10 things every sales shopper needs to know

Leave it later and you’re entitled to either a replacement or a partial refund.

5. You don’t need a receipt to return faulty items

The law just requires proof of purchase. A receipt is easiest but, if you don’t have it, a credit card or bank statement may provide the evidence needed.

However if goods aren’t faulty, many stores do require a receipt to return them. And then, because they are being generous to allow returns at all, if they say “jump up and down and call me Tigger” to get your money back, be prepared to bounce.

6. Your legal rights are the SAME in the sales

Even when things are discounted, you have the same rights if goods are faulty. Yet if they’re not faulty, you’re again reliant on the store’s own policy, and some SUSPEND their usual return rights in the sales, so check before you buy.

The same applies if you’re buying second hand – provided you’re buying them from a trader (someone who buys and sells for a living, not a private individual selling personal items). The only difference is there can be a lower expectation of what is ‘satisfactory quality’.

7. If you’re told ‘take up the fault with the manufacturer’, say no

If goods are faulty, your legal contract is with the firm you bought them from.

Some try to fob you off to the manufacturer, but it’s the retailer’s job to put it right. This applies even if you have a warranty – that’s just extra protection, for when you don’t have statutory (ie. legal) rights.

8. There is no ‘goods must last two years’ rule

There is an urban myth that an EU rule means electronic goods must last at