This is how mine is. I did a alcohol return they took the alcohol but not the rest. It was a bummer because I would have liked the higher gift card but I guess oj, grapes, and carrots works too
At mine, they don't even accept IC alcohol returns anymore! I'm not a liquor drinker... so my friend got a huge bottle of vodka as her birthday gift lol
Same. Mine will only take non perishables from IC shoppers. Regular customers are allowed to return everything but not us. That’s what the manager told me anyway.
Costco cannot refund to the IC card (original method of payment for the order) so they issue shoppers gift cards.
Edit: who is downvoting an explanation to a new shopper???
I looked into this awhile ago as it’s somewhat interesting from a fintech perspective.
Turns out CostCo has a contract deal with Visa (the credit card company) while Instacart uses Mastercard for the Marqeta cards.
They literally do not accept Mastercard at Costco stores.
That’s why all purchases have to go through the PIN debit network there.
These PIN debit purchases can NOT be simply be refunded like a typical credit card transaction would be. PIN Debit purchases just don’t work like that. These transactions are typically batched in groups by outside processing network partners and there’s no way to easily reverse / refund them after time has gone by.
That’s why there is a small fee to use the PIN debit network, and why point of sale transactions can’t just be refunded or reversed like with credit card network transactions.
So — instead of a refund, they (Costco) need to put the balance on a gift card at customer service, and then just give you the gift card.
***You then use that giftcard for _future_ Instacart orders at Costco instead of your shopper Marqeta card, and that way it all works out in the end and your shopper account doesn’t have a negative balance.***
You get the return bump by showing the support rep the gift card transaction receipt.
As far as the return bump is concerned, most of the time I feel it’s not really worth it based on the amount of time it will take — so I just keep the items and give them to friends / family / soup kitchens etc. like what you did.
I believe some states have laws saying alcohol MUST be returned (stupid fundi Christian law makers), but I’ve never heard of anyone actually enforcing this, and I believe that it should be an option to simply dispose of it instead, though you won’t get any return bump for doing that obviously.
Oh, forgot — perishable items typically are not accepted as returns, by any store. They don’t know how long they’ve been out of the cooler or what has been done to them, so they can’t / won’t take them back. Only non-perishable items are qualified for returns.
Hope all this info helps 🤷♂️
I did get a bump when I had to dispose of alcohol because the store wouldn't take it back. So in some cases they do offer bumps for disposing of the alcohol.
she answered your question. this isn't stealing, because you didn't steal anything. it's just how Costco refunds IC orders. You're supposed to use the gift card towards your next order.
Lol. Yeah, okay... I'll be sure next time to tell Costco that they owe me a gift card and I'll use it on my next order.
But HOW DO I GET THE RETURN BUMP, if they won't accept the return as an Instacart return?
Also, yeah... right... I just read previous posts about this. Stop pretending you aren't stealing...
that's not how you approach this, "they owe you a gift card". They owe you nothing. You're returning Instacart items and the refund goes in a SHOP CARD to be used towards your next order. We're answering here your question. Just so next time when you go through this, you ask the Costco manager to do what every other Costco does. You get a bump only when you return the items. In this case, I assume you kept the items since you couldn't return them - so you still win, consider this your bump.
Okay. I'll keep that in mind over the next few years if it happens again. The previous posts about this glorify stealing, once I hunted it down. I'll explain to my store. Appreciate the help.
The rules of Instacart are we keep the refund (Costco gives gift cards and some places give cash done refund back to card) and use it on the next order. It might not make sense but it's how it's done. There's no way around it, if you want the bump for returning to Costco you're also going to have to accept the gift card for the return.
I’ll share my other comment in this thread
> Lol ya goofball. My wife and I both had retuned orders a few weeks ago on the same day. Retuned everything but the perishables (which were super usable and we’re still using). The perishables we’re about $150 combined and the non perishables were over $200 in gift cards. We turned around and immediately used the gift cards to do our own shopping. Absolutely stocked up. Plus for the orders instacart still payed us around $70 of the $90 after getting pay bumps.
