One Surefire Way to Get Banned From Costco for Life

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Costco lets members return some pretty questionable items, like moldy food and used clothes. Read on to learn how returning some items may jeopardize your membership. 

Costco is one of the few retailers that will let you return just about anything: moldy strawberries, dead plants, clothes that don’t fit, brown bananas. So long as you bought it at Costco, you’re almost guaranteed to get a refund, no matter how long it’s been since you made the purchase.

This lenient return policy may be one of the best perks of a Costco membership. But for Costco it can translate into major losses, questionable returns, and blacklisted customers whose memberships are just one return away from being permanently revoked.

How to get banned from Costco for life

According to a Business Insider report, Costco members can get flagged if they make too many returns. More importantly, Costco can revoke your membership indefinitely if it thinks you’re trying to take advantage of its return policy.

As Costco states on its website: “Costco reserves the right to refuse membership to any applicant, and membership may be terminated at Costco’s discretion and without cause.”

While Costco doesn’t state how many returns it takes to get banned, numerous stories suggest persistent abuse will put you on Costco’s radar.

For instance, a former Costco member told Business Insider her membership was canceled after she tried to return a printer — eight years after she purchased it. The manager at her Costco refused to refund the printer, not because it was as old as two presidential terms, but because this particular member had a long history of returning items. After taking her complaint to Costco’s senior vice president of Northeast operations, Costco sent her a termination letter: she was no longer a member of Costco, even though the company did give her a refund on the printer (plus ink!).

Persistent abuse is assessed on an individual basis and left to the discretion of Costco managers. That doesn’t mean you can avoid Costco’s surveillance by returning items to numerous Costco stores. But what it might mean is that one store manager will have a shorter fuse than others and put you on a blacklist for a return that they think is unreasonable.

What can you take back to Costco?

Costco has few restrictions on what you can return. Right now, the company won’t officially accept returns on electronics after 90 days, products with a limited useful life expectancy (like tires and batteries), wine, and cigarettes.

Everything else is typically fair game.

This lenient policy has produced some wild and unbelievable returns. While you can’t believe everything you read on Reddit, one thread in particular named some ludicrous items: dead plants, a 13-year-old frozen fish, a half-consumed steak, a used summer bathing suit (returned in September), and a dead Christmas tree.

To be sure, these items would likely blacklist you. Costco would refund your purchase, but eventually it might refund your membership, too.

If more Costco members try to game the system, Costco would likely join other retailers — like L.L. Bean — in adding guardrails to its lenient return policy. Until then, you’ll have to use your discretion in what you think is a reasonable return and what would likely exploit Costco’s generosity. A revoked membership won’t hurt your credit score. But it can hurt your personal finances if you can no longer save on great deals that Costco offers.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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