Pushing the limits of Costco’s famous generous “risk-free 100% satisfaction” shoppers are splitting the internet with full refunds for surge sofas and stained mattresses.
Couple returns 5-year-old mattress to Costco
The couple returns the 5-year-old mattress to Costco.
Fox-2 Detroit
- Costco’s generous return policy is popular with shoppers, but has sparked controversy over potential abuse.
- Some shoppers have led to a lively online discussion about returning used or damaged items and returning ethics.
Evelyn Juarez is an executive member carrying Costco’s proud cards. She jokes that it is the only black card she owns.
Each week, her heels click up and down the aisle of the warehouse to hunt new deals, store groceries, and graze samples.
In almost two years, Juarez didn’t return purchases, even when his newly purchased rug began to fray. However, her two-year-old daughter then smuggled a bucket of slime into the living room, diagonalizing the blue goo with an ivory rug.
Juarez was about to chuck the dirty rug when his friend urged her to take it back for her. “I was like a girl, are you trying to embarrass me?” replied Juarez, a 29-year-old mother and social media influencer from Dallas.
But then she was made to think. “What do you know? I’ve spent thousands of dollars. I’ve just bought a sofa from Costco. I don’t think $150 will hurt them.”
She was nervous as she approached the return counter, but a few minutes later, Juarez left the warehouse with a full refund. The next day she bought a replacement rug from Costco.
“After that, I’m going to keep my membership forever,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s guilt-free or surprise.”
From the low prices of high quality products to the extremely popular $1.50 hot dog and soda combo, Costco knows how to get into the minds of shoppers and pantry.
One of the most popular perks is the “Risk-free 100% Satisfaction Guarantee” “No Questions” (or fewer questions asked). Costco will provide customers who pay annual membership fees from $65 to $130 over an unlimited Grace period to return most purchases for a full refund.
However, liberal policies became a subtle subject as eyebrow-raising returns went viral. Shoppers regularly turn down online what they should and should not be returned. Online Fury reached a hot pitch in 2024 as a Seattle woman received a full refund for her 2.5-year-old couch, which left her no longer caring for the colour.
Why Costco’s Returns Are Controversial
Ramp-prolonged abuse creates fear that warehouse clubs will roll back generous return policies, Addison Marriott said.
Marriott, 24, who works in the ads, put the heat down and posted about it on Tiktok when she and her husband returned the air conditioning unit they bought to get through a slow summer months in their one-bedroom Los Angeles apartment.
“People were nervous about Costco finding and limiting returns policies if the video exploded,” Marriott said.
Parker Seidel, a 26-year-old YouTube creator from Orange County, tested the limits of Costco’s return policy in a series of stunts and received blowback when he retrieved money for a half-eat chicken bake and a 3-week-old flower that he couldn’t get into the water. Next: Return the Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers Lego set after completing.
“I was very hated. I said, ‘Oh my god, I didn’t expect this at all.” ” Seidel said.
In Juarez’s case, what she calls “carpet gates” exploded in Tiktok, which has 2.4 million followers. “You’re not in class,” one commented. “Girls, your child has been stained (rug), and now you’re making it a Costco issue?”
“I’m paying for the perks of having products that I can buy and products that I can return,” she told USA Today. “It’s a really good way for them to hook you. I’m sure they’ll make more money from what they buy from us than they lose from the return.”
The return policy is the coveted Costco Park
Although Costco did not respond to requests for comment on its famous return policy, David and Susan Schwartz, the marital team behind the 2023 book, “Costco’s Joy: A to Z’s Treasure Hunt,” date back to the company’s origins.
When they interviewed Jim Cinegal, Costco co-founder and former CEO talked about a call from the store manager about asking if the store should return someone an unusual and expensive item. “Jim Sinegal said, ‘What are you calling me?'” Susan Schwartz said. “‘Get it back.’ And they did.”
His laid back attitude has endured tests of time and industry headwinds. In 2007, most consumers at Costco Limited – electronic facilities return 90 days after Flat Panel TV has reduced profit margins.
“Our view is that despite these changes, we still have the best return policy in the retail industry,” former chief operating officer Richard Garanti told the Wall Street Journal at the time.
A generous return policy is even more important for shoppers who have withstanded today’s inflation, according to Anna Brennan, principal analyst for the club and specialty retailer at Cantal, a marketing data and analytics company.
“It’s all tied to reducing some of that stress and risk, in the shoppers and members part, especially in the environment we are in today, where every purchase feels particularly weighted,” Brennan said. “I think it really helps members make some purchases that may not be the case otherwise.”
