What's happening
This bill requires large retail businesses in New York to provide itemized receipts upon request and maintain pricing records for 90 days to ensure fair returns.
Why it matters
Protects consumers who receive gifts. By ensuring that itemized pricing information is available and accessible for 90 days after purchase, the bill helps gift recipients return or exchange items at their full value, even if their receipt doesn’t show individual prices.
Increases retailer accountability. Large retailers (with five or more locations) must keep detailed pricing records and reference them for returns, reducing the chance of disputes or under-refunding during returns.
Empowers consumers at the point of sale. Shoppers can request an itemized receipt, giving them direct control over the proof they’ll need for returns, which can be especially important for gifts or bundled purchases.
Supports fair refund practices. Retailers are required to refund the actual amount paid (not just the lowest current price) for non-itemized returns within the 90-day window, promoting fairness and transparency.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ensure Fair Gift Refunds
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Multi-sponsors
History
- Ordered to third reading cal.301
- Advanced to third reading cal.513
- Reported
- Reported referred to codes
- Referred to consumer affairs and protection
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3963
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ, GOTTFRIED, ARROYO, JOYNER, SEAWRIGHT -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. PERRY, SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to ensuring fairness in the value of gifted goods
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 396 of the general business law is renumbered subdivision 4 and a new subdivision 3 is added to read as follows:
3. No firm, partnership, association, or corporation with five or more retail locations in this state, or agent or employee thereof, shall provide a consumer with a receipt that does not include the itemized pricing of any goods or merchandise sold at retail unless requested by a consumer at the time of original sale. If a consumer requests such a receipt, the provider of the receipt shall be required, for a period of ninety days after the date of original sale, to record and have available as a reference the itemized price of each item sold at the time of original sale. Upon a consumer's return of any item accompanied by a receipt not including itemized pricing for any such item, the provider of such receipt shall refer to its records and, so long as the return is within ninety days of the original sale, return to the consumer the total amount paid at the time of original sale in legal tender, a written promise or electronic payment device.
§ 2. This act shall take effect September 1, 2018.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03222-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.