Is It Possible to Make an Amazon Return After 30 Days?
I’ve written about the Amazon Return Policy in detail so I won’t reinvent the wheel with this post, but rather I want to talk about a clever Amazon return policy hack that I think you will find useful. It has to do with trying to return something after 30 days. If you’ve ever tried to do this on their website, you’ve noticed that items become “unreturnable” 30 days after the date of delivery. But alas, I have a clever workaround and here are the details to make it work for you…
How I Made It Happen
I just started a Live Chat session with Amazon and asked if I could make a return even if it was after 30 days.
Make sure to go through the automated chat first then ask to chat to an actual human.
Pretty simple, right?
I told them that I was a few days over 30 and asked if there was any way they could make an exception especially since I’ve been a loyal Prime customer for years.
The live chat operator verified if the return window had indeed closed, then immediately got back to me and APPROVED the “beyond 30-day” return.
PRO TIP: QUICK WAY TO GET AMAZON ON THE PHONE
If you’d rather talk to someone at Amazon and try this hack, here’s a quick and easy way to get an Amazon customer service rep on the phone. Call (866) 216-1072 and immediately say “NO” to the text message question. Next say “PERSON” whenever you’re prompted to say something. Keep repeating this every time you’re prompted for an answer. You’ll have to say “PERSON” 2 or 3 times but you’ll get someone quickly, guaranteed.
You Do NOT Need To Be a Prime Member
Prime membership is not a requirement of getting them to extend their return window for you.
I mean sure, it might help, especially if you’re a frequent Prime shopper, but you literally have nothing to lose so you might as well give it a try.
If for some reason they won’t let you return something after 30 days, selling the item on eBay is always a good fall-back option.
See Also: Buyer Beware: Avoid this Amazon Bait & Switch Price Trick
How Often Can I Do This?
I’m thinking this has something to do with how often you order from Amazon.
My family places a few Amazon orders every week and spends quite a bit of money in a calendar year.
It would make sense that Amazon is much more likely to take back a return after 30 days if you’re a frequent shopper as they want to keep you a “happy” customer.
Let me know in the comments if you have any evidence to backup or refute my claim.
BONUS: You Might Even Be Able To Keep the Item
Amazon calls it a “Returnless Refund” and it means they don’t want the item back for one reason or another.
I was surprised that Amazon not only let me return something after 30 days, but they told me to keep it as well.
I’d call that a win-win dealio for sure.
Ask the Reader: Have you ever asked for an Amazon return after your 30-day return window was closed? How did it work out?
By Kyle James
I started Rather-Be-Shopping.com in 2000 and have become a consumer expert and advocate writing about out-of-the-box ways to save at stores like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco to name a few. I’ve been featured on FOX News, Good Morning America, and the NY Times talking about my savings tips. (Learn more)
Haha! Worked like a charm, thank you dawg!
No problem Axe man!
Last year Amazon gave my sister a full refund of $140 including the shipping cost of $20 for a wooden shoe cabinet and was told it didn’t have to be returned. Reason for return was a manufacturing error. One of the doors had been manufactured upside down. It has angled wood slat doors. It functions perfectly fine though. It’s just the left door has slats angled downward and the right door them angle upward. I don’t know if it was the seller or Amazon who did this. But damn, thats was pretty cool. My sister does tend to buy expensive stuff frequently on Amazon so perhaps that had something to do with it.
Hey! That was super helpful to me about 5 minutes ago. You just saved me 1100 dollars! Much, much appreciated!
This worked so well! Thank you so much! 60$ back in my pocket
So… I have multiple items that were in a box ready to be dropped at UPS and my car was stolen. The car was finally found and I guess I had so much crap in there, they didn’t want the amazon items either! LMAO. But when I go to that link for chat support, it’s asking me which item to discuss… i have 2 more recent ones, that I never started a return request on. The others I HAD requested a return, but the whole stolen car thing but a wrench in that timeline. Do I bring up all of these with customer service at the same time? Not sure how best to go after this… the recent items were less expensive than the dresses I did request the return for… thanks for your advice!! I’ll let you know how it goes!
I was over 60 days from original order; they allowed return but I had to pay minimal restocking fee. Thanks, you saved me $134.00!!!
When did Amazon switch to 30-day returns? That seems to be for every item now, but used to be 90-day.
30 days sucks for me, given they make you go to a UPS store these days, rather than just give you a free label. My nearest one is 60 miles away, so Amazon is likely to become my “last-resort” retailer.
(One of a long list of reasons I’ve gone from loving them (10 years ago) to hating them (now.) Another is that they take 4-9 days to deliver anything to my address, whereas until a few years ago, EVERY item arrived in 2 days. I even tested ordering 2 of the same item, and send 1 to my friend’s house 20 minutes away, and 1 to my house. The friend’s arrived the next day. My identical item didn’t even leave the warehouse for 3 days! Tracking shows it was the same warehouse (located 1.5 hours from me.) Makes no sense!
