As one of the most popular stores in the US, Costco is an excellent place to secure pretty much any everyday item you could wish for.
They stock a wide array of batteries including everything from standard AA, AAA, and 9v batteries, to leisure and car batteries.
But what if you want to make a return if the battery isn’t performing, is defective or you’ve simply changed your mind about your order?
Most stores have a limited return window in which to return things so it’s vital that you act quickly if you want to make a return.
To help you there, we’ll cover how long you get to make a return, how to make a return, warranty periods, and much more…
Let’s dive in…
What is Costco’s Battery Return Policy? The Short Answer
In short, you can return defective car and large leisure batteries any time within the warranty period (usually 6-36 months) for a full refund or replacement.
Costco doesn’t specify a timeframe for returning car and leisure batteries that aren’t defective but still need to be replaced (e.g. if they don’t fit etc..). We did reach out to Costco to comment but the assistant wasn’t able to tell us (probably because there is no official policy).
However, in our experience, Costco will usually exchange them or offer a refund as long as they’re still functioning and you’re within the life expectancy of the battery.
For smaller batteries such as AA, AAA, and 9v, again, Costco will usually exchange them or offer a full refund provided they haven’t been used.
If you use them and then attempt to return them, Costco is likely to reject the return as they specifically state the following within their policy:
“Products with a limited useful life expectancy, such as tires and batteries, may be sold with a product-specific limited warranty.“
In other words, Costco is unlikely to tolerate people depleting batteries and then seeking to rely on their generous returns policy, which would clearly be an abuse of the system.
How to Return Batteries to Costco?
You can return batteries to Costco either in-store or by using the mail-in process.
In-Store
You can return batteries to any of Costco’s warehouses and this applies even if you ordered the battery online.
This is probably the fastest and easiest way to return batteries and will ensure you get a refund/exchange as soon as possible.
Mail-in
You can also use the online returns process mail-in process.
- Log into your Costco account
- Go to orders and return
- Picking the returns option
- You are then given the option to print off a returns label
- You will then need to drop your battery or batteries at local USPS pick-up point
Costco provides free returns delivery with USPS and there are no restocking fees to worry about.
How Long to Get a Refund from Costco for Returned Batteries?
The quickest way to obtain a refund is to take the battery or batteries back to any of Costco’s stores.
Your refund will usually be dealt with there and then
If you return the battery or batteries using the UPS pickup service, we would leave it up to 10 working days by which point you should be notified by Costco that your return has been processed and your money refunded.
What is the Warranty on Costco Batteries?
The warranty on most car batteries is 36 months.
This is confirmed on their sister website where they sell Interstate Batteries:
For other large batteries such as leisure batteries, this can be as low as 6 months.
To check, simply go to the listing on Costco.com and look for the warranty period:
For 9v, AAA, and AA the guarantee is usually 5-12 years:
Check out Costco’s full warranty information for full details on what the warranty covers (this is for their Interstate car and leisure batteries).
How Does Costco’s Return Policy Hold Up?
If you’re undecided about whether to source your next battery or batteries we’ve taken a look at the market to see how other return policies compare.
Here’s what we discovered:
| Store | Return Policy/Warranty |
| Walmart | 90 days for most batteries and a 1-year warranty with car batteries |
| Amazon | 30 days and varying warranties depending on the brand |
| Autozone | 90 days and varying warranties depending on the brand |
| BatteriesPlus | 14 days and varying warranties depending on the brand |
Final Thoughts
Costco’s warranty on its car batteries is fairly standard across the industry and what you would expect.
However, the 6-month warranty provided with its smaller leisure batteries is a bit underwhelming and you can usually pick batteries up elsewhere with warranty periods of up to 3 years.
Unfortunately, Costco doesn’t stipulate their returns policy where batteries are returned for other reasons than being defective but they’re usually extremely flexible and happy to help.
The only time you’re likely to be refused a refund/exchange is if you’ve completely worn the battery down or you’re months beyond the warranty period.
Returning smaller batteries such as 9v, AAA, or AA that have been used and are depleted isn’t advisable and appears to be ruled out under Costco’s policy.
We’d therefore refrain from returning them unless you’re really underwhelmed with the performance or think they’re defective in some way.
Otherwise, we’d stick to only returning smaller such batteries if they’ve not been used and are like new.
