Most big stores take back holiday purchases until mid- to late January, so sort out the gifts you won’t use in the first weeks of the year. Return or exchange each one with its gift receipt while its store’s window is open, and regift, sell, or donate what can’t go back.
This season’s return deadlines are already set, and the earliest fall on electronics.
The gift receipt decides what you get back. Best Buy gives store credit for what the giver paid on a gift returned in the store, though one returned by mail is credited to the giver, who gets an email. Without proof of purchase, Macy’s says you may get store credit for the lowest price the gift sold for in the past 180 days. A $60 sweater that went on sale for $35 in that time would get you $35.
Amazon lets you start a gift return with the 17-digit order number on the packing slip or the digital gift receipt, as long as the giver marked the item as a gift. The refund comes as an Amazon gift card.
Then check each store’s deadline:
- Target’s deadline is Jan. 24 for electronics and entertainment bought Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, and Jan. 8 for Apple and Beats products and phones.
- Best Buy’s deadline is Jan. 15 for most items bought Oct. 30 through Dec. 31, but phones on a carrier contract get 14 days.
- Amazon’s deadline is Jan. 31 for items bought Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, and Jan. 15 for Apple products.
- Walmart’s deadline is Jan. 31 for most items bought Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, but wireless phones get 14 days.
- Macy’s deadline is Jan. 31 for most items bought Oct. 5 through Dec. 31.
Leave electronics sealed until you know you’ll keep them. In most states, Best Buy charges 15% of the price to take back an opened drone, camera, or projector, and nothing for a sealed one.
Where the store has something you’d use, exchange the gift for it. Of what can’t go back, regift what’s new and unopened to someone it suits, sell other sealed things, and donate the rest. Sell or swap a gift card you won’t use, too.
Sort the pile the first weekend of January, and bag each store’s returns with their receipts so you make one trip per store.
Subscribe and we'll send you 101 Essential Money Tips to get you started.
The 101 money moves that matter most, from the foundations to protecting what you’ve built.
Advertiser Disclosure: Many or all of the offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us, and some companies pay for sponsored content. That compensation may influence which products we cover and where and how they appear on a page, including the order in which they appear. We do not include every company or offer available in the marketplace.
