How to manage returns

You have already started your online sales business and everything is going well. However, there is only one thing that you have not calculated well: how to handle returns !

Indeed, you always have to take returns into account because a product may not meet the needs of a customer or may arrive damaged. Of course, this is one of the worst things in managing an e-commerce, since the return, in addition to making you waste time, will also make you lose money, since in some cases you will have to organize the collection of the old goods and at the same time make a new delivery.

In any case, today we try to give you some advice on the return policies to establish and how to behave both in the case in which you have a dropshipping e-commerce, and in the case in which you sell in stock.

Index

• Return Types
• How much does it cost to make a return?
• Making return policies transparent
• How to Manage Returns with Dropshipping

Return Types

Let's start by talking about the different types of returns you could use.

• Shopping voucher : this is a solution that is perhaps not used much in e-commerce and is more used in physical stores. In any case, thanks to a shopping voucher you give the customer a voucher of the same value as the goods they have returned, which they can use to purchase any other product in your online store. It is certainly an advantageous solution for the merchant, because it ensures that the amount paid by the customer is not lost.
• Full refund : This is the "purest" form of return in the sense that the customer is refunded the total amount paid. For the merchant, this is probably the worst case scenario, as, in addition to having to refund, he will also have to spend money to reorganize the return shipment.
• Exchange of goods : in this case the customer is offered the option of re-shipping the same product. Naturally, this can only happen in cases where the product is defective or perhaps when the customer has purchased a non-compatible size (this happens very often in the clothing sector).

These are the three main types of returns that you have on your side. Of course, if you have the possibility, nothing prevents you from making all three available to the customer. This will earn a lot of trust in your customers, even if it might be more expensive on your part.

How much does it cost to make a return?

Now we come to a "burning" question: how much does it cost to make a return ? Well, making just one, not too much, but making many could have very serious consequences on the total turnover of your e-commerce.

In fact, to make a return, you will obviously need to have a customer care service and if you do not manage it yourself, you will have to pay other people to perform this service. Furthermore, in the costs you will have to take into account any shipping to go and collect the returned product (some, especially in the case of heavily damaged products, decide to leave the product with the customer to save money) and then take into account that the product will return to your warehouse and you will therefore have to check its quality and possibly put it back on sale by fixing and repackaging it. In short, it is not a small matter.

The cost of a return can also vary greatly depending on the courier you rely on to manage your e-commerce. We therefore recommend that you ask for this information from the courier you work with, be it BRT, Posteitaliane or something else.

Making return policies transparent

One thing we at SPS Fulfillment would like to recommend is to make your return policies transparent on your ecommerce site.

If a buyer has access to a well-designed, clear and easy-to-understand page that explains all the return policies, the customer is much more likely to make a purchase. On the other hand, if the return policies are nowhere to be found or are not even there, the customer may think that it is an online scam.

You could in fact create a specific section to be placed in the footnotes of the site, so that the return policies are always accessible to visitors of your e-commerce.

How to Manage Returns with Dropshipping

So far we've talked about how to handle returns with a product that you shipped yourself and therefore had in your warehouse. If, however, you don't have a warehouse, how do you handle returns with dropshipping ?

Here the situation becomes more complicated than it might seem. As you well know, with dropshipping you do not have your own warehouse and you do not even see the goods that arrive to the customers, since the supplier will take care of the packaging and shipping.

That said, first of all remember to take full responsibility in front of the customer . The buyer does not know that the product he purchased is dropshipping, therefore he will blame you. We therefore recommend that you take responsibility and apologize; there is really no point in arguing with the customer and telling him that in reality it was a problem with the supplier. The customer is only interested in having the product working.

At this point, it is important to understand the reason for the return . If it is simply a customer dissatisfaction and it is a low-cost product, then you could decide to leave the product to the customer and offer another product for free or a shopping voucher on your e-commerce. Our advice is to avoid giving a refund to the customer as much as possible because we could call it a defeat on your part, even if for the end customer it is certainly the best thing.

If, however, it is always a question of customer dissatisfaction, the product is still good and has a high cost, then you could decide to organize a shipment for the collection of the product and possibly offer a shopping voucher on your e-commerce or give another product in exchange.

On the other hand, if it is a return due to a damaged product, then decide what to do based on the value of the goods. If it is a low-cost product, you could simply decide to send another identical product to the customer and not make a fuss. If, on the other hand, it is a high-priced product, then you could contact the supplier and try to understand how to proceed. In some cases, the supplier may find that it was their mistake and may proceed with free shipping.