Holiday Gift Return Tips
1. Watch your return history
When you make a return at a store, you may have another worry...your return history. More than a dozen retailers, including Express, KB Toys and Staples, use an outside tracking system to keep tabs on your returns.
The tracking system, called The Return Exchange, monitors how many returns you have had at a particular store, the dollar amount of your returns, and whether you had a receipt.
The system is able to send an alert to the cashier that will reject your return.
And that's not surprising. Staples, for example, does not post any information about it's use of Return Exchange, according to the company. Other stores have their own system for tracking returns. These stores include Home Depot, Costco, Wal-Mart. To find out if you're being tracked, ask a sales person if the store uses a return authorization system.
If you're asked to present a drivers' license or other identification when you take back your stuff, that's a likely sign your return history is being recorded. You can also call the Return Exchange and find out if they have a file on you. That number is 800-652-2331.
2. Restocking fees expanding
Restocking fees -- those charges that you'll pay if you return electronic products used or opened -- are nothing new. But instead of applying almost solely to electronic equipment, these restocking fees may be coming to a department store near you.
Two months ago, Sears began to charge a 15 percent restocking fee to things like auto products, home-improvement items, home appliances and lawn and garden merchandise.
Retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City and Target have had restocking fees from 10 percent to 15 percent. With more retailers expanding their restocking fees, you'll want to make extra sure that you want to keep your present before you go tearing into it.
But keep in mind, if your product is defective, you shouldn't have to pay any kind of restocking fee if you have to return it. If you're looking for stores that don't charge restocking fees or that have generous return policies, Costco is a good place to look.
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