Originally Posted by pushback

Believe me--they would if they could. They don't have the systems in place and until they are able to track items right down to the serial/item number level its impractical to expect that they will. If you buy $100 in groceries on one card and $10 on another, then return a carton of milk, who's to say (at the bank level) which purchase it came from. I'm sure they will get there someday as the brother gets bigger but they aint there now and as I said, given how they shaft the consumer at every opportunity, my heart doesn't bleed for them when I find our a few clever folks find a way around.

So, instead, they stick it back to the merchant and put the responsibility in their merchant agreement, telling them they can lose their ability to accept plastic for non-compliance. The Best Buys of the world that sell electronic gear with serial numbers can incorporate this into the POS systems and relate specific goods to a specific credit card purchase. Smaller stores or stores that sell non-serialized items (such as socks) have a harder time. It requires manual scrutiny of the receipt. Enjoy the fun while you can because when RFID ( www.spychips.com ) becomes the prevailing POS and inventory technology (sooner then you think) even socks will have a unique number.

Someone mentioned Costco. Costco uses the manual scrutiny method. It’s hit or miss as to whether or not they will notice a different account number—depends on all the usual factors (how long the line behind you at the return counter is, whether or not the phone is ringing, IQ of CSR (though Costco tends to hire bright people, until Wal-Mart, et al.)) What they do tend to notice is whether or not you are asking for cash vs. a credit to your card when you bought someone on your card. If you show no receipt you get a store credit card now—they used to give cash.