WEBVTT 00:00.110 --> 00:03.800 So now it's time to start talking about returns and refunds. 00:03.830 --> 00:11.210 Not the most exciting subject I know, but it is essential because it is simply part of doing business 00:11.210 --> 00:12.860 as an e-commerce store owner. 00:12.860 --> 00:15.560 At some point you are going to have to deal with this. 00:15.560 --> 00:22.370 But please don't worry because typically we count on about a 1 to 2% refund rate, so it's by no means 00:22.370 --> 00:23.120 enormous. 00:23.120 --> 00:26.960 So what are the most common reasons for returns or refunds? 00:26.990 --> 00:31.190 Well, in no particular order, they are simply don't like the product. 00:31.190 --> 00:32.540 It's broken. 00:32.570 --> 00:36.020 Not what they ordered and it never arrived. 00:36.050 --> 00:39.980 Now of those four, we can certainly manage two of them quite well. 00:39.980 --> 00:43.760 So when it comes to the product being broken, you will remember the golden rules. 00:43.760 --> 00:46.640 And I said, do not ship fragile products. 00:46.640 --> 00:52.040 So if you don't ship fragile products, it's likely that you shouldn't get too many returns or refunds 00:52.040 --> 00:54.170 based on the fact that the product is broken. 00:54.170 --> 00:59.600 And then when it comes to the product having never arrived, let's not forget you are tracking the products, 00:59.600 --> 01:04.570 which of course doesn't mean it guarantees delivery, but at least you can see exactly where the product 01:04.570 --> 01:05.140 is. 01:05.170 --> 01:11.080 Now, of those four, I would say that number three is the least common, not what they ordered, because 01:11.110 --> 01:13.990 at the end of the day, they're ordering from an e-commerce site. 01:13.990 --> 01:18.070 It's pretty difficult for somebody to say, well, that's not what I ordered, when in fact we can see 01:18.070 --> 01:19.750 that that was exactly what they ordered. 01:19.750 --> 01:23.620 But of course, if they simply don't like the product, then there's really not an awful lot we can 01:23.620 --> 01:24.400 do about that. 01:24.400 --> 01:27.760 But in any case, what we need is a refund policy. 01:27.760 --> 01:33.970 And that refund policy, and this is really important, should work with the customer, not against 01:33.970 --> 01:34.690 the customer. 01:34.720 --> 01:38.110 Don't forget, the customer is always right. 01:38.140 --> 01:38.650 Okay. 01:38.680 --> 01:41.530 So with all that in mind, let's head back to the policies. 01:41.530 --> 01:46.540 So coming down to settings and then scrolling down towards the bottom here I click on policies. 01:46.570 --> 01:52.480 Now I'm sure you remember many lectures ago we set up the privacy policy and the terms of service. 01:52.480 --> 01:57.670 And at that time I said later on in the course we will create the refund policy. 01:57.670 --> 02:00.280 So of course that time is now. 02:00.280 --> 02:06.090 And so clicking into the refund policy, you can see that the text is currently blank, and it would 02:06.090 --> 02:12.810 seem that the obvious thing to do is to simply click on Insert Template in order to insert a ready made 02:12.810 --> 02:14.790 return and refund policy. 02:14.790 --> 02:19.050 But in fact, this is not a great refund policy for us. 02:19.080 --> 02:24.120 And the reason for that is because this refund policy is not ideal for dropshipping. 02:24.120 --> 02:31.050 It is a very generic policy that could work for any business, and in particular larger businesses where 02:31.050 --> 02:36.750 they perhaps have warehouses where they can receive return products and teams of people to deal with 02:36.750 --> 02:37.770 those returns. 02:37.770 --> 02:43.770 Because one thing I want you to clearly understand is that returns and refunds can take an awful lot 02:43.800 --> 02:44.400 of time. 02:44.430 --> 02:47.460 First of all, you've got to enter into discussion with the customer. 02:47.460 --> 02:51.240 Then you've got to ask them to send back that product and track its return. 02:51.240 --> 02:55.890 Once you've then received the product, you might then need to go back to the supplier to open a dispute 02:55.890 --> 02:56.670 with them. 02:56.670 --> 03:00.480 You may then also need to resend a replacement product back to the customer. 03:00.480 --> 03:03.150 And of course you'll need to make the refund itself. 03:03.150 --> 03:06.450 I think you can clearly see how much time that could take. 03:06.450 --> 03:13.610 Now keep in mind, as I just showed you on the last slide, only 1 to 2% of sales can result in refunds. 03:13.610 --> 03:18.650 So if you spend an awful lot of time doing returns and refunds, it's disproportionate. 03:18.680 --> 03:20.210 It doesn't make sense. 03:20.210 --> 03:24.350 Your time could be way better spent elsewhere developing your business. 03:24.350 --> 03:30.200 And it's therefore for that reason that we put together a very different looking return policy for dropshipping, 03:30.200 --> 03:31.850 which might surprise you. 03:31.850 --> 03:34.580 And this is what that refund policy looks like. 03:34.580 --> 03:38.720 Instead of returning items, you can contact us for a full refund. 03:38.720 --> 03:45.350 Why returns run counter to our emphasis on sustainability, as every return has a carbon footprint. 03:45.380 --> 03:50.750 To be eligible for a full refund, please send us a picture of the item to info at. 03:50.780 --> 03:53.960 And then of course your shop would be your domain.com. 03:53.990 --> 03:58.280 After that, you can either keep the item or you might want to donate it. 03:58.820 --> 03:59.030 Now. 03:59.030 --> 04:04.340 At first sight that might seem a little bit crazy, but if you step back and think about it, it has 04:04.340 --> 04:05.720 huge advantages. 