Boston woman uses little-known return hack to get T.J. Maxx items for less. People think it’s genius—but is it ethical?: ‘My kind of gambling’
Everyone loves a good money-saving hack. Any dollar saved adds up in this economy. But when do lines the tricks become morally blurred? One woman shares ‘scammiest’ trick she used for three years at T.J. Maxx to score the items she wanted for a lower cost by using the return stystem to her benefit.
The T.J. Maxx Hack In Question
“The smartest and also scammiest thing I ever did at a T.J. Maxx was when I would bring things from other T.J. Maxxes in the state and consolidate them to my T.J. Maxx,” Massachusetts TikTok creator Jackie Reinhart (@jackrein316) tells over 95,000 viewers before clarifying.
“By consolidate, I mean I’d return them.” Then, she elaborates exactly how she did this. “So, I buy something at price point I did not like at a Natic store and then I’d bring it to mine. Nobody would buy it and eventually get marked down.”
“This store was dead, which also means it doesn’t get a lot of merchandise,” she explains. “So, this store didn’t have a lot of things in it except the things I was consolidating in the store.”
The location she often frequented was so vacant, products wouldn’t budge. “You would get there, it would be on the rack, right? Next week, same exact place. The hanger hadn’t moved,” she says.
For three years, it was a continuous cycle of returning items from several locations to hers and buying them as soon as they hit the shelves at a lower cost. But it eventually came to an end. Now, the content creator yearns for those days.
“I did that for years. It was great. I took it for granted. I didn’t appreciate how rare that was,” she says. “Now I live 15 minutes from one. People go there all the time. It’s picked over. It was a real golden age.”
“I got some great items through this method,” she reveals in the caption.
Is This Ethical?
No, it’s not. This can be a form of return fraud, which Appriss Retail defines as ‘exploiting lenient return policies.’ Whether it was intentional or not, the content creator did take advantage of the return system at T.J. Maxx to snag items for a lower price while simultaneously receiving extra money she spent. Fortunately, she no longer does this since it’s a criminal offense.
Viewers Praised The T.J. Maxx Trick
Regardless of morality and legality, many in Reinhart’s comments section were on board with her T.J. Maxx trick. In fact, would’ve done the same thing.
“That would be a high I’d sadly chase day after day,” one viewer commented.
“My kind of gambling,” another stated.
“You must share what you got!” a third said.
Moreover, others shared similar methods to save a penny.
“I also do this at old navy since I have to order their petite size online, and if you return it in stores, they put it on clearance since they don’t stock petite/tall size in store,” one commenter revealed.
“Two of my siblings would do this with shoes. They wear 17 and 18 so they’d order online for ~$200, return, go back a few days later and pay $100-150 on the clearance rack,” a second shared.
What Does T.J. Maxx Do With Returns?
The department store accepts items in perfect condition within 30 days. After the return is accepted, the money will be issued to the customer’s payment method. The products deemed acceptable are sent back to the sales floors after a thorough inspection. Of course, the condition in some of these returns can be debatable, as noted in a r/TjMaxx subreddit.
“We definitely don’t throw out returns. As a matter of fact sometimes we keep things that should be thrown out lol,” one alleged T.J. Maxx employee disclosed.
Keep your eyes peeled for yellow and red tags and end caps as those are treasure troves of clearance and pre-owned items.
@jackrein316 I got some great items through this method.
♬ original sound – Jackie Reinhart
The Mary Sue reached out to Reinhart via email and TikTok direct message as well as T.J. Maxx via press email.
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