Can you use someone else's membership at costco?

[Sash[DSL]]

I have a card with someone else's picture on the back. Will that be an issue?

[gilboman]

you cant use it unless the person is there with you. and yes it will be an issue

[nogoro]

someone I know borrowed his dad's card (with permission), but costco confiscated the card and it was a hassle to get it back... so don't do it :)

[Phr3sh]

someone I know borrowed his dad's card (with permission), but costco confiscated the card and it was a hassle to get it back... so don't do it :)

I also went with my dads card and while it was easy to get in it is way harder to actually buy something with it (I didn't actually try). I was talking to one of the employees there who was really nice and ended up asking her about it and she told me that if they find out they will confiscate it, so nogoro is right.

[Carpe Diem]

My picture on my Costco card look's nothing like me, Give it a shot!

[qster]

They confiscate the card in question.
They shame you in front of the other people waiting in line...

You leave pissed or embarassed.
I see it all the time, people trying to scam the system.

What I don't get is... if you are spending $100/week at costco, upgrade and pay for the $100 Executive membership as it will pay for itself and then some.

[Narci]

What I don't get is... if you are spending $100/week at costco, upgrade and pay for the $100 Executive membership as it will pay for itself and then some.

This is RFD your talking about here, same people who buy 2 whoppers for $1 each instead of just adding a patty for $1, then combine the 2 whoppers and save the extra bun, tomatoes, condiments etc from the second whopper for later use.

Back on topic, I did use my dad's business card once and they were nice enough to tell me not to do it again and let me make a purchase.

[dragon_drift]

good thing my dad came with me one time. i bought something with his card, while he was at the food court waiting for me. The cashier gave me an ugly hateful stare. but i was courteous throughout the ordeal, when she got pissed and started talking behind our back to some other worker. :mad:

[Badman]

This is RFD your talking about here, same people who buy 2 whoppers for $1 each instead of just adding a patty for $1, then combine the 2 whoppers and save the extra bun, tomatoes, condiments etc from the second whopper for later use.

Back on topic, I did use my dad's business card once and they were nice enough to tell me not to do it again and let me make a purchase.

:| ......Don't tell me you do that

[aimfox]

ROFL. My dad's face and my face looks the same so hell yeah, they dont notice! Ask for ID, I box them with ID!

[ES_Revenge]

One question about the use of "dad's" card mentioned in a few of the posts above... Now I can understand why they wouldn't allow that if you're an adult, living at a different address, etc. but are you guys also saying that say someone younger like a teenager, that lives with their parents, can't use the membership of their parents? Like Costco requires every individual to get their own membership? So your husband/wife could not use your card either?

Seems a little strict, no? (Especially shaming you, LOL.)

[spf1971]

One question about the use of "dad's" card mentioned in a few of the posts above... Now I can understand why they wouldn't allow that if you're an adult, living at a different address, etc. but are you guys also saying that say someone younger like a teenager, that lives with their parents, can't use the membership of their parents? Like Costco requires every individual to get their own membership? So your husband/wife could not use your card either?

Seems a little strict, no? (Especially shaming you, LOL.)

You can get a spouse/other card on your membership for someone living in your house.

[honest thief]

Does the person who has the membership have to pay for the purchase or can someone else with the person who has the membership pay for the goods?

[nogoro]

Does the person who has the membership have to pay for the purchase or can someone else with the person who has the membership pay for the goods?

my experience has been they don't care who pays... just need:
1. valid costco card
2. that person has to be visible to cashier

[kuqdew]

No, how on earth can you?

[Kris81]

i went once & had to get a guest pass with the name of the school that my mom works at to let me pick up some stuff... they gave me a hard time about it & i said "i'm glad my mom makes these decisions on where to buy bulk from.. i guess i'll tell her to renew at sams club"

once i did that i shopped with no problems

[Jon Lai]

Tip for you guys that want to go in without a membership - get someone with a membership to buy gift cards for you online in small denominations. Your Gift card acts as a membership card. You pay by cash or any other payment methods if your transaction is more than the gift card value, and next time, take another gift card with you.

