Costco's Return Policy: No Time Limit on Most Things, 90 Days on the Ones That Matter

Every Costco member has a story about the return counter: the half-eaten sheet cake, the five-year-old patio set, the Christmas tree in January. The stories survive because the written policy is nearly as generous as the legend. Costco's return policy promises to refund your purchase price on every product it sells, and states no time limit for most of them. The interesting part is the exception list, because it covers exactly the purchases where a return is worth the most money.

The Guarantee, As Written

Costco calls it a risk-free 100% satisfaction guarantee, and it has two halves. On membership, Costco will cancel and refund your fee at any time if you are dissatisfied. On merchandise, it guarantees satisfaction on every product it sells and will refund the purchase price, subject to the exceptions below.

Returns go to the returns counter at any warehouse, regardless of where you bought the item. Costco's warehouse return page says a receipt or the original packaging helps but may not be necessary, since purchases are tied to your membership. Online orders have two routes, per Costco's online return page: carry the item into any warehouse for an immediate refund that includes shipping and handling, or start the return on Costco.com, where a return label arrives within the hour for most items and large items get emailed instructions.

The 90-Day List

The one hard deadline applies to electronics and appliances, and it runs 90 days from the date the member received the merchandise, which for a delivered refrigerator means the delivery date rather than the order date.

A refrigerator under 10 cubic feet, a soundbar, a vacuum, or a printer is not on the list, which means it falls back to the general guarantee. When in doubt, the question to ask at the counter is whether the item is in one of these named categories.

What Costco Will Not Take Back, or Handles Differently

• Cigarettes and alcohol, where the law prohibits returns.
• Custom and special-order items built to your specifications, from the Special Order Kiosk or custom-install programs, except for warranty repair or replacement if they fail to meet the specs.
• Airline tickets, live-performance tickets, gift cards, Shop Cards, and precious metals are non-refundable.
• Diamonds of 1.00 carat or larger come back only with the original IGI or GIA paperwork. You receive a jewelry credit memo, and a Costco graduate gemologist inspects the stone within 48 hours before the refund is finalized.
• Tires and batteries carry product-specific limited warranties rather than the open-ended guarantee, because they have a limited useful life by design.
• Contact lenses, eyeglasses, and hearing aids go through the optical or hearing-aid department, and large freight-delivered items have their own process.

The Second Year Nobody Mentions

The return policy is the headline benefit; the quieter one is the warranty. Costco's extended warranty page says Costco Technical and Warranty Services extends the manufacturer's warranty to up to two years from the date of warehouse purchase, or delivery for online orders, on televisions, projectors, computers (tablets excluded), and the same list of major appliances. Costco chooses whether to fulfill the second year by repair, replacement, or a refund up to the purchase price. Physical damage, liquid damage, data recovery, and commercial use of a residential unit are excluded.

That is a free year that most competitors sell as a protection plan. Costco also sells Allstate Protection Plans on top if you want longer coverage or accident protection. How the free extension interacts with your credit card's warranty benefit is the subject of our guide to how Costco's two-year warranty extension actually works. Free technical support, per Costco, lasts the lifetime of most TVs, computers, cameras, and printers it sells.

How It Compares

Against the rest of big-box retail, Costco is an outlier in both directions. Most stores run a 90-day clock on everything, with 30 days or less on electronics; our comparison of major US retailers' return policies lays them out, and the Walmart returns guide shows a typical mainstream policy with its 30-day electronics window. Costco's 90 days on a TV is triple Walmart's, and its non-electronics window has no stated end at all. The tradeoff is the membership fee, which Costco itself will refund if you decide the deal was not worth it.

A Member's Checklist for Costco Returns

1. Know whether your item is on the 90-day list. TVs, major appliances, computers, tablets, cameras, phones, and wearables have a deadline; most other things do not.
2. Count from the day you received it. For delivered appliances that is the delivery date.
3. Keep the paperwork for diamonds and phones. Certificates for stones over a carat, and the carrier contract for phones, decide what you get back.
4. Take online orders to a warehouse for the fastest refund. It comes back immediately, shipping included.
5. Remember the free second year. Before paying for a protection plan on a TV or appliance, note that Costco already doubled the manufacturer's warranty.
6. Do not abuse it. The policy says limitations apply, and Costco tracks returns on your membership.

The guarantee is real, the exceptions are short, and the second-year warranty is the part worth writing down.