This was the case of Troy Pavlek, a 31-year-old software developer from Edmonton, Alberta.
Since 2012 as a Costco executive member, he has said he will shop at Costco with confidence that what he buys in the store, the store will stand in the back, or that your money will come back.
While remodeling his house, he jumped into two $900 toilets. When the manufacturer refuses to replace the cracked plastic piece with the lid attached to the toilet, he returns the other one that he has not used and still has the lid on.
Should I return this to Costco? Ethics was discussed
According to Ayelet Fishbach, professor of behavioral science and marketing at the University of Chicago Booth Business School, the ethical dilemmas foster vigorous debate over Costco.
Fishbach found out if he would return lightly worn clothing where most people were standing when they surveyed hundreds of consumers. About 40% answered “Yes,” but that number fell significantly when asked if they would do it repeatedly.
“Many people are comfortable bending the spirit of policy at times, and may even make it interesting, but they may hesitate to make it a habit,” she said.
He takes Susana Rodriguez, a mother of seven from Henderson, Nevada. She returned the canopy used by small business Cocos Julios El Primo after the wind was torn apart within two months.
However, 45-year-old Rodriguez said he would draw the line for a return after a certain amount of time. Costco told her that he could return the TV from a few years ago. “I didn’t do that,” she said. “What followed continued.”
Behind the Costco Returns Counter
Returns Frontline Costco employees have seen everything from dirty mattresses to dyed mattresses to half-eated cookie trays. Then there are shoppers who rent from Costco. I bought the TV before the Super Bowl and returned shortly afterwards. Chairs and tables were purchased for the event and wheeled the next day.
Several staff spoke to USA Today in anonymity. They want people not to get the advantage, but they say the return policy does exactly what it intended: it creates loyalty, promotes sales, and seduces new members.
“It’s great because it gives members a sense of security,” an Illinois employee told USA Today. “Because people buy things, they love them and they decided it was worth keeping, so I’m sure we will always work favorably with us.”
Most returns are accepted, but some repeat offenders can be flagged, Connecticut employee said. One shopper continued to return the lighting fixtures he purchased almost a decade ago, remodeling his home, light bulbs and more. A few months later, the store pulled her away.
“That’s pretty common,” the employee said. “People remodel their homes and literally pull up the floor and return them.”
In rare cases, Costco will cancel membership if the return policy is “really abused,” the employee said. But for most shoppers, she said, “We’ll take anything.”
The store will try to donate as much as possible, she said, but some returns will be wasted. For example, food that needs to be temperature controlled will be thrown into the trash can. She estimates that the warehouse will throw away “hundreds of dollars” of food every day.
However, the policy usually benefits Costco, employees said. She recalled one example of a customer being torn between Costco vacuum and Macy’s cheaper models.
“I said, ‘Well, if you have to return it? There she spent the extra hundreds of dollars and got it from us,” the employee said.
Can abuse end Costco’s returns?
As fraud and abuse undermine profit margins, retailers are under pressure to abandon go-gos on anything.
A recent report by Appriss Retail shows that of the $685 billion product returned in 2024, $100 billion was lost to fraudulent and abusive returns and claims.
In 2018, LL Bean traded its lifetime return policy with a one-year limit, noting that some customers expect returns on products or items purchased through yard sales. Duluth Trading Company made a similar switch in 2019.
Retailers have also begun charging for refill fees.
It’s not Costco. Analysts say they can afford to absorb losses as they rely on their membership business model. Last year, we earned $4.8 billion in revenue from membership fees alone.
Returns are an important part of keeping these members happy, said Christine Deal, professor at USC Marshall School of Business Marketing. Research shows that shoppers often buy based on how difficult it is to return something, how difficult it is, and how difficult it is.
According to a recent report from Appriss Retail, more than half of consumers have decided not to buy from retailers, and almost a third of consumers have stopped shopping in the store for a negative return experience. Meanwhile, seven out of 10 consumers say they have purchased at least one additional purchase for a positive return experience.
Costco members are unlikely to abuse their privileges because their returns are tied to membership and don’t want to be blacklisted, Diehl said. They also consider themselves part of the Costco community.
Return policy promotes what Costco has in large quantities, a sense of belonging and goodwill. It’s also “great word of mouth,” says Neil Saunders, retail analyst at research and analytics firm GlobalData.
He said it’s here to stay here. Whatever the “minimum cost” from abuse of return policy, Costco is worth it.
“It’s one of the magical things people like about Costco,” Sanders said. “There are certain things that are quite set at Costco. Hot dog prices are one of them, and the return policy is different.”