[Tha_Doggg]

I used to go with my dad's card all the time. Never got questioned until about 2 months ago when the cashier noticed that it was a different person. The supervisor let me go through that time but put some kind of a "note" on my dad's card and told me to not do it again. I have my own card now.

[gman]

my experience has been they don't care who pays... just need:
1. valid costco card
2. that person has to be visible to cashier

In my experience, they do unless you pay cash. The credit card you use needs to match the membership.

[Sash[DSL]]

Tip for you guys that want to go in without a membership - get someone with a membership to buy gift cards for you online in small denominations. Your Gift card acts as a membership card. You pay by cash or any other payment methods if your transaction is more than the gift card value, and next time, take another gift card with you.

really? Is shipping free for online orders?

[gman]

;5962820']really? Is shipping free for online orders?

You don't have to ask your friend to buy that online. Member can buy that from the store.

[watodo]

my mom has used her sister in law's card several times with no problem.

me and my coworker used another coworker's card with no problem.


but now I got my own card anyways

[pintobean]

I bought a membership and gave my wife the free spouse's card.
Then she lost the card.
So we went and had another card made for her (it was free).
Two days later she found her original card.
We compared the two cards, and the numbers were the same.
So she kept the new card, and gave the original one to her younger sister.
Her sister never gets hassled because she looks quite similar to my wife.
So basically her sister (who lives at a different address) got a free membership!

[supersnazz]

Does the person who has the membership have to pay for the purchase or can someone else with the person who has the membership pay for the goods?

my friend who was with me (who doesn't have her own card) was told that she had to pay cash and couldn't use debit, to pay for her purchase.

[The_dream2k]

I bought a membership and gave my wife the free spouse's card.
Then she lost the card.
So we went and had another card made for her (it was free).
Two days later she found her original card.
We compared the two cards, and the numbers were the same.
So she kept the new card, and gave the original one to her younger sister.
Her sister never gets hassled because she looks quite similar to my wife.
So basically her sister (who lives at a different address) got a free membership!

I thought they cancelled the old card when the new one is issued

[pintobean]

I thought they cancelled the old card when the new one is issued
Apparently not...
The new card has the exact same number and bar code as the old card except it has a new picture.

[MegaSilver]

Does the person who has the membership have to pay for the purchase or can someone else with the person who has the membership pay for the goods?

My wife goes with her mother all the time. My mother-in-law has a Costco membership, my wife does not. One time they broke up what they were purchasing so they could pay for what they were getting. Simple enough. Mother-in-law buys her stuff. Then, while she stood beside her, they would not let my wife pay for her purchases with her debit card. My mother-in-law had to make the purchase and pay her back. Crazy!

[Sash[DSL]]

Thanks a million to all that replied. Especially gman and Jon Lai for providing a simple viable solution to my problem.

[pintobean]

My wife goes with her mother all the time. My mother-in-law has a Costco membership, my wife does not. One time they broke up what they were purchasing so they could pay for what they were getting. Simple enough. Mother-in-law buys her stuff. Then, while she stood beside her, they would not let my wife pay for her purchases with her debit card. My mother-in-law had to make the purchase and pay her back. Crazy!
The exact same situation happened once with me and my brother.

Since I'm an a$$ when I'm challenged on something stupid like this, I chose to argue with the cashier.

I politely said "Fine I'm the member and I'll pay for the purchases, but I want to use a different debit card than the one I just used to buy my stuff"; I then openly took the debit card from my brother and told him to tell me his PIN. I then presented his debit card to the cashier and said that I'd punch in the PIN. She sighed and refused and called the manager. The manager came and said that what I was trying to do was not allowed, so I asked him to point out the rule that says that members can only pay with their own personal debit card. He couldn't do that, but he said "Why don't you just pay and let your brother pay you back later?" So I said "Why don't you just let me use his card and save me the hassle? Why does it matter to you so much which account the money comes from?" He finally said "OK we'll allow it, but just this one time..."

That policy really is crazy.

[selpats]

That policy really is crazy.

You are missing the point though, it's a private business and they can do what they want pretty much. If you don't like the policy don't shop there...

