A policy offering refunds while requiring the buyer to pay return shipping on a heavy or cold-chain item is offering less than it appears.
A policy offering refunds while requiring the buyer to pay return shipping on a heavy or cold-chain item is offering less than it appears. The cost allocation is the first thing to look for and is frequently the least prominent line.
Policies run from dispatch, from delivery, or from purchase, and the difference matters most where shipping is slow. A window stated without a start point is not a window.
Unopened, unused, original packaging — each excludes a different set of real situations. A policy requiring unopened return cannot cover a complaint about the contents, which is the complaint most likely to arise.
Policies distinguish damage in transit, wrong item, and item not as described. The third is the contested one, and a policy that does not define it has left the decision entirely with the seller.
A usable policy says where to write, within what period, and what must be supplied. Vagueness here converts a stated right into a negotiation.
Exclusions are normal and should be named. A policy that excludes a category silently, and applies the exclusion only when a claim is made, is worse than one that excludes it openly.
A payment-provider dispute is a separate mechanism with its own rules and time limits, and it is not what a refund policy describes. Relying on it is relying on a third party's process rather than the seller's commitment.
Most policies are short because the obligations are small. Reading what is absent is more informative than reading what is present, and the six points above are the ones most often absent.
Consumer protection law in many jurisdictions grants rights that a policy cannot remove, and a policy more restrictive than the law is unenforceable to that extent. Knowing which floor applies matters more than the policy text where the two conflict.
Card schemes impose their own deadlines for raising a dispute, usually counted from the transaction rather than from delivery. A long shipping window can consume much of that period, which is worth knowing before waiting to see whether a problem resolves.
The claims on this page about six things a usable policy answers, and what silence on each implies can be checked against sources outside this site: