About Return by Date

Return by Date answers one question: how long do you have to take something back? We track return windows, price-match rules and holiday return extensions at 50 of the largest US retailers, and turn them into a date you can act on.

Which retailers we cover

We start from the National Retail Federation's 2026 Top 100 Retailers list, ranked by 2025 US retail sales, and skip grocery chains, convenience stores, pharmacy franchise networks and other banners where gift returns rarely come up. Sam's Club is listed on its own even though NRF counts it within Walmart.

How we check policies

Each retailer page says whether we confirmed the policy on the retailer's own site or notice, or compiled it from consumer-press and coupon-site summaries. During the holiday season we recheck the retailers that haven't posted their 2026 dates every day, and mark a retailer "2026 confirmed" only once the retailer itself publishes the dates.

Return-by dates use the standard window counted from the purchase date, or the holiday deadline when your purchase falls inside a confirmed holiday window, whichever is later. Online orders often count from the ship or delivery date, which can give you a few extra days.

How we make money

Some "Shop" links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change which retailers we list, how we rank them or what we say about their policies.

Spotted something out of date?

Email hello@returnbydate.com with the retailer and a link to its current policy and we'll update the page.