In many instances, returning a gift you’ve received is as common as giving them during the holidays. However, holiday returns don’t have to be a nightmare for you or the person you gave a present to. Read on for tips on how to give, return or exchange a present like a pro.
Why people return holiday gifts
Everyone has been in a situation where someone opens their gift, and you see it on their face — your gift didn’t get the hoped-for response. Who knows why presents don’t always hit the mark. It could be clothing that is the wrong color or size, or a book that the person already owns or has read.
It’s nothing personal. Returns happen. In fact, according to Civic Science, an opinion research firm in Pittsburgh, a survey at the end of the 2023 holiday season found that nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults who received gifts plan to make a return or exchange. That was up nine points from the previous year.
Of the group, half of those aged 25 to 44 — or Gen Z and millennials — planned to return or exchange a gift. In many instances, the Civic Science research showed that brand was crucial to these gift recipients. For instance, if someone wanted a new pair of Ugg boots but got a knockoff brand instead, they will likely bring them back.
Amanda Luhn of Knoxville Backyard & Beyond understands that returns happen that’s why she tends to do her holiday shopping at stores that are convenient for her as well as the people she’s buying gifts for. Her favorite retailer is Target. “Target has a very generous return policy,” Luhn said, “and just about everybody has a Target near them.”
Making holiday returns and exchanges easier
When giving a gift, you want to buy something that the person loves. But just in case you’re off the mark, you want to make it easier for them to send it back or get something else, such as by shopping at Target, which has more than 1,900 stores in the United States, or another retailer with thousands of locations nationwide.
There are other ways to make holiday returns easier. You can shop from stores that offer gift receipts, and you can buy gifts from retailers that offer a generous return policy.
Gift receipts
Gift receipts are purchase receipts that show what you bought, just not the price you paid. You can request to have one printed when shopping in person. Most national retailers offer them if you simply ask for one.
“I do gift receipts for everything I buy, even if I’m sure they’ll love it,” said Michelle Price of Honest and Truly. “Also, I tape the gift receipt to the item. There’s nothing worse than having to dig through a pile of receipts in the store trying to find the right one only to realize you don’t have one for the item you’re trying to return.”
Not only do gift receipts make returns easier but they also ensure that the person gets the gift’s value. For instance, if you bought something and it gets marked down after the holidays, someone returning it without a gift receipt or any receipt for that matter will get the lesser amount returned to them or applied to an exchange. With a gift receipt in hand, the return value is the original purchase price.
Extended return policies
“Return policies can vary widely,” says Kim Lohrberg of SavingK, a money-saving blog. “Many retailers started offering extended return periods during the holiday season a few years ago.” Some of those extended return policies continue today.
For instance, Amazon’s regular return period for most items is within 30 days of the purchase. However, during the holiday season, you might have more than 60 days to make returns. From the Amazon return policy page: “For the 2024 holiday season, most items purchased between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, can be returned through Jan. 31, 2025.”
However, the National Retail Federation says that there has been an uptick in gift return fraud. This has caused many retailers to reverse some of those generous return policies and tighten them instead.
Take Nordstrom. This department store used to take most things back, no questions asked, and provide a full refund. Not anymore. According to the current Nordstrom return policy, “If we choose to provide a refund and no record of sale is available, we’ll ask for personal identification and a refund will be provided at the current price on a Nordstrom Gift Card.”
Yet another reason to include a gift receipt with any presents you give now or in the future. Having that receipt ensures that the recipient won’t have an issue if they need to make a return and they’ll get the full value of your gift.
Planning to make holiday returns
The vast majority of people make holiday returns in January, so says the National Retail Federation. That means that if you’re headed to the stores after the holidays, bring patience along with the gift you are returning and, hopefully, the gift receipt that came along with the present.
Lohrberg suggests avoiding peak store times, such as the lunch hour during the week or weekends when lines might be longer. “Store employees deal with a lot of post-holiday stress,” she added. “A friendly attitude can go a long way towards making it easier to resolve any issues with your returns.”
If you can, start a return at the retailer’s online site or through their app on your phone before heading to the store. This will streamline the process and make your return experience faster and easier.
What about gifts you can’t return?
Ideally, you’ve bought gifts at a retailer that provides gift receipts and a generous return policy. But what happens if you receive a gift that can’t be returned, such as a vintage gift? You can add it to your gift closet. What’s a gift closet? It’s a place where you stock all-occasion items that you can use when you need a last-minute gift and don’t have time to make it to the store.
You can also give it away. Are you a member of a Buy Nothing group on Facebook? These are groups where people give and receive items for free to save money and keep items out of the waste stream. Another option is to donate it to a good cause, such as a local thrift or resale store.
Giving the gift of easy holiday returns
Hopefully, you’ve learned about the best ways to give and receive gifts this holiday season. Should anything end up needing to be returned, you’ve shopped in a way that makes it easier on the people you’re giving presents to this year. And if you get a gift that you don’t want to keep, you know the best ways to approach returns with a positive attitude.
Leah Ingram is the author of 15 books covering topics ranging from paying for college to the etiquette of giving gifts. She shares gift ideas for bakers and cooks on her blog Bagels and Lasagna.