Cannabis returns + refunds — what’s allowed, what’s not, what to put on the receipt

• **Defective product (lab-fail post-sale, contamination, damaged packaging) — refund + product disposed.** Per WAC 314-55-097 the unit can’t go back to shelf even if it looks fine; track-and-trace inventory adjustment + WSLCB-CCRS waste log + signed disposal record. Operator absorbs the cost (usually claimed against the producer per /guides/cannabis-vendor-diligence-fire-or-keep).
• **Customer changed mind, unopened, packaging intact — operator discretion, but NOT back to shelf.** WSLCB doesn’t mandate a no-return policy but the unit can’t be resold. We refund + dispose-as-waste. The cost of the refund is the cost of customer goodwill.
• **Customer changed mind, opened — no refund.** Tamper-seal broken = no traceability chain-of-custody. Sale-was-final position is defensible to the customer + required by audit-log discipline.
• **Wrong product rung at register (budtender error)** — void the original transaction in the POS, ring the correct product, refund the difference. Activity log captures the error + the correction; no inventory leakage.
• **Customer ID expired post-sale, retroactive verification fail** — WSLCB rules don’t require a return; the customer was 21+ at sale time. But operator-courtesy + consistency: refund + dispose-as-waste, log the reason, retrain the budtender on the verification flow.

1. 1**Customer presents receipt + product.** No receipt = manager-on-duty discretion; we look up the loyalty-member purchase history if applicable. No-receipt + no-loyalty = no refund (cash-only policy).
2. 2**Visual + tamper-seal check.** Is the tamper-seal intact? Original packaging? Within the 7-day return window we publish? Each ‘no’ narrows the path to refund + dispose-only.
3. 3**Reason categorized.** Defective / changed-mind-unopened / changed-mind-opened / wrong-product-rung / verification-fail. Different reasons trigger different cost-allocation (vendor claim vs. operator cost) + different audit-log entries.
4. 4**Refund processed.** Original tender method (cash → cash; debit → debit) per WSLCB record-keeping. POS marks the transaction as refunded; activity row stamps reason + budtender + manager-PIN if discount-applicable. Receipt printed showing original sale + refund.
5. 5**Inventory adjustment + waste log.** Per /guides/cannabis-surveillance-discipline + WAC 314-55-097, the refunded unit is disposed (not back to shelf). Track-and-trace inventory adjustment row written; physical disposal logged with manager + witness signatures.

Per /guides/cannabis-dispensary-signage-compliance the policy sign needs to be present + clear. Specific copy we use:

• **Posted at the register, framed:** ‘Returns within 7 days, with receipt, original packaging unopened. Defective product: refunded + replaced regardless of date. Opened cannabis cannot be returned per WAC 314-55-097.’
• **Receipt-printed footer:** ‘Cannabis returns: 7 days, with receipt, unopened. Per WAC 314-55-097 we cannot return opened cannabis to inventory.’
• **On the website + at /pickup-flow customer email:** same language, clearly visible before checkout.
• **No fine-print exclusions.** A defective product gets refunded regardless of packaging state. The operator-side ‘sale was final’ copy applies only to changed-mind-opened.

• **Inconsistent enforcement.** Refunding for friend-of-the-shop customers + saying-no to walk-ins violates WAC 314-55-095-style equal-treatment principles. Same policy for everyone.
• **No paper trail.** Refund processed without an activity row + manager sign-off = the next inspection asks ‘walk me through your last refund’ + you can’t produce documentation.
• **Cash-back larger than original sale.** Customer asks for $50 back on a $42 purchase. Tip-extraction fraud pattern + operator-side cite if you allow it.
• **Returning to shelf even when sealed.** Most cited error in 2024-2025 inspection reports. The unit left the premises; the chain-of-custody broke. Don’t.
• **Skipping the inventory-adjustment row.** WSLCB-CCRS / METRC doesn’t care about the receipt-side refund; it cares about the inventory delta. If you refund without adjusting inventory, the next reconciliation finds the gap.