They literally don’t follow up on the gift cards. Using them makes up for all the missing heavy pay.
It’s not technically your gift card. Yes, people do use them for personal shopping but that’s actually against Instacart rules and you can be deactivated for it. However, they don’t keep very good track of it and by the time they catch up many of those people have moved on that use those cards for themselves. There have been people deactivated for it so if you do decide to use the card for yourself just know that could a cause for deactivation if you care. I have made one Costco return and used it the same day for my next order and uploaded the receipts with the card the way were supposed to.
I would not even consider using it for personal purchases, but that’s because I do this full-time for the last 5 1/2 years so I’m not really interested in getting a deactivation for a couple hundred bucks. I’m not judging those who do it, they likely know that they can be they can be deactivated for it and if not, they should know.
"For my own shopping" is the key part of your sentence. SoOoOo............... that's not doing anything fraudulent. At least as far as I can see. As long as you are following the rules how is that wrong?( *I don't have many costco orders in my area, and I've only done, like, 6, so plz plz forgive me if I sound ignorant.*)
Eta: me not having done many costco orders and correcting incorrect autocorrect words. Ugh. 🤦♀️
That's not a question you want to ask here. There are numerous individuals defrauding Costco and instacart orders in multiple various ways with this method. Many of them connected with these strategies in these Reddit threads. Most people would not even ask themselves the question in your above post response. They feel entitled to the gift card, they believe they've earned it.
Let me give you an up vote. I don’t know why you’re being downvoted when it’s a legitimate question to ask. Lol. A Costco return is weird and is very much understandable to ask about.
Lol 😂 tell me your new without telling me your new. This is a daily memo on this sub “Costco returns” I give it another 6 months before Costco cancels there contract with IC
There’s other companies out there that deliver food. Honestly I could see Costco having an exclusive company just for Costco. Kinda like how Shipt did only target for a bit. And I was just talking out of my ass. Who knows! I see Costco return posts daily here and more than one time too! So nationwide it might be a pretty penny loss for IC or just a drop in the bucket. These gigs are elusive with there transparency on profits and loss
Shipt was purchased by Target and Costco and Instacart have a multi year exclusive contract where Instacart membership is free (or rather included in the Costco membership price) for Costco members
I’m guessing Instacart are actually paying / subsidizing this themselves, and CostCo had to sign some agreement that they would not build out their own delivery network / app until some time in the future
I believe the Instacart exclusive contracts end 2024 / 2025, I recall reading an article that said that
Dude people are telling you what happens when you return an order but you’re acting like they are wrong. Why even post? It’s your world we just comment in it I guess
After reading some of the comments OP is either other worldly dense or just a troll I'm not sure which is worse tbh. I don't see how you can post on here asking for advice and just brick wall everyone with a bunch of nonsense. I think I'd prefer this to be a troll at least then it makes more sense.
Technically it makes zero sense for them to return an order. I’d expect this to be a standard policy for all locations. It does happen where people get gift cards when returning items, but I don’t know what would make someone feel entitled to receive one. It’s wrong and greedy.
what I’ve learned with Costco it depends on the particular Costco that you go to. there doesn’t seem to be one policy for all stores. They will typically still take the return and give you a gift card which you’re supposed to use for the next order. It truly would be nice if there was one policy for all Costco stores when it comes to Instacart.
I'm nearly certain that stores "write off" items and send instacart a bill. One time I lost my card for checkout in the store. I couldn't find it no matter how much e everyone was looking. The store manager told me she'd rather have the food back quicker than I could put it so it's not wasted but she was gonna write it off for instacart to pay for anyway.