The reason they don't want people doing that is that they are losing out on another membership fee, pretty simple to understand.

[pintobean]

You are missing the point though, it's a private business and they can do what they want pretty much. If you don't like the policy don't shop there...

The reason they don't want people doing that is that they are losing out on another membership fee, pretty simple to understand.
Ummm no...I think you're missing the point.

I was buying some stuff for myself and using my membership so that my brother could get some stuff too. The store doesn't have a problem with this at all...they just wanted me to pay for everything. That means that they didn't care that the stuff was going to my brother, they just didn't want to let him pay.

If the store was actually worried about losing out on the additional membership fee, then they would have said that I could only buy stuff for my own personal use and they would have told my brother to get his own membership. That's not what happened, so obviously your suggestion that they're worried about losing the additional membership doesn't really fly.

In any event, I still think you're right...but I guess the store doesn't want to make a drastic move and say that members can only buy for themselves, so they try and make it inconvenient for members to buy for other people...

[gman]

Ummm no...I think you're missing the point.

I was buying some stuff for myself and using my membership so that my brother could get some stuff too. The store doesn't have a problem with this at all...they just wanted me to pay for everything. That means that they didn't care that the stuff was going to my brother, they just didn't want to let him pay.

If the store was actually worried about losing out on the additional membership fee, then they would have said that I could only buy stuff for my own personal use and they would have told my brother to get his own membership. That's not what happened, so obviously your suggestion that they're worried about losing the additional membership doesn't really fly.

In any event, I still think you're right...but I guess the store doesn't want to make a drastic move and say that members can only buy for themselves, so they try and make it inconvenient for members to buy for other people...

Of course, Costco does not want members just buy for themselves. Small store owner buys stuff from Costco and then resell it. You just 'resell' to your own brother.

[LonesomeDove]

For a spousal card, must the person live with you? With the same address?
I thought I might give the spousal card to my niece but do they ask for their driver's licence or some other document that show the same address as you.

[watodo]

For a spousal card, must the person live with you? With the same address?
I thought I might give the spousal card to my niece but do they ask for their driver's licence or some other document that show the same address as you.


yes, must live at the same address, they will ask for proof (usually driver's licence)

[dmxlite]

Ummm no...I think you're missing the point.

I was buying some stuff for myself and using my membership so that my brother could get some stuff too. The store doesn't have a problem with this at all...they just wanted me to pay for everything. That means that they didn't care that the stuff was going to my brother, they just didn't want to let him pay.

If the store was actually worried about losing out on the additional membership fee, then they would have said that I could only buy stuff for my own personal use and they would have told my brother to get his own membership. That's not what happened, so obviously your suggestion that they're worried about losing the additional membership doesn't really fly.

In any event, I still think you're right...but I guess the store doesn't want to make a drastic move and say that members can only buy for themselves, so they try and make it inconvenient for members to buy for other people...

selpats does raise a valid point. If someone wants to keep shopping there, but knows there's going to be a hassle every time this happens, wouldn't he/she want to avoid that hassle? In this case, get his/her own membership.

Correct me if I'm wrong, cause I got the impression that you're arguing who can pay for what, and method of payment (ie. you use someone else's debit card)

I don't think the store is saying you can only buy for yourself, I'm sure they expect the products to be resold, or given out, etc. However, they want to make sure it's purchased by the member. Also, by making the member use his/her own card, it could cut down the rates of fraud. Wouldn't you find it weird if Person A buys something with Person B's card?

[ES_Revenge]

He couldn't do that, but he said "Why don't you just pay and let your brother pay you back later?" So I said "Why don't you just let me use his card and save me the hassle?
Literally LMFAO when I read that... Too funny :lol: Makes perfect sense right? I mean you're already on the second debit transaction at this point anyway so what difference does it make for them? Absolutely none, but they like to make hassles for you anyway. I so hate that--it's more of a control/authority game than a common sense one.

You are missing the point though, it's a private business and they can do what they want pretty much. If you don't like the policy don't shop there...

