As a shop owner the last thing you want is your customers returning items to your store, however these days it is very rare for a shop not to have some sort of returns policy. Unfortunately, debates concerning returns can sometimes become extremely heated between customers and shop owners, which is why you need to know how to handle them correctly. Luckily, Nova Insurance is here to help with our four top tips!

Shop Returns – The Law

As a shop owner you are not legally required to have a returns policy, however you may put customers off purchasing items in your store if you refuse any type of refund. Furthermore, there are laws concerning goods that are considered unfit for purpose or faulty and if you do not adhere to these laws you could find yourself under investigation by the Citizens Advice Bureau. For example, if you sell a customer a camera that they later find out can’t take pictures they have every right to return the product to you and expect a full refund. If this happens in your store the first thing you should do (after refunding your customer) is contact your supplier and request a refund for the faulty product. The likelihood is that if your supplier has created an item that is unfit for purpose they will be more than happy to replace it or issue a refund.

Creating a Shop Returns Policy

Your returns policy will depend on the type of items you sell in your store, for example if you sell jewellery or underwear you may have a strict no-returns policy for hygiene reasons. If this is the case you should make sure your customers know via a small sign at the checkout or a reminder on their receipt. For all other items you will need to decide whether they are perishable and if so what time frame is suitable for your customers to return them in. For example, if you are a florist then you will likely offer a refund for flowers that have died one day after they have been sold, however if a customer returns them after two weeks there is nothing you can do!

Claims without a Receipt

Some customers just don’t understand that it is very difficult for you to issue a refund for a product without the receipt. Without proof of purchase it is difficult for you to determine whether your customer has bought the product from your store or somewhere else, which means that if you do offer them a refund – especially if the product is damaged or faulty – you could end up losing money. If there is nothing wrong with the product that your customer is returning yet they do not have a receipt you could offer them store credit instead of their money back as a good will gesture. The key here is to try and explain the situation to your customer as calmly as possible, which brings us to our next point…

Customer Complaints

As previously mentioned, if your customer believes that you have sold them a faulty item then they have every right to return it and receive a refund. However, every now and again there are customers that will try to break the law by damaging items themselves and then claiming that it was like that when they bought it. Common damages include dents, tears, rips and even burns, most of which are very unlikely to have happened in your store. At this point you need to make an executive decision as to whether you think the customer is telling the truth and if not explain your reasons for not issuing a refund. If a customer becomes aggressive advise them that they can contact the Citizens Advice Bureau in order to make a formal complaint, a complaint which you can appeal against if you believe they are committing fraud.

Regardless the size of your shop you need to make sure you have a returns policy in place. Whatever policy you choose the one thing you must always remember is to keep track of all returns in order to provide accurate budgets for your store.