Beginners Guide to eCommerce - 'Returns'
by Palyn Peterson

Having a good return policy is crucial. Often customers will research that on your site before ordering anything. If they don't find a policy, they will assume they can't return things and move on.

Don't worry, this is easier than it sounds. If you use distributors, your return policy is your distributors return policy. Just find out the rules for that, post them on your site and you are golden.

Usually, the distributor will give you an address for customers to ship the products back to them, and sometimes the customer will need an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) number. This number you get from your distributor and give to the customer.

If the distributor charges a restocking fee, charge your customer a restocking fee. If you ever have any questions or worries, your distributor can answer them all.

If you do not use a distributor, then you will need to come up with your own return policy.  A standard one is a 60-Day money back guarantee.  Your customer will just need to return all the materials and you cut them a check.  Just a suggestion: visit sites like yours and see what their policy is and use the best aspects of them all.

For information products, here is an interesting statistic: The longer your return guarantee, the less returns you will have.  Sounds odd, but it's true!  It's because people will feel less rushed.  They will put off the return, sometimes indefinitely.  And, when a person sees a long guarantee, they feel much better about buying.  It will speak volumes about the quality of your product and company.