Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`m adding a shopping cart to a customers site, and am looking  for some good guides/examples for policy pages covering shipping, returns, etc. Does anyone have a good set of examples to base our pages on?


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

You could check the privacy and shipping policies at House of Jerky`s ecommerce site.

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Will do, thanks.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

Hi Webline,

I handled returns for several companies.

First, set a reasonable time frame in which you will accept a return.  Some companies give customers a few days to notify shipper of their intent to return and item.  Others give a 30 day period.  But keep in mind, the longer a customer holds onto an item, the more likely the are to damage it.  The item may also be date sensitive.  So the longer the customer holds the item, the less valuable it becomes.  Your time frame will depend on your product. 

The time frame can also be affected by your order processing.  A major parts supplier for example has a tired return policy.  If a customer returns the part within the first week, the customer gets an 80% refund because the order has not been fully processed and payment deposited in the bank yet.  After two weeks, the customer gets a 50% refund.   This is because now the parts company has to make adjustments not only in their inventory, but their bank records.  After 30 days, the customer gets no refund.

Second, make sure the part is resellable or can be returned to your supplier for credit.  If the answer to either of these conditions is "no", don`t give the customer credit. 

Third, give proper credit.  You should have a return policy that addresses restocking the item.  Keep in mind that the restock fee addresses the cost of processing an item back into inventory. This can be as much as the original cost to process the sale of the item.  This usually runs about $30.00 to $50.00 for the physical labor and paperwork processing.

You also want to give credit based on the price you sold the item for.  You will need the original sales ticket for this.  The sale price may be less than the listed price.  Also, if you are going to send the item back for a refund to your supplier, you will have to deduct your restocking fee your supplier charges you from your customers refund.

Fourth, will you requirer a receipt for a customer to return an item.  It`s not uncommon for someone to try and return an item for a refund to a merchant they did not buy the item from.

Fifth, will you give store credit or a cash refund if the above conditions have been met.  Store credit can give the customer immediate satisfaction.  Cash refunds should take a couple of days so you can research the original sale.

Sixth, no refunds on custom parts or orders.  This will be up to you thought and the type of product you sell.

Finally, post your returns policy in conspicuous places on your web site, store and customers receipt.  That way, the customer can`t claim ignorance of your return policies.

If you need more information, feel free to contact me at culshaw@spcfreelance.com











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The older we get, the more excuses we make for not chasing after our dreams. But truth is, goals are attainable at any age.

Thanks Kathy and Neva.

The products are actually what my employer sells to manufacturers, RV-Sinks.com. We have mostly supplied manufacturers, and done some sales on EBay, but we are going to start focusing on smaller public sales through the site ( eliminating the EBay store ) with payments done through Paypal This is more professional looking than an EBay store, in my opinion. The shopping cart system is not yet live on the site, I`m finishing it up locally right now.

Since I haven`t handled the EBay side of it, I`m not familiar with some of the policies that we have used there, if EBay has unique policies for their store owners, or if there is anything other than that information we need to consider adding for ecommerce. Much of what we do will be up to our company owner, so I guess I just need to put in front of him what should be in place and go from there.



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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons