Shopify gives you the ability to create store policies and legal documents from your Shopify admin with the click of a button. This is important as it gives your customer a written policy that can protect you if you have a customer dispute. Let’s set this up together. From admin, click “Settings” then “Legal.” Let’s start with the refund policy.
Returns, refunds, and exchanges are all a part of doing business. Customers might be unsatisfied with their order for a number of reasons; the product could be damaged, perhaps they ordered the wrong size, or the product didn’t meet their expectations. This is not an ideal experience for a business owner, but it’s a normal part of doing business in e-commerce.
The refund policy is incredibly important. U.P.S. has reported that 68% of shoppers check your store’s return policy before making a purchase. Small business owners that can provide excellent return and exchange policies increased conversion rates.
A return policy that benefits the customer is often the differentiator between businesses that have a strong repeat purchase rate and those that rely on one time purchases only. Shopify has built-in features that allows you to manage returns and exchanges, including the ability to generate return labels for orders. Return labels are pay-on-scan, which means return labels are only charged once they’ve been used.
Here are some considerations when writing your return policy. What items can be returned? What items can be exchanged? What products are “final sale” so non returnable or non exchangeable. When can products be returned? 30, 60, 90 days post purchase? In what condition can items be returned? Lightly worn? With tags still on? How to initiate a return?
Is it an email or a web page that they visit? By clicking “Create from template” you will have a general template you can customize for your business. Note that templates are not legal advice. Once you’ve created your return policy, you can add it to your website footer, F.A.Q. page, product page, cart and checkout. A privacy policy is a statement or a legal document that discloses how you manage your customer’s data. Privacy policies are required by law if you intend to collect personal information like email addresses or your customer’s shipping address. Today customers value transparency when a small business asks for their personal information.
You can generate a policy here and edit it to suit your business needs. It’s recommended that you add your privacy policy to the footer or your contact page of your website. The terms of service are rules a customer must agree to. The terms of service will help you own your content and prevent abuse.
Now let’s create a terms of service agreement here. Be sure you include your business email and not your personal email address. It’s recommended that you add your terms of service to your footer or your contact page on your website. Now let’s add your shipping policy. A shipping policy is not a legal requirement though it’s very valuable to have one as it gives your customer clarity and trust when they buy from you.
It’s important as your customer will most likely view your shipping policy before making a purchase. Here’s what you should include in your shipping policy. Pricing, international shipping options, locations your company ships to, payment options, restrictions, carrier options, customs and duties, and the expected arrival time for the package.
If you don’t have all this information yet that’s OK. You can still launch without all the answers. Shopify makes it easy to update your shipping policy at any time and without the help of a developer. To help your customers have more peace of mind when they make a payment, you can encourage your customers to download a free Shopify app called Arrive to help them instantly track their orders they place on your store or other Shopify stores.
You can put your shipping policy in your F.A.Q., customer service or on your header or footer of your store.