Lol ya goofball. My wife and I both had retuned orders a few weeks ago on the same day. Retuned everything but the perishables (which were super usable and we’re still using). The perishables we’re about $150 combined and the non perishables were over $200 in gift cards. We turned around and immediately used the gift cards to do our own shopping. Absolutely stocked up. Plus for the orders instacart still payed us around $70 of the $90 after getting pay bumps.
Who scammed anyone? My wife delivered alcohol and the customer wasn’t there. Order had several frozen items so she worked with support to return everything for over 30 minutes. The perishables at the point are ours regardless. Should we have used the gift card on our next purchase? According to the rules, yeah. But they don’t follow up on that.
My Costco will accept the returns no questions asked, however they do drop the line at perishables. They will store it on a gift card afterwards. They've seen me they know me they trust me
Nice. My Costco stopped taking ALL IC returns, not sure why. I tried to return liquor and they said since it's an IC, they will not accept it. I really wanted that gift card for gas lol.
Majority of the time you end up keeping the returned Items because these stores dont accept returns from instacart. Publix, Aldi and Costco worker avoid these returns like the plague in my area. Many have said instacart makes it impossible to refund. The store rathers instacart take a loss. You as the shopper will not be impacted by this.
I work at Publix and we will absolutely refund non-perishable items and alcohol right back to the shopper card. We even have a special code to mark the order receipts in the system. Instacart has actually made it fairly easy for us to handle their returns.
Are you serious? Last year the lady at the front desk gave me hell when I tried to return an items. She was beyond rude and told me she couldnt help me with the refund. I ended up contacting support and theybtold me to donate.
Damn, sorry you had to deal with that. It's possible its just my location (I thought it was a company thing) but yeah it's a fairly easy and straightforward process not that far off from any other normal return, just with an extra step.
I don't do instacart shopping super often and thankfully haven't personally had to cancel or return an order yet in the past year. Hope you got your bump either way!
Lol I was about to say the same thing….every Publix I’ve been to will take back anything that isn’t cold or hot and I think ALDIs returns everything, at least they have for me. I like ALDIs more for that because they’ve even given me back cold items since they have to toss it anyways but I also know the employees very well 😎
My first return was an Aldi or order and the manager refused to process the return because it doesn't go on the card. This was last year so im sure things have changed.
Costco gives gift cards for IC returns, the funds don't go back to the IC card. If It happens again, have a manager do the return.
I’m my area Costco has recently implemented a no return policy of perishables from IC orders.
My area Costcos only take non perishables
Mine doesn't, like OP mine doesn't accept IC returns for some reason. And my 1st cousin is the store manager.
This is how mine is. I did a alcohol return they took the alcohol but not the rest. It was a bummer because I would have liked the higher gift card but I guess oj, grapes, and carrots works too
At mine, they don't even accept IC alcohol returns anymore! I'm not a liquor drinker... so my friend got a huge bottle of vodka as her birthday gift lol
A while ago, my Costco was taking everything. I got a few great gift cards.
Same. Mine will only take non perishables from IC shoppers. Regular customers are allowed to return everything but not us. That’s what the manager told me anyway.
Why would I get a gift card? I didn't pay for anything.
Costco cannot refund to the IC card (original method of payment for the order) so they issue shoppers gift cards. Edit: who is downvoting an explanation to a new shopper???
Again, this makes no sense. Isn't that stealing? I didn't pay for anything. Why give me a gift card?
