Retailers including Amazon, Costco, Target and Walmart began rolling out holiday sales as early as October. But there is no need to rush to buy wool scarves, fuzzy throw blankets and the other gifts on your list the moment tinsel appears on store shelves — particularly when it comes to return policies.

James Malm, a finance professor at the College of Charleston who studies how people and companies make financial decisions, explains why the holiday shopping season now starts so early: it helps retailers attract more customers while allowing cash-strapped shoppers to stretch purchases across multiple paychecks. For shoppers with deeper pockets, buying gifts early can spare them the stress of last-minute shopping.

Why retailers start so early

Estimates for U.S. spending on holiday gifts, decorations and related items between late 2026 and January 2027 range from about $1 trillion to $1.7 trillion. According to the Bank of America Holiday Spending survey, about 29% of Americans plan to spend their share of those sums in early to mid-December this season, while 17% will shop on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Many shoppers, however, buy holiday gifts early — meaning before Halloween. Some do so out of necessity: they cannot afford all the gifts they want to give unless they spread the cost over multiple paychecks. For others, it is a matter of preference. In a 2025 survey, about 54% of early shoppers said they wanted to manage their budgets gradually, while 41% said they bought gifts early to avoid the stress associated with last-minute shopping.

Retailers are adjusting by starting holiday sales earlier and promoting seasonal items well in advance. By offering deals months before gift-giving begins, they can encourage even more people to join the early birds, and by launching promotions in October they may capture sales that would otherwise go to competitors later in the season.

A longer selling season offers other advantages. It can ease pressure on supply chains and logistics, since retailers can receive seasonal orders across three months instead of one or two, minimizing shipping difficulties and lowering warehouse overhead costs. More time on the calendar to move seasonal inventory also gives retailers additional opportunities to sell those items. Even so, an earlier shopping season does not necessarily increase overall consumer spending — some purchases may simply shift from December to October.

Return-policy pitfalls for early shoppers

To make sure buying gifts well before the holidays is a wise move, early shoppers should read vendors' fine print and research return policies. Many big retailers are making their policies more restrictive by shortening the time allowed for returns and adding return or restocking fees. In some cases, the deadline for returning an item can fall before the holidays.

Best Buy's extended policy takes effect in 2026 only for purchases made on or after Oct. 30. Target similarly restricts its holiday-season returns window to items bought on or after Nov. 1.

Amazon extended its holiday return policy in 2026. Items bought between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 can be returned until Jan. 31, 2027 — except for Apple products, which can be returned until Jan. 15. Anyone who bought gifts before that period will likely be subject to the standard 30-day return policy, which will expire long before Christmas.

The fine print matters here: the extended windows are exceptions to the broader tightening of return policies, covering only purchases made within specific date ranges. A gift bought during the October promotions that open the season will likely stay on the standard 30-day clock, and because the cutoffs differ by retailer — Oct. 30 at Best Buy versus Nov. 1 at Target and Amazon — the same purchase date can carry different return deadlines depending on where the gift was bought.

When buying early makes financial sense

Shopping early is smart when the costs of waiting could outweigh the benefits of spending money earlier than necessary. Consider a popular wool scarf priced at $100 in October that is out of stock on Amazon by November. The supply is gone, but demand remains high. A shopper who wants the scarf as a gift and needs it to arrive on time may have to turn to other retailers, perhaps finding it on another website for $150. If time has run out, expedited shipping might add $30, bringing the total to $180. Clearly, buying early at the lower price would have been the better move.

That does not mean rushing to buy a gift weeks or months before it goes under the tree. Shoppers should first make sure a price is in line with their expectations and what they are willing to spend, and do some comparison shopping to confirm other retailers are not charging less for the same or similar items. Waiting until the last minute can also lead to unnecessary costs, such as rush shipping fees. The key is to have a budget, recognize when the price is right, and know when to stop shopping.

James Malm is Professor of Finance and Director of the Global Business Resource Center at the College of Charleston.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.