Need To Return or Exchange a Gift? There Are Time Limits

It's happened to all of us. Sometimes we get the wrong type of gift, or wrong size if it's clothes. Sometimes we get duplicates of a gift. Sometimes, we get a gift we just don't want. And that's where returns and exchanges come in. Sam is taking some clothes she got for her husband back because they're too big. In the past, I've returned DVDs because they were the wrong format (seriously, what kind of monster gives Full Frame?!). If there's a gift you need to return or exchange, here's a helpful guide if you don't feel like battling the crowds immediately.

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart makes it easy to return Christmas gifts, as their normal 15 day or 30 day return policies don't start until today, December 26th. The 90 day returns are handled normally, however, so if the gift was purchased earlier in the shopping season, you've still got time, just not all the way until March. Visit their website for more holiday return policy details.

Sam's Club

Holiday specific return policies weren't readily available online, but they do have an extensive and fairly generous guide to their return policies available. Check with the store about their return policy regarding gifts, but I would recommend not putting Sam's Club returns off for too long.

Kohl's

Kohl's offers a pretty lengthy return window of over a year on most items, but only 30 days on premium electronics. Fortunately, during the holidays, they extend that to January 31st on premium electronics purchased between November 1st and December 25th. For more on their return policy, visit their website.

Amazon

Amazon is known for having a great return policy, and excellent customer service regarding returns, and during the holidays, they extend gift returns to January 31st. It's really easy to track down the all the info you need, as long as you have the order number from the packing slip, and whoever ordered it for you should be able to help out with that info, if they didn't give you the gift receipt with the gift itself. For more on their returns, head to Amazon's help center.

Target & Best Buy

Now, we don't have those here anymore (RIP Best Buy), but lets say an out of town friend or family member did some shopping there, Best Buy's returns run through January 14th, while Target offers their regular 90 return window, so you've got a bit of time if you need to head to Springfield, St. Louis or Columbia to make your returns. With Best Buy, their holiday gifts apply only to purchases made between October 29th and December 30th, so if you purchased any gifts before our Best Buy closed on October 28th, you're unfortunately out of luck. Sorry.

Small Business Saturday

If you shopped locally owned shops for the holidays, a) AWESOME! YOU ROCK! and b) that's entirely up to the store owner, so you'll have to consult with them.