LYNN ? Buying a holiday gift from a retail store is the easy part. Attempting to return it can prove more difficult.Gift return policies vary widely by store. According to the National Retail Federation, 11 percent of stores are loosening their policies while 17 percent are clamping down.Some stores have reduced restocking fees and extended return deadlines. Others have continued the use of tracking software to halt the activities of customers who chronically return merchandise or attempt fraud.Edgar Dworsky, a Somerville-based consumer advocate and publisher of Consumer World, an online site that tracks trends such as holiday return policies, said retailers like Sports Authority, Staples, Express, The Limited, KB Toys and other large chain stores typically used tracking systems to monitor a person’s return history.In some instances, keeping with policies hardened over the past decade, many retailers have continued to subject the return of electronics items to stricter rules, compared to clothing, for instance.Digital cameras and computers can often fall under this category of goods more difficult to return.Dworsky said the 2008 holiday shopping season has brought noteworthy policy changes or unusual item return policies. Among them: at J.C. Penney, special occasion dresses must now be returned with the “return tag” still in place. “This thwarts shoppers from wardrobing for a one-time wearing,” he said.At www.Overstock.com, restocking fees can reach 30 percent of the item’s price for some open, used or late items. Another online store, www.buy.com, rejects improper returns and ships back the goods at the buyer’s expense.Although the Target department store chain offers no returns without a receipt, it has an undisclosed policy of allowing a limited number, said Dworsky, adding, “They will also search their system for missing receipts.Other changes for the holiday season come from retailers such as Circuit City, which extended its return deadline to Dec. 31 for all items. Previously, the chain required so-called 14-day items like computers and cameras to be returned by Jan. 8, while other items had until Jan. 25.Sears, which in 2005 introduced a broad 15-percent restocking fee on many categories of goods, has seemingly limited that to electronics, Dworsky said. Besides electronics, beds and software, most goods purchased at Sears between Nov. 16 and Dec. 23 have been given a 120-day return window.Best Buy has shortened its holiday return period for most items by a week to Jan. 24. Computers have the standard 14-day return window. In other words, it’s already too late to return a computer purchased at Best Buy on Black Friday, Dworsky said.Macy’s reduced its stocking fee on furniture from 25 to 10 percent.The online shopping giant www.Amazon.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Marshall’s, TJMaxx, Sears, Staples, Target, Toys R Us and Wal-Mart all have relatively generous return policies, according to Dworsky, whose organization conducts an annual spot check.”Consumer rights vary from state to state with respect to product returns,” he said.Generally speaking, a store can set up any return policy it wants, such as all-sales-final, merchandise-credit-only, or all-returns-in-30-days. Such policies must be clearly disclosed to the buyer, typically through signs at or near the cash register, as well as on sales receipts.To improve the chances of obtaining a full refund, shoppers are advised to keep their sales receipts and, if the gift has been opened, the original packing materials.In Massachusetts, if an item is being returned because it’s defective, the store must give the consumer the choice of one of the three Rs – repair, replacement, or refund, despite the store’s return policy.For more information on return policies, go online to www.consumerworld.org.