Shopify refund and shipping policy: write them for support
Most support email asks something your policies should already answer. How to set up your return and shipping policies in Shopify so they do, with the settings they draw from, two fill-in outlines, and a check for when they drift.
By Max Lindberg · · 8 min read
Write your return and shipping policies as answers to the emails you actually get: one fact per sentence, every number filled in, nothing your store doesn't do. In Shopify they live in Settings > Policies, and if you let Shopify automate them, the numbers come from your store settings, so check those settings first.
A policy written this way does two jobs. Customers find the answer before they write, and whoever answers the emails that still come, a person or an AI drafting tool, can quote it word for word instead of improvising.
What Shopify gives you in Settings > Policies
Shopify's help lists the policies you can manage: return, privacy, terms of service, shipping, legal notice, contact information and subscription. For support, two matter most: the return and refund policy and the shipping policy.
For the return and refund policy, terms of service, shipping policy and contact information, you choose per policy between two modes:
| Mode | What happens | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Automated (Use automated policy on) | Shopify generates the text from your store settings and updates it when those settings change. | Your settings already describe how you work, and you want the policy to follow them. |
| Manual (Use automated policy off) | You write the text. It keeps whatever it said when you turned automation off and no longer updates. | You need wording or detail the template doesn't have. |
Two warnings from Shopify's help. Turning automation back on replaces your custom text with the template, including custom translations, so save a copy first. And Shopify says the templates "aren't legal advice, and don't guarantee compliance with applicable laws": you are responsible for what your published policies say and for following them.
Check the settings an automated policy reads
An automated policy is only as right as the settings behind it. These are the ones that land in what customers read, from Shopify's own table:
| Shown in the policy | Comes from |
|---|---|
| Return terms (return and refund policy) | Your return rules in Settings > Policies |
| Email for return and cancellation questions | Your Store email in Settings > General |
| Support email (shipping policy, terms of service) | Your Store email in Settings > General |
| Processing time, such as "2 business days" (shipping policy) | Fulfillment time in Settings > Shipping and delivery > Estimated delivery dates, if set to Manual or Automated |
| Countries you ship to (shipping policy) | Countries in both your shipping zones and your markets |
The email rows are easy to miss. Automated policies publish your Store email, the address Shopify uses to contact you, not the Sender email your notifications come from. If Store email is the owner's personal inbox, that is what customers see in your policies. Either change Store email to your support address or write those policies manually; setting up a Shopify support email explains the difference between the two.
Return rules
Return rules are set in Settings > Policies, under Return and cancellation rules. Each one sets:
- the return window: 14, 30 or 90 days, unlimited, or a custom number, starting from each item's delivery or from delivery of the last item in the order;
- return shipping cost: free, a flat fee per return, or the customer buys their own label;
- an optional restocking fee, as a percentage;
- final sale items that can't be returned or cancelled;
- return window overrides for specific collections or products.
Cancellation rules sit in the same section and set whether customers can request to cancel unfulfilled items: no cancellations, until the item is fulfilled, or within 15 minutes, 1 hour or 24 hours.
Three details support needs to know:
- Changes apply only to future orders. An order placed before you changed the window keeps the old one. Check the order date before quoting the policy.
- Return fees aren't deducted automatically. When you create the refund, you deduct any return fee yourself.
- EU customers. If you sell to customers in the EU, Shopify's help says to set a return window of at least 14 days starting from delivery of the last item in the order. The law behind it: the EU right of withdrawal.
Write each policy as answers
Shopify's checklist for automated policies includes: "Don't promise delivery or shipping times that you can't provide." For US customers that is also the FTC's rule: any shipping time you state needs a reasonable basis. See the FTC 30-day shipping rule.
Map the policy to the questions in your inbox:
| The customer asks | The sentence your policy needs |
|---|---|
| Can I still return this? | How many days, counted from what, and what condition the item must be in. |
| Who pays for the return? | Free, a flat fee of a stated amount, or the customer's own label. |
| When do I get my money back? | When you refund (on receipt, after inspection) and to which payment method. |
| Can I swap it for another size? | Whether you exchange, or refund and the customer reorders. |
| Can I cancel my order? | Until when, and how. |
| When will it ship? | Your processing time, in business days. |
| Do you ship to my country? | The list, or where to find it. |
| My parcel is late or lost. | When to contact you, and what you do then. |
Rules for the wording:
- One fact per sentence. "You have {{return_window_days}} days from delivery to start a return" can be quoted. A paragraph that mixes the window, the condition and the fee can't.
- Numbers, not adjectives. "Usually" and "promptly" invite the email you were trying to avoid.
- Headings that match the questions. A reader, or a support tool, finds "Return shipping costs" faster than "Our promise".
- Exceptions next to the rule. Put final sale items right under the return window, not at the end.
- Only what you do. If you'd make an exception for a good customer, don't write it as the rule.
A return and refund policy outline
Returns. You can return most items within {{return_window_days}} days of {{window_start}}. Items must be {{item_condition}}.
Items we can't take back. {{final_sale_items}}.
How to start a return. {{how_to_start_return}}.
Return shipping. {{who_pays_return_shipping}}. {{restocking_fee_sentence}}
Refunds. We refund {{refund_method}} within {{refund_days}} days of {{refund_trigger}}.
Exchanges. {{exchange_policy}}.
Cancelling an order. {{cancellation_window}}.
Questions. Email {{support_email}}.
Fill every blank from your return and cancellation rules, and check that the policy and the rules say the same thing.
A shipping policy outline
Processing time. Orders leave us within {{processing_business_days}} business days of payment.
Where we ship. {{shipping_destinations}}.
Delivery times and costs. {{delivery_times_and_rates}}.
Tracking. You'll receive tracking by email when your order ships.
Delays. If your order can't ship on time, we'll email you before the date we gave, with a new date or the reason we can't give one, and the option to cancel for a full refund.
Lost or damaged parcels. {{what_to_do_if_lost_or_damaged}}.
Questions. Email {{support_email}}.
Keep the Tracking line only if you send shipment details when you fulfil; Shopify lets you turn the Shipping confirmation email off for an order. Keep the Delays line only if that is what you do; for US orders, the FTC's rule requires it anyway.
Publish, link and keep them in sync
To edit a policy: Settings > Policies, click the policy in Written policies, turn Use automated policy off if you want to write it yourself, enter the text, and click Save. Shopify then links your policies in the checkout footer. It also links the return policy on the order review page and the shipping policy on product pages and the cart, and you can add them to your menus in Content > Menus.
Each policy has a direct address on your domain, useful for replies:
| Policy | Path |
|---|---|
| Return policy | /policies/refund-policy |
| Shipping policy | /policies/shipping-policy |
| Terms of service | /policies/terms-of-service |
| Privacy policy | /policies/privacy-policy |
Shopify saves past versions of these policies for two years, and you can export them via Get past policies in the Written policies section. When a customer quotes an older policy, that tells you what it said on the day they ordered. If you sell in several languages, review each translation too.
How Corresso uses your policies
Corresso drafts a reply to every incoming email from the documents your store approved, such as your returns policy, shipping page and FAQ, and each fact in a draft cites the document it came from. A policy written as one fact per sentence is what makes those citations precise.
Rules in code hold any draft that promises a refund or replacement without citing a document allowed to offer one, and they run again after a person edits the text. A person reads every draft and presses Send; refunds stay in your Shopify admin. See how it works and Corresso for Shopify stores.