How to refund Fortnite skins, emotes and other items

The Fortnite Item Shop is full of enticing digital goodies that will make you one of the coolest players on the map. You can glide onto the map holding onto a shark equipped with a giant laser beam, smash through trees with a vuvuzela pickaxe and even dress yourself as a dinosaur. 

Dropping some V-Bucks on these items is always tempting, as you know everyone will be jealous of your amazing in-game looks when you take them down. But sometimes you might make a mistake, and end up with an item you didn’t mean to buy, no longer want or it’s simply not up to the standard you expected when purchasing it. Fortunately there is a refund system in Fortnite, meaning you can get those V-Bucks back, but there are quite a few restrictions meaning sometimes you may be out of luck. But if you're wondering how to refund Fortnite skins, emotes and other items, don't fret, we have a guide for that.

 Refund rules  

Before you start on your journey to getting a Fortnite refund there are a few rules and conditions that you should know about, and they can impact your ability to get a refund. Easily the most important one to note is that you will only ever get three lifetime refunds. That means from now until the end of eternity you can only refund three items from the Item Shop on your account. There is currently no way to reset this or get more than three refunds. A bit like genie wishes, folks.

Presumably this is to stop people buying a skin, using it for a couple of weeks and then refunding it to pick up the latest new release over and over again. However, the Fortnite forums and Reddit are full of people who claim to have 'accidentally' purchased four or more skins and are unable to get a refund. So be careful when browsing the store, and don’t go refunding items just because you get bored of a skin, as it may come back to haunt you in the future. 

There are also some restrictions on what can and cannot be refunded. If you want to get a refund for your Battle Pass, or Battle Pass tiers, you are unfortunately out of luck, as it is only the cosmetic items such as skins, gliders, emotes, back bling and pickaxes that can be refunded. 

Finally it is important to note that you will only be refunded in V-Bucks. You will not be able to refund for any real money, and V-Buck purchases are also non-refundable. You can also only refund items that you purchased in the last 30 days. 

How to refund an item  

If you do decide that you want to get your V-Bucks back for a purchase you made in the last 30 days then the actual system to get a refund is pretty simple. First off you will need to go to the settings menu by selecting the three bars at the top of the Battle Royale home screen and click on the cog for settings. 

Once you do that you will need to head all the way over to the far right tab, which is the one with the head and shoulders silhouette. Once there you will see unintentional purchases section mid way down the page, which gives you some info about the refund process. 

To start your refund request you will need to hit the big “Submit a Request” button.

This will then take you to a screen that will show you all your purchases that are eligible for a refund. Select the one that you want to refund to advance to the next step. If the item you wish to refund is not shown here it most likely is not eligible for a refund.  

The next screen will give you three options to select from, asking you why you are choosing to refund this item. Your selection here does not impact your refund at all, so there is no best answer to choose. Just hit the one that best reflects your reasons for getting a refund. 

Select “Accidental Purchase” if you accidentally hit that big purchase button on the store or did not mean to buy the item. Choose “Unauthorised Purchase” if someone other than yourself made this purchase, or if the person doing it did not have permission to buy it. And finally select “Item Not As Expected” if you are unsatisfied with the quality of the item you purchased. 

Finally you will be taken to a confirmation screen that reminds you that you can only refund three items ever. If you wish to complete the refund process hit the big “Submit Return Request” button. This will bring up one final confirmation screen where you will want to select the “Yes” option.  

Once you have done this the request will be confirmed, the V-Bucks returned to your account and the refunded item removed from your collection. Just don't get too refund happy. 

Looking for more Fortnite? Here's our Fortnite weapons guide - the best guns and strategies for victory.