You bring an item back, and instead of your money, you're offered store credit. Whether that's a reasonable outcome or something you can push back on depends entirely on why you're returning it — and that's the part the sign at the register rarely spells out clearly.
The default: changing your mind is a courtesy, not a right
If there's nothing wrong with the product and you simply don't want it anymore, in most places there's no general law forcing a store to give you anything at all — a refund, store credit, or an exchange are all just policy choices the retailer makes voluntarily. That policy is usually printed on the receipt or posted near the till, and it's the actual contract that applies to this kind of return, which is exactly why it's worth reading before you buy, not after.
When a refund stops being optional
Two situations change this. The first is a statutory cooling-off period — in the EU, UK, and a number of other places, buying online or at a distance gives you a legal right to withdraw within a set window, and that right entitles you to your money back through the original payment method. A retailer can't legally substitute store credit for that specific right, even if their general policy is credit-only for other returns.
The second is a genuinely defective product. That's no longer a "change of mind" return — it falls under legal guarantee or warranty law, which typically gives you a path toward repair or replacement first, and a refund or price reduction if that doesn't resolve it. Store credit alone usually isn't an adequate substitute for that structured process.
Reading the actual difference before it matters
The practical question worth asking at the counter is which category your return falls into: a courtesy return (no legal right, store policy decides), a cooling-off withdrawal (legal right to a real refund), or a defect claim (legal guarantee process, not just a swap). Each one has a different real answer, and "here's some store credit" is only the correct outcome for the first.
Knowing which window you're actually in
Fondly Home tracks both the return window and the warranty status for everything you've uploaded a receipt for, so when something goes wrong you already know which kind of return you're making before you walk back into the store.