You have decided to return it and the request is in. This guide starts at the next moment: standing over the box.
The steps before this one live elsewhere.
- How long you have, and who pays the postage → How long you have to cancel an online laptop order
- Whether what you found is a fault or normal behaviour → How to spot an early defect
- Turning what you found into a record a seller acts on → How to record a fault so the seller takes it seriously
Packing looks like the trivial part. It is where returns actually stall. A machine with nothing wrong with it comes back because “an accessory was missing” or “the packaging was damaged in transit”. Half an hour of care removes almost all of that.
First — who is collecting it
The same return splits into two procedures here, and they diverge later. Find out which one you are in before you pack.
They send a label or a courier. The retailer emails a prepaid return label, or books a collection and a driver arrives. You pack, attach the label, hand it over.
You arrange the carrier yourself. You take it to a post office or drop-off point and pay, usually reclaiming the cost afterwards if the return is for a fault.
The difference matters if the parcel is damaged or goes missing, because who booked the carrier is where that argument starts. Screenshot the return confirmation showing which arrangement applies.
The return number
Most retailers issue a return authorisation number — RMA, return reference, whatever they call it. Two things about it:
- Write it on the outside of the box if they ask you to, and inside on a slip as well. Warehouses sort by that number, and a parcel that arrives without one can sit unmatched for weeks while your refund clock runs.
- It usually expires. Fourteen days is common. If yours lapses before you post, request a new one rather than sending against a dead reference.
When you no longer have the original box
This is the most common worry and the answer is more relaxed than people expect.
The original box is rarely a condition of the return itself. What the retailer actually cares about is that the machine arrives undamaged, and the original packaging is simply the box that was designed to protect it. Check your retailer’s return page anyway, since policies differ.
Without it:
- Use a carton one size larger than the machine, so there is room for padding on every side
- Wrap the screen most heavily. Bubble wrap in several layers, and reinforce the corners separately
- Nothing should shift. Shake the sealed box — if you hear movement, add more padding
- Pack the charger and cables so they cannot press against the lid. An adapter resting on a closed laptop for two days in transit leaves a mark on the display
Remove or completely cover any old shipping labels and barcodes. Automated sorting reads whichever barcode it sees first, and an old one sends your parcel somewhere else entirely.
If you still have the original box, use it. This is the moment keeping it for a few weeks pays for itself.
What goes in, what comes out
One rule: everything that was in the box goes back, everything of yours comes out.
Goes in
- The machine
- Charger and cables, adapter included, as they arrived
- Manuals, warranty cards, printed material
- Spare parts, adapters and dongles that came with it
- Protective films you peeled off, if you kept them
Comes out
- The mouse, sleeve or cable you bought separately
- Memory cards and USB drives
- The SIM — this one gets posted back inside machines constantly
- Anything with your name or address on it
The free gift that came with it
Cancelling an order means returning what you received and getting back what you paid. A promotional item bundled with the purchase is generally part of that, and retailers do deduct its value from the refund when it is not returned.
If you have already opened or used it, say so when you file the return rather than letting it surface after the parcel arrives.
Wipe it just before you pack
Erase the machine before it leaves you. The full sequence is in Wiping a laptop before you sell or hand it on — a return follows the same steps.
One thing differs for a return. If you are sending it back because of a fault, capture your evidence before you wipe. Photographs of the display defect, video of the noise, screenshots of the error. A factory reset clears the logs and settings, and anything you did not photograph is gone.
The order is:
Capture evidence → back up → sign out → remove device locks → erase → stop at the setup screen
Stopping at the first-run setup screen is the end of the process. Signing back in to check puts back some of what you just removed.
Windows’ “fully clean the drive” option takes hours. Starting it the morning of a booked collection is too late.
What to record as it leaves
This is the part of the guide that matters most. The machine is about to leave your hands and all you keep is the record.
A photograph before you seal it. Box open, every item visible in one frame. When somebody says an accessory was missing, this photograph ends the conversation.
A photograph of the sealed box. Taped up, with the label attached and the tracking number readable.
The tracking number as text. Not only in a photo — you will need to search it later.
The time you handed it over. The driver’s collection time, or the time you dropped it off. Keep the receipt from the post office or drop-off point; that receipt is your proof of postage and it is the single most useful thing you will hold.
The return confirmation. This records the reason the return was filed under. A fault filed as a change of mind changes who pays the postage — see who pays the postage.
Four photographs and one note. Five minutes.
If it is damaged or lost in transit
It is uncommon and it happens. The argument turns on three things:
- Who booked the carrier
- What condition it was in when it left you
- Whether it was packed adequately
Your photographs answer two of the three, which is why the previous section exists.
Carriers run their own claims process and the deadlines are short. The moment you learn the parcel has not arrived, tell both the retailer and the carrier. Every week that passes makes it harder to establish anything.
After it has gone
Confirm delivery. Track it and note the date it arrived. That date is your answer to “we never received it”.
Ask when the refund is due. Many retailers inspect returns before refunding, and that inspection window is separate from the refund itself. Record what you were told.
Refunds land at different speeds depending on how you paid. A card refund takes additional days at the card issuer’s end. If you paid by transfer, check that the account details you gave are right.
If inspection reports a problem, ask exactly what it is and ask for photographs. This is where your own pre-seal photograph becomes the other half of the conversation.
If the return is refused, the next step is When a return is refused, check the reason against the law.
Before you tape it shut
- I know whether they are collecting it or I am sending it
- I have the return number, and it has not expired
- If this is a fault return, I photographed the evidence first
- The machine is wiped and stopped at the setup screen
- Everything that came in the box is in the box
- Everything of mine is out, including the SIM
- I have decided what happens to the free gift
- Nothing moves when I shake it
- Old labels and barcodes are covered
- I photographed it open and photographed it sealed
- I have the tracking number written down as text
ReturnCheck does not file the return for you. These are the steps that only reveal themselves after the parcel has already gone, which is why they are collected here.