Amazon's October Prime Day 2024 is over, except for the lingering regret (and the credit cards bills). If you spent way too much on way too much this year, it’s easy to return the things Amazon sent you and get your money back—most of the time, anyway.
You can’t exactly use the retailer as a “try it before you buy it” service, but if your items are unopened, and/or there’s a good reason for the return, Amazon is usually fair about refunds, and will even pay the return shipping, as long as you don’t abuse their return policy.
How Amazon returns work
You can receive a full refund for most things you buy directly from Amazon in the first 30 days after they are delivered, usually without paying for shipping, “restocking,” or any other fees. On rare occasions, you might not not even have to send the thing back.
To get started, go to your profile on Amazon.com, click “Your Orders,” find the item you’d like to return, and click “return or replace item.” You’ll be given a drop-down menu of reasons for your return that cover just about every eventuality. For instance, I could return this 1:18 scale remote control shark because it is “no longer needed.” (I could but I won’t, because believe me, it’s needed.)
From there, you’ll either be prompted to send the item back, or receive an instant refund and be told “keep it.” If Amazon wants you to return something, you can either print out the shipping label Amazon creates and drop it off at the shipper, or get the Amazon QR code and return it directly to an Amazon return center, Amazon Locker, UPS Store, Kohl's, Whole Foods, Staples, or Amazon Store. If you return an item to Amazon physical stores and Whole Foods Markets, you don't even need to bring a box. You can just show up with the item and the QR code. You can even even get a $10 Whole Foods coupon for returning an item there.
Things you can’t return to Amazon
Amazon sells so many things in so many ways that there are certain exceptions to the above-stated return polices. The biggest “doesn’t apply here” is for orders that are fulfilled by third-party sellers, who determine their own return policies. But there are also special refund rules for Amazon Pharmacy purchases, items under a separate warranty, collectibles, and a ton of other kinds of purchases. Here’s Amazon’s list of return/refund “special cases.”
How Amazon determines what items you can just keep
Amazon doesn’t disclose exactly what products it will let which customers keep after requesting refunds, but as a general rule, it applies to less expensive items purchased by established customers. If it would ultimately cost more to ship the item back and resell it, Amazon will just let you have it. I’m sure it factors in customer good will as well.
For TVs, laptops, and other more expensive products, you’ll usually have to ship them back to Amazon, and Amazon may wait until the item is back in the warehouse to issue you a refund.
What happens if you abuse Amazon’s return policy
If you’re tempted to take advantage of Amazon’s return policy to try to get free things or use the retailer as free rental service, I applaud your initiative, but I don’t recommend it. First, because it’s dishonest and you are a good citizen, but more importantly, Amazon will probably catch you, and could suspend or ban your account.
The company isn’t forthcoming about the specifics of what will get you blackballed, but it is very good (too good) at capitalism, and if your account ends up as a net liability to the company, Amazon will figure it out. From there, it'll reportedly send you an email telling you they are eager to “better understand the activity on your account and learn how to improve your shopping experience.” (You might read that as a nice way of saying, “What’s up with that? Cut it out, OK?”) If Amazon then determines you are not worth its time as a customer for whatever reason, it will ban your account.
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