Shipping and return policies tips for your business

Shipping policy

Your shipping policy should clearly explain the facts of when and how customer orders are handled and shipped. Although you can determine some conditions of this policy, you must also adhere to the FTC's mail or telephone-order merchandise rule. According to the FTC, your online site must

Ship an order inside the timeframe you promised at the time of ordering or as mentioned in your advertising or on your Web site. Ship a product within 30 days after it's received, if you don't specify an earlier timeframe. Give notice to some consumer as quickly as possible whenever you cannot ship that person's product when promised.

Include a revised shipping date in the delay notice you send to a customer. Allow a person to accept a delay in order to cancel a purchase and supply a description of the time required for a refund.

Return policy

Include in your return policy the circumstances under which allowing customers to come back a product or decline something. Will the client receive a full or partial refund of your stuff? A great policy should protect both you and your customers. Be specific about your return policy so that customers clearly understand (and aren't surprised at) your rules. Your policy should include these elements:

Time period limit: Set the most length of time within which coming back will be accepted.
Conditions of use: Keep up with the right to reject a return if the item shows obvious signs of use, for example.
Restock fee: Explain any fees suffered by restocking a returned item.
Exceptions: Specify any items that cannot be returned.
Shipping responsibility: Determine who pays for the price of shipping when a product is returned.
Refunds issued as cash or credit: Decide whether to issue store credit rather than give cash return.
Third-party rules: Direct customers to consult the return policies of third-party vendors if you sell their items.

As e-commerce grows, so does the issue of customers taking advantage of online retailers.

Let your return policy protect you by limiting the amount of days you agree to accept returns. Customers should have lots of time to evaluate products (three to five days is a reasonable period of time) but not utilize it indefinitely before demanding their cash back.

When you are selling products via a third-party vendor, such as a storefront or perhaps an auction site (like Yahoo! or eBay), make sure to check if the company includes a mandated return policy. The seller site's policy can override your internal return policy.

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