04:05.720 --> 04:10.690 First of all, this is a very customer friendly returns and refund policy. 04:10.720 --> 04:16.300 You are never going to get into a dispute with your customer with this in place, which can only have 04:16.300 --> 04:22.330 a very positive implications for your customer service and the overall credibility and reputation of 04:22.330 --> 04:23.140 your store. 04:23.170 --> 04:28.900 Secondly, we are not asking them to return the product, which means we are not potentially spending 04:28.900 --> 04:34.060 a large amount of time dealing with the whole refund and return process, which, as I just pointed 04:34.060 --> 04:36.940 out, can be incredibly time consuming. 04:36.970 --> 04:41.950 Now, although we're asking them not to return the product, of course we are offering a refund. 04:41.950 --> 04:46.630 We can still give them back their money, and that process is very quick and simple as I'll show you 04:46.630 --> 04:47.350 in a moment. 04:47.380 --> 04:52.690 So sometimes what happens when I show this to students is they say, well, surely this is open for 04:52.690 --> 04:53.290 abuse. 04:53.290 --> 04:57.880 Somebody could buy a product from our store, make a complaint and then they get to keep it. 04:57.880 --> 04:59.950 Plus we could give them a full refund. 04:59.980 --> 05:03.580 They have effectively got something from our store for free. 05:03.610 --> 05:07.390 Now, there's no denying theoretically at least, that that could happen. 05:07.390 --> 05:13.360 But in the many years that we've been using this returns policy, We have never seen that kind of abuse. 05:13.360 --> 05:16.930 But even if that were to happen, yes, we would lose money. 05:16.930 --> 05:22.990 But compared to the amount of time and money required to manage a full returns and refunds policy, 05:23.020 --> 05:24.850 it is absolutely minuscule. 05:24.880 --> 05:31.030 So, in short, the overall objective here is to have a very customer friendly returns and refund policy 05:31.030 --> 05:37.390 that hardly occupies any of our time at all, so that we can spend our time building the sales and profitability 05:37.390 --> 05:40.900 of our business, which of course is our primary objective. 05:40.930 --> 05:45.970 Now, I want to make it clear that you're also not obliged, of course, to use this refund policy, 05:45.970 --> 05:48.460 but I strongly suggest that you do so. 05:48.460 --> 05:50.890 And so of course, that's what I'm going to do. 05:50.920 --> 05:56.620 I'm going to take out all of this text and then replace it with my chosen refund policy. 05:56.620 --> 06:02.500 And just in case you're thinking I'd rather not type out all of that text, I have good news because 06:02.500 --> 06:08.230 in the resources section for this lecture, you're going to see a PDF with this text included. 06:08.230 --> 06:11.440 And so all you need to do is to copy and paste it. 06:11.440 --> 06:15.420 And then with that done all I need to do is to click on publish. 06:16.500 --> 06:22.800 I'll then come out of the settings and then open up the store itself, because you will remember that 06:22.800 --> 06:27.660 we put the other policies down at the bottom here, the privacy policy and the terms of service. 06:27.660 --> 06:34.260 But because our refund policy is so customer friendly, in my opinion, rather than putting it at the 06:34.260 --> 06:39.240 bottom with the other policies, it's better to include it here under the customer service menu. 06:39.240 --> 06:40.440 So let me do that. 06:40.440 --> 06:44.400 Heading back to admin, going to the online store and navigation. 06:44.430 --> 06:45.930 We'll go to the main menu. 06:45.930 --> 06:51.030 And then here under customer service I can add a new menu item, which of course I'm going to call the 06:51.030 --> 06:51.960 refund policy. 06:51.960 --> 06:55.680 And then I will link it to the refund policy itself. 06:55.680 --> 07:01.020 So clicking on refund policy and then on add I can save this. 07:01.110 --> 07:04.410 And then let me go back to the store and refresh. 07:04.410 --> 07:09.030 And now when I open up the customer service menu here is the refund policy. 07:09.030 --> 07:13.050 And so now the only thing left to do is to actually make the refund itself. 07:13.050 --> 07:16.070 And to do that you're going to see that it's very straightforward. 07:16.070 --> 07:22.430 If I go back to admin where you see that I'm already on one of my orders, if I wanted to refund this, 07:22.430 --> 07:25.400 then I would simply come up here and click on refund. 07:25.430 --> 07:27.170 You then see this little warning. 07:27.170 --> 07:31.250 It says once an item is refunded, you can't start a return for it. 07:31.280 --> 07:36.080 To return an item, create a return first and then process the refund. 07:36.080 --> 07:40.430 Well, of course this doesn't apply because we're not asking the customer to return it. 07:40.430 --> 07:44.210 And so all we need to do is to come up here, make this a one. 07:44.210 --> 07:50.150 You can choose to restock the item if you wish, and you may want to include a reason for the refund, 07:50.150 --> 07:54.290 but otherwise you can now see that the refund total is 29.95. 07:54.290 --> 07:57.980 And therefore all I need to do is to click on the refund button itself. 07:57.980 --> 08:03.500 And after that, the payment provider, in this case PayPal express is going to take care of actually 08:03.500 --> 08:05.420 making the refund to the customer. 08:05.420 --> 08:07.580 There is nothing more for you to do. 08:07.580 --> 08:12.380 And with all that in place, not only do you now know how to actually make the refund itself, but you 08:12.380 --> 08:17.330 have also created what I hope you would agree is a fantastic refund policy.