t track the purchase date, then there’s no way for them to know how quickly it was returned. Having it in the original packaging helps as well.
When making a return, be nice and stay calm
This is super important. No matter how frustrated you are with the company, it’s rarely the customer service rep’s fault that you had to wait in line, or that your product was defective, or that you don’t have a receipt. In most cases, they want to be there as little as you do, and you’re going to make them want to help you a lot less if you’re rude—and since, in many cases, you’re the one trying to go against store policy, you want them to be on your side as much as possible. Being honest is also great, but be careful it doesn’t hurt your chances of returning the item—if you knew the item was non-refundable and say so, you’re probably going to have a harder time convincing them. But letting them know you lost the receipt can be okay, if you back it up with other evidence (see below).
Bring in other evidence of your purchase
The old “it was a gift” line only works so often. You can try it, but if it doesn’t work, try again with some other evidence of your purchase (at another store or with a different representative). That means at the very least bring the credit card you used to purchase the item, or (even better) a bank statement that shows the purchase on a specific date. It won’t always work, but it’s good to come into the store as prepared as possible (and this method obviously doesn’t work with something that actually was a gift). The more information you can give them that might help them look up the purchase in their records, the better. Photo by Dave Dugdale.
Show you’re a regular customer
If it’s a smaller store that you shop regularly, you have a much better chance of returning the item. Build a relationship with the people that work there. It can help to exchange your returned item for something at the same store, or at least be buying something else while you’re returning that item. Even if they’re completely unrelated—say, you’re returning a computer keyboard but buying a few DVDs—it’ll show that you’re a regular customer at the store and you’re not trying to pull a fast one.
Don’t take “no” for an answer, especially if you’re returning a defective item
All this assumes you’re just returning an item because you don’t want it anymore. If the item is defective, there are actually laws in place to protect you from faulty goods. These laws vary from state to state and country to country, so you’ll have to look up the laws for your specific area.
The bottom line, for the most part, is that if an item is defective, you have a much better chance of getting a refund, so be very firm when returning a defective item—even if it’s been awhile. The longer you wait, the more of a long shot it is, but you have nothing to lose if the item becomes defective after a year or two and it’s something that’s supposed to last you a long time.
Be willing to settle for store credit
Pick your battles. If you can get the store to offer you store credit, you’ve probably won that battle. You won’t be able to make every store give you cash back, or refund your credit card, but a willingness to compromise can get you pretty far. Whether it’s store credit, exchanging the item right then and there, or (if it’s defective) getting a repair or replacement, you’ll be getting more of your money’s worth with a compromise than you would just keeping the unwanted item.
Wait until after the holiday shopping season
I stress this at the end because, in general, you want to try returning an item as soon as possible for the best result (especially if it’s defective). However, if you don’t have any luck, see if you can wait until after a holiday season. If it’s a more timeless item (that is, something that was not obviously sold earlier in the year), the end of December is a great time to return items, even if they weren’t Christmas gifts. You may have to stand in line a bit longer, but since so many people are returning gifts at that time, stores tend to be a lot more lenient with their return policies. Only use this as a last-ditch effort, though; you’ll want to at least try the above tricks as soon as possible before you wait 6 months for the holidays to roll around.
In the future, save your receipts
Of course, your mileage may vary with all of these tips—every store’s policy is different, and you could even get different results depending on the customer service rep you speak to. In the end, the best thing you can do is save your receipts for things when you buy them, at least until you know they work the way you want them to. When it comes to gifts, life’s a bit harder, but rarely will you have to suffer through keeping the item—especially once the holidays roll around.
The article was originally published in 2015.
