Can you do this or is it shoplifting?

It's not shoplifting unless you walk completely out of the store without paying for something.

But security can certainly follow you and/or stop you and question you if they think it looks suspicious.

In most if not all locations, the criminal standard is met as soon as you demonstrate the intent to deprive the rightful owner of their property without paying for it. This can indeed be met by so much as putting an item in your pocket or purse while still in the store.

Many stores have a **policy** of waiting to apprehend someone until they walk out of the store without paying. At that point someone's intent can be easier to prove. If apprehended in the store, they can try to claim they would have paid at the register, etc.

It is a MYTH that the legal requirement is that someone must leave the store before it's shoplifting. That's a common store policy. But the criminal legal standard is met earlier while still in the store, and someone CAN be detained, arrested, and convicted for actions they take without leaving the store.

If you buy it, then its not shop lifting but the store owners have a right to be suspicous

In MOST states, you can be CONVICTED of shoplifting as soon as you place store property into the bag so it is not readily visible. In ALL cases, you can be convicted as soon as you pass the checkout without paying.

In many places that would be considered shoplifting.

You must exit the premises before they can accuse you of shoplifting.