Before you bring back those holiday gifts, you might want to read up on the retailers' return periods because time is not on your side.
"We're seeing the return windows shrinking. Deadlines are getting shorter in other words. Macy's went down to a year a few years ago, then it went to 180 days, and now it's only 90 days," said Edgar Dworsky, Founder and Editor of Consumerworld.org.
Macy’s is one of may taking part in this shrinking return trend, a business-move to protect their bottom lines.
“Stores are losing millions and millions of dollars because of return fraud so if they can shorten the window, their liability is cut,” explained Dworsky.
Bed Bath & Beyond cut down its return window to 180 days and Kohl's used to have a no return deadline policy, but just this year, the retailer changed that period for most items to 180 days. Dworsky says retailers also just don't want to receive outdated products.
“If you bought a winter coat in February, wore it all winter, and decided to bring it back in July, what's the store going to do with it?” Dworsky said.
Consumerworld.org researched return policies for several big-name retailers. You can read them here.
