In fact, many retailers now don't even ask for the card when you make a return. They scan the receipt, pull up the original sale, and credit the original card. If you don't have a receipt, you can usually only get a store credit.

Nordstroms has gone so far as to put a scan sticker on the tag of every item at the time of sale. My wife was able to return something without the receipt and still have it credited back to the original card without presenting the card again.