How long do you really have to return it?

Costco gives you 90 days on electronics — and essentially no deadline on most other items. They can also pull up your purchase from your membership, no receipt needed.

Amazon’s 30-day clock starts at delivery, not at checkout — and holiday-season purchases usually get extended into January.

Walmart’s standard window is a full 90 days — three times longer than most people assume. Electronics drop to 30.

Target’s own brands — Good & Gather, Cat & Jack and the rest — carry a one-year return window. And if Target drops the price within 14 days of your purchase, you can ask for the difference back.

Best Buy’s standard return window is just 15 days — one of the shortest of any big-box store. The holiday extension is the main exception.

Apple gives you exactly 14 days — but the one-year limited warranty and consumer-law coverage keep working long after the return window closes. Keep the receipt.

Pay at Home Depot with their store card and your return window stretches from 90 days to a full year on most items.

Same trick as Home Depot: Lowe's store-card purchases get a 365-day return window on most items instead of 90.

IKEA’s return window is a full year — 365 days with your receipt, even on opened items. Almost nobody knows this.

Canadian Tire honours 90 days on unopened items — but opened-box rules vary sharply by category, so the receipt matters more here than almost anywhere.

Nordstrom famously has no official return deadline at all — each return is a judgment call, which cuts both ways.

REI’s satisfaction guarantee runs a full year on most gear. Electronics get 90 days.

Sephora takes back gently used makeup within 30 days — “I tried it and it isn’t right” is an accepted reason.

Ulta doubles Sephora: 60 days, opened products included.

Wayfair gives you 30 days — but you pay the return shipping, and on a couch that can eat half the refund. Measure twice.

Nike lets you return shoes you’ve actually worn — within 30 days, wearing them counts as testing them.

Kohl's gives you 180 days — half a year — on most items. Almost nobody uses even a tenth of that window.

Open the shrink-wrap on a new game and your GameStop refund usually turns into an exchange. The 15-day clock is only half the story.

On Newegg the return policy is set per product, not per store — two items in one order can have completely different rules.

Buy a Samsung phone from Samsung directly and you get 15 days — buy the identical phone at Costco and you get 90. Where you buy sets your deadline.

Dollarama’s return window is zero days. Every sale is final — the receipt only helps if the item is defective.

“No returns accepted” on eBay does not apply when the item isn’t as described — the Money Back Guarantee overrides the seller for 30 days.

Most credit cards quietly extend the manufacturer’s warranty on things you buy with them — often by a full extra year. It only works if you can produce the receipt.

Thermal-paper receipts fade to blank in months, especially in a hot car or wallet. A photo taken the day you buy is the only version that survives to warranty-claim day.

For insurance claims after a theft, fire or flood, adjusters ask for proof of what you owned. A folder of receipts is the difference between an estimate and a fight.

Manufacturer warranties usually run from the purchase date on the receipt, not from when the box was opened. No receipt often means the warranty clock is assumed to have started when the product shipped to the store.

Many retailers refund the difference if their own price drops shortly after you buy — Target within 14 days, for example. Almost nobody goes back to check.

From late October, most large retailers quietly extend holiday-purchase return windows into January. The catch: it usually applies to purchases made after a cutoff date, and the deadlines differ per store.