This I think would be a useful posting to have for reference purposes as well as collaborative efforts.

No one wants store fucking credit. Whether you bought something, stole something, or are broke and just want to return your damn own shit then I salute you and SWIM is here to help. I will try to update this particular posting with the most pertinent. Keep in mind your age when doing returns. This shit is damn near difficult if you are say under 16. For large money returns under 20 would be pushing it but that's just one person's opinion.

Some basic rules to get you started:
1) Receipts paid in cash are gold. Pick them up. Find them. Acquire them. Make them. Cash receipts = Cash in Hand. Credit card receipts only work if it's your card so don't really bother with them.

2) You are the boss. The employee is there to serve you. Don't volunteer information to them because it just makes a story into a tale. If they cannot help you then their manager can.

3) Teamwork does work. Having a friend to return something for a cut isn't a bad idea. Just don't use the same person often and try to make sure any people you use don't know each other.

4) You can return ANYTHING with a receipt. It's all how you act and play the role but I promise you SWIM has returned shit that's just mind blowing.




So you are broke and you have no money? That sucks First thing I would do in a situation like that is look around your house! Yes this is small fries for money but sometimes you need a pack of smokes or a case of beer. Most stores will payout cash if it is under 10$ in value and anything over that amount lands you store credit. These items here are especially good for the younger crowd getting funds for whatever.
Think any household item with a UPC on it (the barcode scanner thingy) and think price is right... How much is that dish washer liquid worth that I used about 3/4 of? Oh it's still worth about 7$ cash... Half eaten food etc it really doesn't fucking matter but obviously you would want to be tactile if you plan on doing business with the store in the future.

So what about those brand new things that you got as uh... gifts from uh... Aunt Mildew. So you have new shit to work with but no receipt? That's ok! A good story can sometimes get you the cash but it is quite rare. Check the price before you bring it in too... Why would you return something when it is CURRENTLY on sale and wasn't before? You will typically be asked when you purchased it and "it was a gift" is always the best policy. This will land you store credit but being polite can tend to land you cash or at least the max amount for the credit.

Now with credit in hand you still need cash... This is where you need receipts. You purchase an item that you have a receipt for. It doesn't necessarily need to be from the same store but it does have to be the same exact item. You can match the SKU (usually found on receipt) or the UPC.


I will touch on more later and edit this. There are some things in relation to acquiring the new merch etc but that's more theft related where this is a somewhat legitimate practice for changing store credit to cash. If people are more interested in a "Returns for Profit" then SWIM can go that route...

West Marine gives refunds without a reciept for purchases under a certain amount. I think its $20, I don't remember.

The employee discount there used to be cost + 10%. A buddy of mine used to work there. He'd buy things with a huge mark-up, like rope, with his discount and I'd return it for cash.

Made a ton of money that way.

i think a good add on to this discussion would be ways to make copies of receipts at home.

perhaps you could get store ink cartridges and put them into your computer and get receipt paper or better yet get a receipt printer of some sort and make up your own phony receipts.

*claps*

good thread, gnome lover.

here is a question, that has stumped me at several stores.

see, i do it all the time, i find a receipt, take the item off the shelf, and return it for money, or credit.

but some stores receipts list the items in such a way that i can't tell what they are, for example, "SprSprtclkr#1346". so i dont know what to take off the shelf....


any ideas for circumventing this??? i thought of asking, but that would be almighty suspicious, so it would.

Most decent sized retail shops use barcodes on the receipts with all transaction information stored on their database. Cant use phoney receipts unless you can somehow get into their computer system, that would be great.

Danzig you don't have to ask them how to decode it, just ask someone (old & important looking, most other employees wont know shit) why it doesnt say the name of your item

yeaaah... i guess... i just think a young man, with a receipt (but no item) returning to the store to ask why his receipt does not say the name of his item? doesn't sound like a good idea.

Not all stores. I'm cookin' up a scheme with the beer store right now. They have really simple receipts. I'll report when I'm finished because it has to do buying shit cheap off ebay and returning it for a $50 deposit.

