Holiday return policies for tech: the dates, fees and exceptions to check before you buy

Most big stores stretch their holiday return policy in November, so a gift bought now can still go back in January. The fine print is in the exceptions: phones, drones, cameras and opened games often play by shorter or stricter rules. Here is what to check before you buy, with the 2026 dates from Apple and Best Buy as worked examples.

The holiday return policy dates at Apple and Best Buy

Both stores published their 2026 holiday terms on their own help pages. We read them on Nov. 12, 2026.

• Apple: eligible products bought on the Apple Store Online and received between Nov. 6, 2026 and Dec. 25, 2026 can be returned through Jan. 8, 2027. Outside that window, Apple’s standard policy gives you 14 calendar days from the day the item arrives. Anything bought after Dec. 25 goes back to the 14-day rule. Source: Apple’s returns and refunds policy.
• Best Buy: most purchases made Oct. 30 through Dec. 31, 2026 can be returned through Jan. 15, 2027. Outside that window, the standard return period for most products is 15 days. Best Buy counts the day you get the product as day 1. Source: Best Buy’s return and exchange policy.

If you pay for a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, your window is longer: purchases made Oct. 30 to Dec. 3, 2026 can go back through Jan. 31, 2027, and purchases made on or after Dec. 4 get 60 days. That longer window does not cover items sold by outside sellers on Best Buy’s Marketplace.

The exceptions that catch people out

The holiday dates are the headline. These smaller lines decide whether you actually get your money back.

• Phones and cellular devices. Best Buy calls these activatable devices: phones, tablets with a cellular plan, hotspots and cellular smartwatches. They keep a 14-day return period even in the holiday window, for members too. Verizon devices get 30 days. At Apple, iPhones financed through T-Mobile or Verizon, and iPads financed through Verizon, are not covered by the holiday window.
• Restocking fees. Best Buy charges $45 to return an opened activatable device (prepaid phones excluded) and 15% of the price on opened drones, digital cameras, camera lenses, camcorders, action cameras and projectors. There is no fee if the box is unopened, or if you bought it in Alabama, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma or South Carolina.
• Opened games and software. At Best Buy, opened physical games, software, movies and music can only be exchanged for the same item, not refunded.
• Protection plans. Best Buy’s holiday extension does not apply to AppleCare+ plans.
• Where you bought it. Apple only takes back items bought from Apple. An iPad bought at another store goes back to that store, under that store’s rules.

Here is what that looks like with real numbers. A $400 drone bought at Best Buy on Black Friday, opened and flown once, can still be returned through Jan. 15, but in most states you would get back $340 after the 15% fee. Leave it sealed until the person you gave it to decides to keep it, and you get the full $400.

How to check any store’s holiday return policy in two minutes

If you are a shopper who buys early and wraps late, this is the step that matters more than the discount. Before you pay at any store, search its name plus “return policy” and look for these four things on the store’s own website:

1. The holiday dates. Two dates matter: when the purchase window starts and ends, and the last day to return. Write the last day in your phone’s calendar.
2. The device exceptions. Look for words like “activatable”, “cellular” or “carrier”. Phones are almost always on a shorter clock.
3. The fees. Search the page for “restocking”. If a fee applies once the box is opened, ask the person you are buying for before you unwrap anything.
4. Who the seller is. Marketplace and third-party sellers on big store websites often follow their own, shorter policy.

Then keep the receipt (a photo of it works), keep every part of the box, and ask for a gift receipt at checkout. A gift receipt lets the person you are buying for exchange the item without seeing what you paid.

Planning the rest of your holiday shopping? Our guides cover how to tell if a Black Friday deal is real, how to spot a fake Black Friday site and how to set a holiday tech budget you can stick to.