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Many people are more than willing to pay a fee to gain access to Costco stores. For $60 per year for a Gold Star membership (soon to be $65) or $120 for an Executive membership that gives you 2% cash back (soon to be $130), you can not only enjoy a variety of low-priced groceries and household items, but also additional perks like access to travel packages, cheaper gas for your car, and more.
But some people don’t like the idea of having to spend money just to shop at a store. And technically may You can shop at Costco for almost an entire year without paying a dime. But whether you should use this trick is another story.
How Costco membership fee refund works
Anyone can shop at Costco.com, so if you don’t want to pay for a membership, it’s no problem to use the website, it’s just the actual stores where you need a membership to get in.
However, non-members who use Costco.com pay a 5% markup, so for every $100 you spend, you’ll be charged $105. And certain online items are members-only, so you won’t be able to buy anything with that designation if you don’t enter a member ID number at checkout. That means you can technically pay for a Costco membership up front, use it for most of the year, and cancel it one day before the one-year period is up.
Costco has an extremely generous refund policy that extends not only to inventory but also to memberships sold. If you are unhappy with your membership, you can cancel it at any time and get a full refund. So if you cancel before a year is up, you can get your money back after you have had access to Costco for 364 days.
Why You Shouldn’t Abuse Costco’s Membership Refund Policy
While Costco has a generous refund policy, it’s not stupid. The big-box store giant is aware that customers might try to game the system by canceling their membership at the last minute and then trying to renew it right after.
Often, Costco sets a waiting period between canceling your membership and reactivating or applying for a new membership. This can vary.
There are stories of people being told they had to wait 18 months before they could join Costco again. However, if there was a reasonable reason for your cancellation, such as losing your job, you may have more leeway to renew sooner or immediately. However, if you cancel your membership after 364 days, don’t expect Costco to let you renew a day or so later.
For this reason, you may not want to cancel your membership after almost a full year, even if you are technically allowed to do so. This could mean that you are denied access to Costco for longer than you would like.
Also, you should know that Costco uses its membership fees to cover its costs and pass savings on to its customers. If you game the system by intentionally canceling your membership after nearly a year, you are essentially hurting your fellow shoppers who Are pay for access to the store.
And of course, you can argue that your $60 or $120 doesn’t make a difference to Costco’s bottom line. But if thousands and thousands of people have that mindset, it could have an impact and lead to higher prices for the people who pay for Costco and who need the savings on grocery shopping to be able to afford food. So before you try to live at Costco for free for a year, consider whether that’s really the decent thing to do.
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We strongly believe in the Golden Rule, and editorial opinions are solely our own and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the advertisers involved. The Ascent does not cover all offerings in the market. Editorial content on The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool’s editorial content and is produced by a different team of analysts. Maurie Backman does not own any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns a position in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
