IKEA Return Policy in Canada: Time Limits, Receipts & Warranties

IKEA Canada takes back a new unopened product within 365 days and an opened product within 90 days, with proof of purchase. That's four times the general 90-day window at Canadian Tire or Home Depot, but the policy is conditional: the item's condition decides both the deadline and how you get your money back.

The policy excludes cut fabric, custom countertops and products that have been heavily used, dirty, stained, damaged or modified. Source: IKEA Canada return policy.

Opening the box shrinks the window from 365 to 90 days. After 90 days, an opened product falls outside the return policy, even if it was never used.

Assembled furniture can still go back: IKEA takes back opened products within 90 days, "even assembled ones," as long as they are unused and re-saleable. How you're refunded then depends on signs of use:

• Assembled, no evidence of use: refunded to the original payment method.
• Tested and tried, some traces of use: refunded on an IKEA refund card.
• Heavily used, dirty, stained, damaged or modified: excluded from the return policy.

For a purchase made on November 2, 2026, the return window for an opened item ends around January 31, 2027, and for an unopened item around November 2, 2027. Here is each deadline, calculated from the official time limits.

Mattresses come with one more constraint. IKEA recommends waiting at least a month for your body to get used to a mattress before exchanging it. If you follow that advice, your real decision window runs from about early December 2026 to January 31, 2027: roughly two months, not three.

After 365 days, IKEA no longer takes the item back under the return policy, but it may be eligible for the IKEA Sell-back program, according to the official page.

Without proof of purchase, IKEA refunds on an IKEA refund card at the lowest selling price in the last year, instead of to your card or original payment method.

In practice, losing the receipt costs you twice. First, your money stays at IKEA as store credit. Second, if the item went on sale at any point that year, the sale price is what you get back, even if you paid full price. On a sofa or a kitchen, the gap can be significant.

The same rule applies to an item bought at an IKEA store abroad, if it is part of the Canadian range: refund card, at the lowest selling price in the last year.

A receipt printed on thermal paper can fade well before 365 days are up. If yours is getting hard to read, see what to do with a faded receipt.

Once a return is no longer possible, a defective product can still be repaired or replaced under an IKEA limited warranty, which lasts 2 to 25 years depending on the product. A warranty doesn't extend the return window: it covers defects, not a change of mind, and it gets you a repair or replacement, not a refund.

To make a claim, the upholstered furniture warranty brochure is explicit: "The original purchase receipt is required as proof of purchase." IKEA's help page also accepts a receipt or order number, and says that without a receipt IKEA will try to verify your purchase. See how to keep receipts for warranties.

In Quebec: the warranty of good working order adds to it

Since October 5, 2026, certain goods bought new from a merchant in Quebec carry a legal warranty of good working order: free repair by the merchant or manufacturer for a set period counted from delivery. It adds to the IKEA warranty; one doesn't replace the other.

Furniture, mattresses and kitchens aren't on the warranty of good working order list. For those, the IKEA warranty and Quebec's general legal warranty apply: goods must be fit for normal use for a reasonable time. For how these protections differ, see store vs. manufacturer warranty.

An IKEA receipt proves the purchase, but it barely identifies the product: the printed line gives the series name and an abbreviated description, without the colour and often without the size. When you return only part of a purchase, that's a real problem.

On our demo IKEA receipt, the same line is printed three times, character for character. Here's what ReFound identified behind each one:

If you want to return only the grey washcloth, the receipt can't tell you which of the three lines it is. The same question comes up with furniture sold in several finishes, and when you file a warranty claim you'll also need to name the right model. Full details of these examples are on our IKEA receipts page.

1. Check the item's condition: unopened (365 days) or opened, even assembled (90 days, if unused and re-saleable).
2. Find your proof of purchase: store receipt or order confirmation. Without it, you're refunded on a refund card at the lowest selling price in the last year.
3. If your store offers it, register the return in advance: you'll get a QR code by email or text, valid 14 days, to show at the returns desk.
4. Check whether your store requires an appointment: IKEA notes that some locations do for returns.
5. Bring the card or payment method you used, since eligible refunds go back to it.

In ReFound, the receipt, the identified product, the receipt barcode when it's detected and the payment method are grouped in the return view. ReFound shows an estimated return deadline based on the merchant's general policy, when it's known; it doesn't know whether you opened the box, so the 90-day limit is yours to watch. With ReFound Pro, you get a reminder 3 days before the return deadline and 30 days before a warranty ends. For something a family member bought, see how to share a receipt.