The reason they don't want people doing that is that they are losing out on another membership fee, pretty simple to understand.
True, they can do what they want and they do have a right to protect their membership policy as that's the basis for the way the store works. However the situation above was just ridiculous. It really made no difference what debit card the money came from, it's all money. It's like say his brother pulled cash out of his pocket and gave it to his brother in the checkout line and then they said to him "okay you can't buy this stuff now get out!"--that's more Costco-Nazi than protecting their membership model.

Tip for you guys that want to go in without a membership - get someone with a membership to buy gift cards for you online in small denominations. Your Gift card acts as a membership card. You pay by cash or any other payment methods if your transaction is more than the gift card value, and next time, take another gift card with you.
Wow, you can do that? Really? Haha, that's pretty cool. So you can have a $10 GC and spend like hundreds there on just one purchase you want to make heh.

Hopefully they don't catch on to this and make you have or buy a membership if you want to use their gift cards.

[ES_Revenge]

For a spousal card, must the person live with you? With the same address?
I thought I might give the spousal card to my niece but do they ask for their driver's licence or some other document that show the same address as you.

It's called a spousal card though, no? Are you married to your niece? LOL. I think that probably sums that one up. I mean I could be wrong, but given what else we've heard about the membership policy I highly doubt they would believe you were married to your niece, hahaha :lol:

An interesting thing about the mention of Costco expecting (or not expecting) members to [i]only buy things for themselves personally... Wouldn't that be kind of ironic? I mean isn't a lot of their stuff (particularly food) sold in quantities larger-than-most-stores? That doesn't sound like the bachelor-shopping kind of place to me, LOL. I mean unless they mainly cater to overweight over-eaters, how could they possibly expect all shopping done on any membership to be done solely for a single person's use???

[sheepdogexpress]

At our location if you lose 1 card and ask for another, they will cancel the card and add a new number.

If you try to use your old card. They will confiscate the old card and make you a new one if you are one of the original card members.

I think they changed this policy about a year or so ago because I remember a time when they didn't change the numbers.

[gman]

An interesting thing about the mention of Costco expecting (or not expecting) members to only buy things for themselves personally... Wouldn't that be kind of ironic? I mean isn't a lot of their stuff (particularly food) sold in quantities larger-than-most-stores? That doesn't sound like the bachelor-shopping kind of place to me, LOL. I mean unless they mainly cater to overweight over-eaters, how could they possibly expect all shopping done on any membership to be done solely for a single person's use???

I don't think Costco said in anywhere that the stuff the members buy is just for themselves. They want one transaction and one payment from one member. They want you to buy as much as possible but that needs to be in 1 transaction made by the member (unless you line up again).

They disallow you split one transaction into 2 receipts. You can line up again but you can't do that on the spot. They allow you to put a subtotal on the receipt but there is only one receipt. That save their transaction fee and also time (for the people waiting behind).

[profguy]

You are missing the point though, it's a private business and they can do what they want pretty much. If you don't like the policy don't shop there...

The reason they don't want people doing that is that they are losing out on another membership fee, pretty simple to understand.

+1 ... Why do you think they have pictures on the card - it's an individual membership. The poicy is only "crazy " becasue you don't want to pay the fee.

[urban1]

Its a great policy that they dont let you split up your bill into multiple receipts and have each one paid individually.

Sure its no big deal when its you and your brother. But then next week your bring your brother, your other brother, your sister, your dad, and your neighbour and his kids. Why buy 5 memberships when you have one that everyone can use and they can just split up the bill into 5 or 6 different bills?

Costco does you a favour where they will split the bill and show each order with taxes separately. Dont shop there if you dont like it.

[Slapshot747]

OK Im thinking of buying a 50 dollar gift card from costco for my friends.. They are not members. So im guessing they can go in and shop and pay with there card without getting a membership?..how much more will they let them purchase over the 50 bucks?....:)

[kleptodathief]

true: i've NEVER shopped at costgo ...its 50/year? is there a lifetime cheaper membership?

[kuqdew]

dont be cheap

[AzN_RiverdaleCI]

I look like my dad so I used it and got away fine.