If you’re returning an item online it’ll ask how you want to return an item. At the end of what it seems to be the only options click *see more” and there should be a free pick up at your home option. I hope that helps you being that you live so far.
Are there any others options other than what’s posted about Amazon returns after 30 days? Thanks! 😉
11/22: I purchased Apple AirPods from Amazon (the 3rd party seller was the actual Apple Co.)
4/23: I had a problem with another pair of AirPods that I purchased and had to bring them to the Apple store to be fixed, and I accidentally had brought along both copies of the serial number (I took a lot of pictures in case I needed to reference to anything so I had the serial numbers from right off the box.) So that day I found out from the actual person who worked at Apple that the AirPods Amazon sold me were fraudulent- not to say that Amazon knew about it but nevertheless., If there was anything worthy of a return surely it would be that, or I thought
Since that day and just about every day, I’ve had the same conversation with dozens of different people and ironically they all say the same thing write down to the letter.
– it’s past 30 days and that’s the return window regardless of whether or not you think they’re fraudulent (No I don’t think…. I know based on the paperwork Apple gave me stating they were.)
– The first question that’s usually thrown at me is: do they work though? Are they defective?…………. You would think the answer to that question would be hidden somewhere in the reason for my return but no.
– God forbid you ever asked to speak with a supervisor and I bet you $100 they will tell you exactly verbatim that it doesn’t matter who you talk to because they have the same opinion as whoever’s on the phone with you and or they’re standing right behind them so there’s no point…. If that’s the case then I really don’t know what the point is of having any employees at all.
– what I continue to point out to them is that they can’t hold me to a 30-day return policy or any kind of policy when what they sold me and what the policy is attached to aren’t the same. Just as I can’t tell you that you had 12 days to return the apples I gave you but really I just gave you oranges instead. This seems to really confuse them… Which brings us right around back to the question of whether or not they are defective.
– at the end of the day, The biggest reason why Amazon will not make an exception and pass those 30 days no matter how many people write official letters stating that they’re not real is because (and this is when I really lose my grip w wth is going on)
I BOUGHT THEM IN NOVEMBER AND DID NOT BOTHER TO LET THEM KNOW ABOUT THE FAKE THAT THEY WERE FAKE UNTIL JUST NOW. — as I said there’s just too many moments and comments like this to really state them all, I can’t decide whether it would become hilarious or infuriating but for me- it’s a waste of over $100 when I really can’t afford that… I don’t care if it’s over 30 days because that shouldn’t apply to something that has been officially confirmed as not being what they sold me.
This is the last thing that I’ll mention that other than the fact that “I just sat around for months giggling about how these were fake before I told anyone” theory— to be even more ridiculous, I was told that the woman I was speaking to didn’t have the capability to print a shipping label and that if I wanted to I could print one and ship the item to them. It’s not until sometime around 10 minutes later because I had to ask several times, Yes I could ship it to them but it would be the equivalent of shipping it to an empty field because nobody was ever going to talk to me about it again. Why? Well let’s go full circle:
BECAUSE I DIDN’T LET THEM KNOW BEFORE 30 DAYS THAT THEY WERE FAKE AND SINCE I WAITED SO LONG, THEY CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT… HAD I JUST TOLD THEM WHEN I RECEIVED THE ITEM THEN I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RETURN THEM.
The fact that I just found out that day because I went to the Apple store is just completely irrelevant and no longer a part of any conversation that I’m continuing to still have with Amazon…. I wish I could just sell them a car made of parts from a junkyard and tell them it’s a Mercedes and then when they come back to me and they tell me that it’s not- then I’ll be able to tell them it’s been over 30 days and I don’t know why you waited but doesn’t it still drive down the road??!!
Anyways, That’s been my horrible nightmarish experience with Amazon handling or not handling my return… Even with the very company they purchased the item from backing me up on paper and or they could call themselves and Apple would let them know. At this point you’ve probably stopped reading which is fine because I feel better just being able to tell somebody… Other than the Amazon person I’m about to speak with. Haha. Dear Lord.
It’s changed my entire opinion about this company which I have been purchasing from and sold on for decades. Thank you for letting me share even though my sharing went way too long!
I appreciate you and the opportunity to tell my UNBELIEVABLE experience ❤️
I know this is really lame, but I can’t find the live chat to do this. Can someone help me?
I only recall seeing the option to chat is when my return doesn’t qualify for a return and it gives you the option to speak to someone either via phone call or chat.
Currently attempting this process. They told me it was not possible in their system. Escalated by asking to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor is taking forever to respond, like literally 20 minutes. I’m not sure if this is normal expected wait time or what. Very frustrated that this worked for so many other people, but I don’t have high hopes that they’ll grant me an extension.
Just tried it. They said “no” because the system wouldn’t let them do it.
Followed your instructions on this and it worked. I was 2 weeks past but they gave me a return code and I am getting my $147 back. Thanks for the help.