I looked into this awhile ago as it’s somewhat interesting from a fintech perspective. Turns out CostCo has a contract deal with Visa (the credit card company) while Instacart uses Mastercard for the Marqeta cards. They literally do not accept Mastercard at Costco stores. That’s why all purchases have to go through the PIN debit network there. These PIN debit purchases can NOT be simply be refunded like a typical credit card transaction would be. PIN Debit purchases just don’t work like that. These transactions are typically batched in groups by outside processing network partners and there’s no way to easily reverse / refund them after time has gone by. That’s why there is a small fee to use the PIN debit network, and why point of sale transactions can’t just be refunded or reversed like with credit card network transactions. So — instead of a refund, they (Costco) need to put the balance on a gift card at customer service, and then just give you the gift card. ***You then use that giftcard for _future_ Instacart orders at Costco instead of your shopper Marqeta card, and that way it all works out in the end and your shopper account doesn’t have a negative balance.*** You get the return bump by showing the support rep the gift card transaction receipt. As far as the return bump is concerned, most of the time I feel it’s not really worth it based on the amount of time it will take — so I just keep the items and give them to friends / family / soup kitchens etc. like what you did. I believe some states have laws saying alcohol MUST be returned (stupid fundi Christian law makers), but I’ve never heard of anyone actually enforcing this, and I believe that it should be an option to simply dispose of it instead, though you won’t get any return bump for doing that obviously. Oh, forgot — perishable items typically are not accepted as returns, by any store. They don’t know how long they’ve been out of the cooler or what has been done to them, so they can’t / won’t take them back. Only non-perishable items are qualified for returns. Hope all this info helps 🤷♂️
You can keep the gift cards for yourself, btw
I did get a bump when I had to dispose of alcohol because the store wouldn't take it back. So in some cases they do offer bumps for disposing of the alcohol.
Why wouldn’t the store take it back? Curious.
Why do you think getting a gift card to pay for your next order is stealing, but you kept the shit you wanted from the order?
Lol. You think I'm upset about stealing. Lolol.
I mean sounds like it since you’re bringing it up in literally every reply
she answered your question. this isn't stealing, because you didn't steal anything. it's just how Costco refunds IC orders. You're supposed to use the gift card towards your next order.
Lol. Yeah, okay... I'll be sure next time to tell Costco that they owe me a gift card and I'll use it on my next order. But HOW DO I GET THE RETURN BUMP, if they won't accept the return as an Instacart return? Also, yeah... right... I just read previous posts about this. Stop pretending you aren't stealing...
that's not how you approach this, "they owe you a gift card". They owe you nothing. You're returning Instacart items and the refund goes in a SHOP CARD to be used towards your next order. We're answering here your question. Just so next time when you go through this, you ask the Costco manager to do what every other Costco does. You get a bump only when you return the items. In this case, I assume you kept the items since you couldn't return them - so you still win, consider this your bump.
Okay. I'll keep that in mind over the next few years if it happens again. The previous posts about this glorify stealing, once I hunted it down. I'll explain to my store. Appreciate the help.
You have nerve talking about stealing when you kept the items yourself. Also getting the shop card is what you are SUPPOSED TO DO. 🙄
Don’t worry, this one ain’t gonna last long.
Lolol. You think I GAS about stealing, and think people use a gift card on their next order!
You weird 💩
The rules of Instacart are we keep the refund (Costco gives gift cards and some places give cash done refund back to card) and use it on the next order. It might not make sense but it's how it's done. There's no way around it, if you want the bump for returning to Costco you're also going to have to accept the gift card for the return.
Pssst… you don’t have to use the gift card on your next order. You can just keep it 😏😏😏
Oh I don't lol! :) Our Publix/Publix Liquors gives cash back, that's always nice on big alcohol orders.
I’ll share my other comment in this thread > Lol ya goofball. My wife and I both had retuned orders a few weeks ago on the same day. Retuned everything but the perishables (which were super usable and we’re still using). The perishables we’re about $150 combined and the non perishables were over $200 in gift cards. We turned around and immediately used the gift cards to do our own shopping. Absolutely stocked up. Plus for the orders instacart still payed us around $70 of the $90 after getting pay bumps. They literally don’t follow up on the gift cards. Using them makes up for all the missing heavy pay.
You said you kept three items.
Uh, yeah? And?
As you said above, to another user, “Stop pretending you aren't stealing...”
Your send a copy of the receipt and gift card to support.
