Receipts are proof of payment that involves both the consumer and the supplier to ensure a complete transaction has occurred between the said parties. Almost everyone nowadays receives a receipt for their purchases of either or both goods and services. Let’s say you have done your shopping packed your bags and are on your way to leave and out of nowhere a store employee stops and asks for the receipt you have. What do you do? let see about Is It Legal to Check Receipts.
What are Receipt?
To answer this question first, we must know what receipts in terms of a consumer are.
- Receipts are proof of a financial transaction between two or more parties (consumer & supplier),
- Receipts are also used for tax purposes as an unquestionable proof of an expense,
- Receipts are usually issued in daily business to a business transactions,
- Receipts are used to show ownership of the said items.
The Answer is NO!
Now that we have understood what receipts are and what general purpose do they serve we can now say that stores or employees do not have the right to ask for your receipt at the store as it would be inappropriate to stand in your way and do such thing and receipts, as we know, are not used or issued to serve that purpose rather it’s something else entirely as we discussed above.
So the simple answer is No! Store owners or employees do not have the right to stop you at the gated front to ask for a receipt.
When should you display your receipt?
There are two circumstances in which a customer is liable to show their receipts.
- Membership Club Stores
- Shopkeeper’s Privilege
Membership Club Stores
- Membership club stores are those that only market and sells their products to members of the store only after signing the contract.
- If you are a member of the big box membership club stores then the store or the store employee can ask for your receipt.
- You will have to show them your receipt and cannot walk away from them.
- It is because you have agreed to do this if asked by signing the contract with them.
Examples:
Many stores offer memberships which are:
- Rapha Cycle Club
- Restoration Hardware
- Walgreens Plus
- The Bike Shed
- ClassPass
- REI Co-op
- BLOK London
- NikePlus
- Amazon Prime
Shopkeeper’s Privilege:
- There are some laws regarding the store personnel about their rights known as the shopkeeper’s privilege laws.
- This law allows the store personnel to detain a person, of course temporarily, if there is a suspicion of shoplifting.
- Store personnel cannot search someone or ask for their receipts if there is no suspicious activity.
- These laws are designed very carefully to recover the stolen property of the store and limit the activity of the store personnel.
- The store personnel cannot also use force until and unless the police arrive.
The Fourth Amendment:
The fourth amendment of the law states that:
‘The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched’
The right to Fourth Amendment:
Generally, people make the mistake of claiming the fourth amendment to the store personnel rather it is to be stated in the presence of the police and to the police. If you feel the store is stopping you unfairly your go-to argument will not be the fourth amendment.
Why do stores check receipts?
Stores often check the receipts of the customers but it is not always bad sometimes they check receipts because of good intentions they can be classified into two groups from the customer point of view for simplicity,
- The Negative Factor
- The Positive Factor
The Negative Factor:
The negative factor for a store to check your receipts and your belongings is to keep the cost down for themselves by deterring shoplifting it is a positive aspect for the store but from a customer point of view, it is rather bad to be called out for checking.
The Positive Factor:
The positive aspect and the good intentions towards a customer of a store are that they might stop you to check your receipt is to ensure that the cashier has put all of your items in the cart and nothing is being left behind ultimately saving the customer their time and money.
Should you show your receipt?
Whether a customer wants to show their receipt or not solely depends on the person but from the positive aspect of the receipt checking might be sometimes useful because the cashier may have left out some of your items in the cart so to save the hassle of going back and forth to store after realizing something missing it is good to check at that moment.
Just keep walking:
If that’s not the case you have checked your items yourself, you are also not a store member, and you are also not guilty of shoplifting then you can go on walking without having to show the receipt even if asked because they do not have the right to check receipts.
