Do you guys refund shipping fees as well?

[Xeon]

Let's say we've a 30-day return policy for customers who don't like the product.
When refunding the fees back, is it standard practice to refund the shipping fees (standard economy shipping) as well?

Seems a lot of businesses don't. Not sure if it's a standard practice.

 

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[Supercar]

If you charge shipping fees then you keep them.
If you offer free shipping then you don't.

 

[ddzc]

This is a tricky area. I offer free shipping and I have a return policy laid out which accept returns in 30 days, but the buyer must pay the shipping expenses. I've only had a couple returns and one of them went smoothly, while the other one went on a rampage about how it's bs, etc etc. She literally ranted all over my social media, my fb ads and wrote a 1 star review about it.

I would lay it out on the return policy and have them ship it on their own expense. If things turn ugly, try to split it 50/50. If it's a super lightweight product and costs $5 to ship back, then as a third option, I would cover the expenses. If your margins are great, and the shipping is cheap like the above, I might even change my approach and just cover the fees all together. Keep in mind, people nowadays are spoiled with Amazons free next day shipping and free returns, we need to be on the same playing field with the norm.

 

[Supercar]

The return shipping is pretty much always paid by the buyer. The rare exceptions are Amazon Prime, for which customers pay an annual fee, and some companies that sell clothing and offer a guaranteed fit and a first exchange free.

Just wanted to add that the best online companies offer an option to initiate the returns online (without calling or emailing) and also allow to print cheap return shipping labels.

 

[Walter Hay]

The most difficult part of educating my franchisees was to teach them to go the extra mile.

It might cost you to give free return shipping but think of that as an advertising cost. You can sometimes turn a dissatisfied customer into one who will sing your praises. That's far better than the extremely negative and potentially damaging reaction experienced by @ddzc.

Walter

 

[theag]

I refund everything and let them keep the stuff too. Don't want to deal with the hassles of returns. Fingers crossed that the refunded customers don't spread the word about my giveaway business model lol. I have very low refund rates though, so probably not such a good idea if yours are average/high.

 

[ColbyG]

I refund everything and let them keep the stuff too. Don't want to deal with the hassles of returns. Fingers crossed that the refunded customers don't spread the word about my giveaway business model lol. I have very low refund rates though, so probably not such a good idea if yours are average/high.

A watch company (cant remember which) did this for me. Watch turned up broken and they gave me a full refund, plus a $50 voucher for their store and let me keep the watch. Pretty cool of them.

 

[biophase]

A watch company (cant remember which) did this for me. Watch turned up broken and they gave me a full refund, plus a $50 voucher for their store and let me keep the watch. Pretty cool of them.

I pay their return shipping costs and issue full refunds.

 

[Jade.backer]

I also wanted to know the same thing.