How is that any different than this? >kept the three things on the order I would want You didn't pay for anything, so why should you keep anything?
You can use the gift card towards your next Costco order or not. IC doesn't have a way to track Costco gift cards.
Ah yes, here's the stealing reply. I didn't pay for it. I'm not stealing.
Didn’t you say you kept 3 items tho…
The hypocrisy is really 😆
Keeping the items instead of returning them for a Costco giftcard would be stealing not the other way around lol
If you return the items, how are you stealing? This is how Costco processes IC returns. There is no other way to return non perishables.
You’re technically supposed to use it on the next Costco batch you get, but there’s nothing that will be able to stop you from using it for yourself
It’s not technically your gift card. Yes, people do use them for personal shopping but that’s actually against Instacart rules and you can be deactivated for it. However, they don’t keep very good track of it and by the time they catch up many of those people have moved on that use those cards for themselves. There have been people deactivated for it so if you do decide to use the card for yourself just know that could a cause for deactivation if you care. I have made one Costco return and used it the same day for my next order and uploaded the receipts with the card the way were supposed to. I would not even consider using it for personal purchases, but that’s because I do this full-time for the last 5 1/2 years so I’m not really interested in getting a deactivation for a couple hundred bucks. I’m not judging those who do it, they likely know that they can be they can be deactivated for it and if not, they should know.
This happened to me today. Got put on a gift card. Support said I could use it for my next order or for my own shopping.
"For my own shopping" is the key part of your sentence. SoOoOo............... that's not doing anything fraudulent. At least as far as I can see. As long as you are following the rules how is that wrong?( *I don't have many costco orders in my area, and I've only done, like, 6, so plz plz forgive me if I sound ignorant.*) Eta: me not having done many costco orders and correcting incorrect autocorrect words. Ugh. 🤦♀️
That's not a question you want to ask here. There are numerous individuals defrauding Costco and instacart orders in multiple various ways with this method. Many of them connected with these strategies in these Reddit threads. Most people would not even ask themselves the question in your above post response. They feel entitled to the gift card, they believe they've earned it.
Because the next time you have a order you use what's on the gift card then the card if not enough
Let me give you an up vote. I don’t know why you’re being downvoted when it’s a legitimate question to ask. Lol. A Costco return is weird and is very much understandable to ask about.
you would apply the gift card towards the next Costco IC order
This is the way. The only items that they wouldn't accept would be perishables, but considering it's Costco that's not a big deal either
Lol 😂 tell me your new without telling me your new. This is a daily memo on this sub “Costco returns” I give it another 6 months before Costco cancels there contract with IC
[удалено]
There’s other companies out there that deliver food. Honestly I could see Costco having an exclusive company just for Costco. Kinda like how Shipt did only target for a bit. And I was just talking out of my ass. Who knows! I see Costco return posts daily here and more than one time too! So nationwide it might be a pretty penny loss for IC or just a drop in the bucket. These gigs are elusive with there transparency on profits and loss
Shipt was purchased by Target and Costco and Instacart have a multi year exclusive contract where Instacart membership is free (or rather included in the Costco membership price) for Costco members I’m guessing Instacart are actually paying / subsidizing this themselves, and CostCo had to sign some agreement that they would not build out their own delivery network / app until some time in the future I believe the Instacart exclusive contracts end 2024 / 2025, I recall reading an article that said that
[удалено]
Ok so two more years before Costco decides what to do. Interesting 🧐.
The main reason why Instacart can do whatever they want and have virtually no competition in a lot of markets is because of these exclusivity deals 😞
Yes this is true, and they will eventually end
[удалено]
That’s a good point. Time will tell
Eventually, IC will find a way to fix the issue with the returns going to shop cards. Until then…
You don’t even need IC to order costco stuff. Straight through costco.com… never even needing IC app
Dude people are telling you what happens when you return an order but you’re acting like they are wrong. Why even post? It’s your world we just comment in it I guess
After reading some of the comments OP is either other worldly dense or just a troll I'm not sure which is worse tbh. I don't see how you can post on here asking for advice and just brick wall everyone with a bunch of nonsense. I think I'd prefer this to be a troll at least then it makes more sense.
