Getting your store policies 👌 perfect 👌 is super important. This can be the make-or-break difference to whether or not a customer trusts you and feels safe enough to order from you. Your store policies will also set customer expectations, so it’s important to be as specific and detailed as possible. Good, detailed store policies will also save both you and your customer a lot of stress – if they know what to expect and when to expect it, they’re likely to feel safe after they’ve made their purchase and trust that the person on the other side of the internet (that’s you) isn’t a con-artist, and mail you in a panic.
When you set your policies up, it’s very important that you take South Africa’s Consumer Protection Act into account. None of us wants any trouble with the law! Take a look at this page on the Michaelsons’ website regarding South African law about product refunds.
We’ve put together a template for you to copy so that we, your customers and you have a happy and fulfilling online shopping experience. Also, a happy customer might become a loyal return customer, bringing their friends along.
Please go ahead and adapt it to suit you, your voice, and your store.
Our suggestions to you, the seller
- It’s a good idea to offer a free exchange or refund policy (including shipping costs) because this makes the customer feel safe and secure. In our experience it’s rare that a customer will return something, but it’s not rare that the customer will feel safer about placing the order. Weigh up the risk vs reward of this. In our experience, the reward outweighs the risk. Â
- Constant and consistent communication with customers helps them to feel safe and to trust the process of purchasing online. One of the things we value most at Hello Pretty is the customer experience, so a good customer experience will go towards your rating on the site.
- If there may be a delay in the production or the delivery of the product: make contact with the customer. Open communication is better than retrospective lack of communication. Most customer will be happy with slight or reasonable delays as long as they are kept in the know.
Now, copy and paste the text below and modify it to suit your business:
Returns and Exchanges
We hope you love what we made for you. But in case you don't (perhaps sizing is incorrect or it’s just not quite right for you) we’re happy to exchange your item or issue you with a refund. Here’s the skinny on our store’s refunds policy:
Items that cannot be returned:
- digital products and downloads;
- perishable goods such as food and flowers;
- undergarments including swimwear, due to hygiene reasons;
- customized or personalised items such as name customisation or personalised jewellery designs, and
- sale items
In these instances, if you want to return your things then the responsibility for the costs of the shipping to get it back to us is not covered by us.
In instances where you inspect your things upon delivery and find that the product does not meet the type or quality advertised or described, and that you could reasonably expect, or if the goods were made in terms of a special / custom order and the product does not reasonably conform to the specification you provided for your custom / personalised order, then you can:
- refuse delivery
- request and receive a full refund.
In these instances, if you want to return your things then we’ll refund you for the cost of getting your things back to us.
Production / Lead Time
Our products are specially designed and hand crafted for you, or made to order. So, as much as we’d love to get this order to you today, we want your things to be just right. Please take a look at the lead time of what you’re buying. Look at the product page on Hello Pretty and click on the Shipping tab. It’s at the top of that tab.
Please note: the lead time only refers to the time it takes us to make your things. To know when your things will arrive on your end, add the lead time and the shipping time. Eg, if there’s a 4 day lead time and 3 day shipping time, then your order will be with you 7 working days after you place your order.
If for any reason there will be any delays (eg because of an out-the-blue pandemic lockdown, personal family matters, childbirth etc), we’ll contact you asap to keep you up to date. Sometimes your order might be ready earlier, but we plan ahead for a longest-case scenario. When we ship it you’ll get a mail from Hello Pretty to let you know that it’s on it’s way, together with a tracking number.
Privacy
Your privacy is important to us, and for your peace of mind please know that we’ll keep your details private and confidential. We don’t share anything with any 3rd parties except for the courier. They have to know where to take your order to.Â
Customisation
Some of our items can be customised or personalised, or in some situations we need to know what size or colour or text you want (depending on the product). When you order, on step 3 of checkout there’s a box for you to enter order comments. Please fill in all of that sort of information over there so that we know just what you want.
Once your order is placed you’ll get a confirmation mail from Hello Pretty with our contact details. If you forget to specify those details when you placed your order, please drop us a line asap and let us know these details. We can’t be held liable for mistakes if we haven’t received correct instructions.