If your home business involves the selling of products (and some services), then whether or not to offer returns is one of the choices and decisions you need to make. If you are working in direct sales for a larger company, you likely have an established policy for how to handle returns of defective merchandise or items that customers are unhappy with—but, if you are building your own business without an umbrella company, you’ll have to make your own decisions and establish your own policy regarding returns.
When, how, and under what circumstances are you willing and able to offer returns. Some find that they can make returns for whatever reason; while other businesses definitely set some parameters around the reasons they will take returns. Damaged merchandise and a wrong fit might be reasons to offer a return. I’ve noticed with many businesses who sell merchandise on E-bay, however, that a wrong size is NOT a reason for a return—the assumption being that enough information is being offered in the narrative in terms of measurements that the customer should be able to purchase the correct size.
How you deal with returns is another decision to make in your policy. Will you offer a full refund, credit a credit card or offer credit toward a future purchase? Will there be a time deadline or constraints on how long after purchase you will take a return or make a refund? What sort of proof will a customer need to supply in order for you to offer the refund or take the return?
As you think through these questions and come up with the answers that work best for your home business, it is a good idea to put your return and refund policy down in writing. This may help to alleviate any confusion and actually provide potential customers with some security and information they can use in evaluating whether or not to make a purchase. Many customers prefer to purchase from vendors or businesses where they know they will be able to make a return or get a refund if necessary.
See Also: How do You Handle Complaints? and Should You Have a Written Payment Policy?