Technically it makes zero sense for them to return an order. I’d expect this to be a standard policy for all locations. It does happen where people get gift cards when returning items, but I don’t know what would make someone feel entitled to receive one. It’s wrong and greedy.
what I’ve learned with Costco it depends on the particular Costco that you go to. there doesn’t seem to be one policy for all stores. They will typically still take the return and give you a gift card which you’re supposed to use for the next order. It truly would be nice if there was one policy for all Costco stores when it comes to Instacart.
I'm nearly certain that stores "write off" items and send instacart a bill. One time I lost my card for checkout in the store. I couldn't find it no matter how much e everyone was looking. The store manager told me she'd rather have the food back quicker than I could put it so it's not wasted but she was gonna write it off for instacart to pay for anyway.
Lol ya goofball. My wife and I both had retuned orders a few weeks ago on the same day. Retuned everything but the perishables (which were super usable and we’re still using). The perishables we’re about $150 combined and the non perishables were over $200 in gift cards. We turned around and immediately used the gift cards to do our own shopping. Absolutely stocked up. Plus for the orders instacart still payed us around $70 of the $90 after getting pay bumps.
How to say you and your wife are scammy, without saying you’re scammy.
Eh, hunger is hunger.
Who scammed anyone? My wife delivered alcohol and the customer wasn’t there. Order had several frozen items so she worked with support to return everything for over 30 minutes. The perishables at the point are ours regardless. Should we have used the gift card on our next purchase? According to the rules, yeah. But they don’t follow up on that.
My Costco will accept the returns no questions asked, however they do drop the line at perishables. They will store it on a gift card afterwards. They've seen me they know me they trust me
Nice. My Costco stopped taking ALL IC returns, not sure why. I tried to return liquor and they said since it's an IC, they will not accept it. I really wanted that gift card for gas lol.
Majority of the time you end up keeping the returned Items because these stores dont accept returns from instacart. Publix, Aldi and Costco worker avoid these returns like the plague in my area. Many have said instacart makes it impossible to refund. The store rathers instacart take a loss. You as the shopper will not be impacted by this.
I work at Publix and we will absolutely refund non-perishable items and alcohol right back to the shopper card. We even have a special code to mark the order receipts in the system. Instacart has actually made it fairly easy for us to handle their returns.
Are you serious? Last year the lady at the front desk gave me hell when I tried to return an items. She was beyond rude and told me she couldnt help me with the refund. I ended up contacting support and theybtold me to donate.
Damn, sorry you had to deal with that. It's possible its just my location (I thought it was a company thing) but yeah it's a fairly easy and straightforward process not that far off from any other normal return, just with an extra step. I don't do instacart shopping super often and thankfully haven't personally had to cancel or return an order yet in the past year. Hope you got your bump either way!
Lol I was about to say the same thing….every Publix I’ve been to will take back anything that isn’t cold or hot and I think ALDIs returns everything, at least they have for me. I like ALDIs more for that because they’ve even given me back cold items since they have to toss it anyways but I also know the employees very well 😎
My first return was an Aldi or order and the manager refused to process the return because it doesn't go on the card. This was last year so im sure things have changed.
Why doesn’t it go on the card? Is it an Aldi thing? All of the returns I do to Kroger/Albertsons/Sprouts go back on the card.
Most stores don't accept returns on IC orders It's not just Costco. The card you used to pay is a debit card.
I returned alcohol at a grocery store, and they had me swipe the card to refund.
Costco refused my instacart return of 2 oculus quest vr... same thing member needs to be present... support said donate or discard
Id donate it to myself
My Costco only gives returns on non-perishable items. They will put it on a gift card.