Home Depot Return Policy

The Home Depot return policy can be a little more complicated than other return policies, since a lot of different things have different return times. But hey, that's why I've put together this handy guide. I'll cover whether you can do a Home Depot return without a receipt, how long you have to return your products, and how to return defective or broken items.

1. The Home Depot return policy gives you 90 days to get a refund for most items.

If you change your mind after shopping one of our Home Depot deals, you have 90 days to make a return in most cases.

The exceptions below have a different return window:

• Major appliances (48 hours)

• Furniture (30 days)

• Gas Powered Equipment and Tractors (30 days)

• Generators (other than Whole House and Stationary Generators; 30 days)

• Consumer Electronics like TVs & Computers (30 days)

And if you purchase anything with a Home Depot credit card, you get an extended return window of 365 days.

2. You'll pay return shipping fees unless you bring the item into the store.

The Home Depot return policy uses "free online returns" language, but if you look closely, this is referring to there being no charge to bring your online purchases into a store to process your refund. Should you decide to mail back your HomeDepot.com returns with a prepaid label, the shipping cost will be deducted from your refund. Only in cases where the return is a result of an error by Home Depot will shipping charges be refunded.

Items purchased online can be returned to the store. Just bring your shipment confirmation email with the bar code or the credit card used to make the purchase. Most products have a 90-day-from-purchase return policy, but you'll want to pay attention to their Online Return Policy Exception list for specific category exceptions.

3. The Home Depot plant return policy is 365 days — dead or alive.

You get a one-year guarantee on Home Depot plants as long as you have a physical or digital receipt. Seriously, you need your receipt or all bets are off. I have a special file in my desk just for Home Depot plant receipts. I know others who like to tape the receipt to the plastic pot inside a larger planter, so in case you need it, it's there. You also need the original container from the plant so the Home Depot associate can scan the code in-store.

If the store still carries the plant you killed, they'll offer you a replacement. If the store no longer carries the plant, you'll get a store credit. (So, if credit is what you're after when you kill your fiddle leaf fig, you'd do best to return at a time when there are no new fiddle leaves on the floor.)

This Home Depot plant policy covers all plants: shrubs, trees, indoor, outdoor, succulents, and any perennials. I'm a well-intentioned but often homicidal plant owner, so I know the feeling of standing in line with a dead stick at Home Depot customer service. I've never been hassled or questioned and as long as I have a receipt, the process is easy. If your pride can take the walk of shame, Home Depot will give you the refund.

Note: Annuals (plants that flower, set seed, and die all in one season) are excluded from the plant return policy, but they can be returned within the standard 90 day return policy window. Clearance plants are final sale and cannot be returned or exchanged.

4. The Home Depot paint return policy is only 30 days for unopened and untinted paint.

The official policy is all unopened interior or exterior liquid paint or stain can be returned within 30 days of purchase for a refund. If it's tinted or opened, you're going to be in an exchange-only scenario. Here are a few examples:

Custom tinted paint, opened or unopened, cannot be returned for a refund, unless there was an error in the formula or if the wrong sheen was used, etc. Home Depot will always re-tint your already-tinted can for no cost. And this can happen at any time, even outside the 30-day return window. "Oops" paint — custom-tinted paint Home Depot sells that other customers rejected — is final sale and cannot be returned.

Opened cans of white paint cannot be returned for a refund, but if you accidentally bought the wrong sheen, for example, take it back and exchange it. My store has always allowed me to make such exchanges, though the official policy does not address this specific scenario.

5. Home Depot appliance return policy is only 48 hours, and only to exchange defective products.

Home Depot isn't messing around with their appliance return policy. Officially, all sales are final on major appliances, unless you find a defect, in which case you have just 48 hours from the delivery time or pickup at service deck to initiate your exchange. That's pretty stingy, especially considering Lowes's return policy allows 30 days to return appliances.

6. They can look up Home Depot returns without receipt with your credit card or account.

If you don't have a digital or paper receipt, you've got a few options for returning at Home Depot:

• If you swipe the credit card you used for your Home Depot shopping trip, the associate can scan the item in question and see if it matches a purchase from the past 30 days. Trying a couple different credit cards only takes a few minutes, if you forgot which one you used.

• If you signed into your Home Depot account using your phone number at checkout, you or the associate can look up your purchase within your account.

• Even if you don't have a receipt and they can't look up your purchase, you'll be given store credit, equal to the lowest advertised price within the past 365 days.

So, if you don't have your receipt, make sure you bring one of the following:

• The credit card you paid with

• The gift card you paid with

• Your government ID, required to register a new store credit

• The email address or phone number associated with your Home Depot account

Direct return questions to Home Depot customer support at 800-430-3376, open seven days a week: 6 a.m. - 2 a.m. ET.