Eddie Bauer: Recycling Old Shirts For $260 In Store Credit

The Deal Messiah recently returned from a Brett Favre style retirement with a $260 return at the local Eddie Bauer retail store. Like "magic" he turned 6 cotton/cashmere long sleeve shirts originally purchased back in 2006, into $260 in store credit, alakazamm! The Deal Messiah bends the rules as Moses parts the seas. It was a fine day overall for the Deal Messiah.

I neatly folded the old shirts, and brought them into the store in a respectable looking Banana Republic bag, for the look of "legitimacy".



It's always important to size up the employees working at the store, when deciding who you should present your return to. Pesky managers can have a tendency to get rankled when you present clearly used clothing that may or may not still be registered in their system due to it's age. In my case, I went for a 20 something somewhat competent looking employee. Probably not old enough to be the manager, but most likely knew enough to be able to process the return without "asking permission" from the store manager. Bingo.

20 minutes later, I had a store credit for $262.50, as good ol' Eddie even refunded the tax I had paid on the shirts several years back. I was expecting $20 a shirt which was in line with a clearance sale they were running in the store, but to my delight, received a credit of $40 per used shirt. WHATS UP.

Another benefit of taking your returns to the store, is that they have phones inside the store. If you order in the store, shipping is free. I also timed the return with a huge clearance sale Eddie Bauer was running, so that I could leverage my store credit even further. As you can see, I came away with quite a haul. I also had $82.65 leftover in credit, for future use.