This Popular Costco Purchase Cannot Be Returned — No Exceptions

Costco's return policy is known as very hassle-free, allowing you to return and get a refund on most items if you're unhappy with them, including the membership itself. But a few limitations do exist, and one particular deal-breaker at the return counter is gift cards. You cannot return those, and there are absolutely no exceptions.

This rule applies to regular gift cards as well as the Costco Shop Card. It doesn't matter if you still have the receipt, have lost the card, or simply changed your mind; the purchase of any gift card is final, so keep that in mind before you buy one. You also can't redeem gift cards for cash, except in specific states where local law dictates otherwise, when the balance is lower than a certain amount. That's $10 in California; $5 in Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington; $3 in Connecticut; $2.50 in Texas; and $1 in Rhode Island and Vermont. In 2023, Taco Bell was fined over $85,000 for allegedly breaking gift card laws in California, so it's definitely helpful to know your rights as a consumer.

Now, Costco is a go-to spot for buying restaurant gift cards, but given that those purchases are final, make sure to check any potential limitations and expiration dates before you buy them. For example, a two-pack of $50 Uber Eats gift cards at Costco is limited to two units sold per membership every two weeks.

You might see this return policy exception as one of the mildly annoying things about shopping at Costco, but truthfully, most retailers have the no-returns rule for gift cards in place, and with a good reason — the danger of fraud. From a retailer's perspective, selling the gift card has to be a final purchase because the money loaded on the card can be accessed immediately. Gift cards are commonly targeted by scammers, so it would be impossible to know whether someone is earnestly returning an unused card, or whether the identifying features of it (such as the code on the back) have already been shared with a third party, making the card useless and unsellable.

In simpler terms, if retailers accepted gift card returns, they'd be opening the doors for fraudulent returns and losing a lot of money in the process. Costco's uncomplicated return policy can stay in place precisely because the store takes fraud very seriously. In fact, making fraudulent returns is the most common reason Costco revokes memberships, thus ensuring that those who abuse the store's return policy can no longer partake in it.