See, you rent something that has a deposit that is more than the cost of the item. You make multiple copies of the receipt and buy the thing you rented for really cheap. Then you go around to different stores and pick up the deposits. Seems like a good way to make money.

SWIM worked retail for awhile so this is how he figured out that there is LOTS of weaknesses in the retail system.

Brady - Ya that's a good call that I forgot to mention. There are MANY disgruntled employees out there. I'm sure one of em is your friend... It is especially key for learning the ins and outs of a company (return policy, security tagging, etc.) Did you know most stores keep a sheet that is commonly posted in the stocking area that lists all of the products that are security tagged and what type of tag they contain

GMT - It's pretty difficult to copy receipts but it can get done. With todays high tech printers (SWIM wishes he bought a nicer computer, scanner, & printer instead of drugs you can make a decent "watermark" looking receipt. Haggard looking receipts work great but fuck they can doom you too. LOL SWIM remembers returning a 400$ chainsaw that he bought at the same store for 30$ with a receipt that was so faded and yelled at the cashier (while he was dressed like a redneck) "THIS IS SUM BULL SHIAT. I DUN WANT MY MONEY BACK!" The thing about copied receipts is that most stores link a return to a transaction number... this is not always the case but it could be a chance at fucking yourself. Learning how liberal a store does returns should effect your decision in doing this. I shit you not I have returned 250$ in lumber with just a receipt. They make their receipts out of regular paper and they didn't even check ID when SWIM returned 4 cans of varnish with water and returned it for straight cash. It's mind boggling how dumb they can be!

Danzig - Most receipts would match the actual tag as far as description but not always. For ex SWIM noticed that a pair of 10$ sweats had a tag that said "Men's Ath Sprt" which is generally a shitty description because they try to cut corners in their computer system. This is why the employee takes so long to look up returns sometimes because their store is a cock jockey that doesn't know how to efficiently set up a retail store. If you absolutely cannot find the item just show it to an employee and say you are trying to find the item. Make up a story (your story doesn't really matter because it's their job to help you.)
ANYWAYS that 10$ pair of SWEATS has a price tag that if you put on les say a nice jersey or some other expensive athletic wear without a security tag and they go to ring it up and everything looks legit on their end (that's if they are even paying attention which they never are.)

Most stores have NOT switched to this system. I thank you for pointing this type of receipt but that is totally false information you are tossing out. Higher end companies use barcodes and some major corporations (Nordstrom and Best Buy offhand.) If you are learning how to negotiate returns I recommend you stay away from electronics stores period. It's just trouble...
BUT Nordstroms will take something back that is used with no tags and no receipt and they will still give you cash! I actually bought something on a credit card and decided I didn't like it and they offered me cash back instead of putting it back on my credit card!

Coming to think about it this forum would apply very well to individuals that were looking to turn not only store credit into cash but people could also be using credit cards to buy store items then to make cash. Of course I would only recommend using it on your own card

Be as sketchy as you fucking feel like if you aren't doing anything wrong. Most employees aren't fucking clever enough to figure out what's going on. They aren't fucking clever enough to figure their way out of a minimum wage job in slavery???

Analbeads - Good call that is actually pretty clever. This is the kind of stuff that this thread is gearing towards. Sketchy but legal. Or at least legal to the point of them catching you and not being able to do shit I'll have to add this one.

I know most wal-marts in Canada use barcodes because my friend did a return yesterday from Ontario with a bar code on the bottom .

I like this scam because its just so simple for me to do . I can just print out real store looking barcodes made using there printers . I also do it without any one questioning me .

The best part is when I return the higher priced items without receipt I will get store credit . For most this would be a problem but just use the gift card up with a purchse that is more then the gift card so to complete the transaction I use cash ( normally more the $20 worth of cash ). Then when I return the items I just bought they see that cash was used to pay and my buddy that works at customer service will just give me cash back . I don't know if most customer service people would do this with normal customers